Jonathan Adler posted a hilarious take on Maxine Waters by The Atlantic’s Megan McArdle:

I sat here in front of my television and laughed at Maxine Waters, because her apparently random ramblings are a true spectacle. One laughs because one can’t cry. But this woman is sitting on the House Financial Services Committee. She is supposed to help craft the bills that govern our financial system. And she clearly doesn’t have the first shred of an inkling of a clue of how said financial system works. Her questions had the air of someone who couldn’t quite wrap her mind around the complexities of the E-Z Reader consumer activist pamphlets from which she had presumably cribbed them.

In contrast to McArdle, Keith Olbermann had a quite a different take on Rep. Waters’ grasp of said complexities:

OLBERMANN: The detail that comes out of that letter from the attorney general of New York, Mr. Cuomo, that Bank of America was apparently—he believes at least as a result of the initial investigation he‘s conducted – was apparently complicit in awarding those bonuses out before, essentially to beat the merger, the beat the oversight.
WATERS: I believe that, too. I didn‘t like Mr. Lewis‘ answer today. I thought he skirted the question a bit. But I think it‘s becoming clear that he knew about those bonuses, prior to signing off on the deal. That he was aware that they were going to give them out earlier than normal, and I don‘t think he‘s going to be able to get away with that. I think this investigation is going to unveil the facts.
OLBERMANN: Is that best left to the attorney general of one state or is that your purview?
WATERS: Well, actually, you know, I was reminded today that we set public policy, we‘re not the cops. We don‘t have the ability to basically put him in jail. But I‘m glad that the attorney general of New York is opening this all up and this may force the attorney general of the United States to have to get more involved.
OLBERMANN: Lastly, Congresswoman, Senator Snowe of Maine said today, she thinks that that executive pay cap that the president wanted, first 400,000, now half a million, is likely to be left out of the final version of the stimulus. Are you OK with that?
WATERS: No. I‘m not OK with it. I‘m not OK with the fact that anybody would think that somehow, we don‘t have the duty or the responsibility to deal with the outrageous pay and bonuses that they get. And it should be in the stimulus. If it‘s not in the stimulus, it should be in the TARP. If it‘s not, those of us who believe that we should regulate a lot better than we are doing are going to keep up our efforts to get it done.
OLBERMANN: Congresswoman Maxine Waters—as always, it‘s been very illuminating. Thanks for some of your time tonight.
WATERS: You‘re so welcome. Thank you.