Bailout Fails to Pass House, Dow Tumbles

Shhh, the time for logic has passed. Now is time for partisan bickering and finger-pointing.

 

Republicans need to hope Dems don't do this all by themselves and have it appear to work.

 

The purpose of the negotiations was to ensure that enough House Republicans voted for it. If Pelosi/Hoyer/Frank, et al, wanted to get a bill across, they could have written a bill that would have passed on a party line vote. But they wanted the House GOP in so the Dems wouldn't take all of the political heat if the bill was unpopular. The House GOP hated the bill. Boehner called it a crap sandwich. But they came around to the idea that it was the best of a bad situation and supported it and urged their members to do. Boehner, Cantor, Blunt, Ryan -- the top GOP House members all voted for it. The political cover was there. So when the Dems held the presser with Paulson, they made it seem like a fait accompli. Which only makes the failure to pass more devastating to the markets. Pelosi needed to temper her remarks to re-emphasize that this was a bi-partisan solution and needed to have control of the caucus. She needed to be a female LBJ behind the scenes.

 

Barney Frank looking great at his press conference.

Damn.

 

Yeah, that was a pimp-slap.

 

-628 now.

 

But Pelosi's speech was kinda mean, so it's OK.

 

Just amazing. I'd like to know, having read Pelosi's speech, what they found so objectionable.

 

Down 707 now. It's times like this I'm glad to not have much money to invest.

 

I get the feeling they saw a chance to torpedo the Democrats. The nation be damned.

 

Someone PM me when it's time to start rioting for bread.

The Granny is ready to bring the fucking house.

 

I would hope Paulson and Bernanke are busy crafting a Plan B. Or maybe they're out doing what a good politician does in time of crisis: play golf.