Freaking crybabies.

Probably a lot of Republicans spent the weekend thinking how they might benefit from this collapse, (buying up bankrupt companies) add that to the fact that they will have face the voters in a few weeks. The system works!

If Boehner, et al, truly believed that this plan was the best for America and Pelosi's speech deterred them from voting for it, they should be run out of not only the government, but the country.

These bullies have been hammering the Dems for years on their patriotism and never, ever miss a chance to climb upon their high horse.

If they fundamentally disagreed with the bailout bill because they felt it was in the best interests of the country, fine, but to say that a speech by the Speaker killed the bill is beyond spineless.

At what point does country come before party for these people?

This is what I have come to expect from Republicans. No ideas, just bickering. They need a severe spanking this November.

She started it!

Chuck Todd looked at which Republicans voted against it and most of them are running for reelection.

They dumped their party's wishes for the good of their own campaigns. They were hearing from the public, potential voters, and the public was mad as hell. These republicans want no association with bush right now and who could blame them. Nancy simply pointed out in her speech what the bush administration has done and how it got us where we are today.

"Boner" can whine all he wants, but it wasn't Nancy who scared his folks, it was the SOB sitting in the oval office.

Arrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhh.

No feelings. No heart. No brain. No shame.

Full of shit.

Whhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh........ i have a pooopie diaper

Wait a minute - I thought that any reasonable person wants this heist to fail. But that said, I've got to admit that the Republicans have played this very well indeed - making Pelosi and the Democrats look like utter fools. The Dems voted FOR this travesty 141-94, the Republicans AGAINST 65-133. The only thing is that they played it a little too fine. Twelve more votes and it would have passed, and the Democrats would have shouldered the blame - for something that primarily benefits the Republican's corporate masters.

I'm seeing this as KKKarl Rove's piece de resistance. I bet they just retained three or four seats that they would have lost on this play. And if another vote is taken, you can bet another dozen Repukes will 'reluctantly' change their votes to enable passage. This is a political train wreck for the Dimocrats.

now we see who the 'whiners' really are. don't call/identify these people as GOP they want that. it's
part of the separation away from republican BUSH.
the democrats brought 2/3 of their membership to
approve the 'bailout'....the democrats did their job
after having this proposal shoved down our throats.
the media keeps playing the DOW plenty of drama.
blaming pelosi is ridiculous......mccain didn't bring
the conservative faction of the republican party together. obama needs to rub this in that
mccain isn't helping.

blaming a speech on the bill not passing??? There is no way this will have an adverse effect on Dems. This makes repubs look like real cry babies!!! They are such a joke! I'm investing in Kimberly Clark becuase there will be LOTS of crying in November.

Can we get on record exactly which republicans did not vote for this because of the speech. You know, like, NAME NAMES????

My Congressman, who is a Democrat, voted for this bailout.. So he will not be getting my vote in a few months to get re-elected..

Here's a list of who voted for and against..

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll674.xml

These fucks are truly unbelievable! They are clearly much more concerned with appearing heroic and stealing credit for this shit than anything else. Hey Repukes, people want solutions, ASAP!! Blame gaming simply will not work this time.

Bobo @ 19:

The Republicans have done the Dems a favor by voting this down. Now the Dems should do the sensible thing--chuck the President Bush/Secretary Paulson plan and work on a bailout/stimulus package that will help ordinary people.

YES! But do they have the common sense to do the right thing?

Why care about the blame? This crap shouldnt have even gotten to a vote in the first place.. Pelosi says they took away golden parachutes for executives, which is a lie..

Why in the hell are you people taking up for democrats who voted for this ????

What a bunch of crybabies! I don't care what the reason, I for one am glad that the bill didn't pass. I hope we get nothing done until after the elections.
You cannot trust anything put out by any of these whiners in the retard party.
You know you cannot trust bush and this bill has bush fingerprints all over it.
I say a great day to be an American! It really sucks if you are a republican and I think that is great also. Everytime I see a republican cry it make me feel gooood!

The people who voted against this don't really have to worry do they; they're set for life. If everything tanks tomorrow and we're all on bread lines, they'll be safe in Ivory Towers drinking champagne and laughing at the people not as lucky as them. So what is it that they want: total economic collapse or a job after election day? I know I'd like to have a job after election day, wouldn't you? When I find out how my representatives voted, I'll help them with that decision, you bet.

I got through about halfway thru the video before the upchuck factor cut in. As Popeye so eloquently put it, "I can't stands no more."

They're all so eagerly patting each other on the back at the great job they did, first fucking up the economy since Reagan and Gingrich and now, the coup de gras.

Ya gotta admit, you never saw a finer collection of walking, talking assholes.

there are representatives up for re-election that were
never going to vote for this bailout. republicans
wanted democrats to take full voting responsibilty.
blaming pelosi after seeing the republican BUSH
administration shove this down our throats.
mccain didn't do shit....NOW trying to accuse obama
unbelievable. pelosi thought she had the votes. they're
saving their re-election hopes.....period.

It may be well and good that the bill failed, but to say you voted against it because of a speech?

Looks like we need to add Eric Cantor to the list of Patrick McHenry's closeted all-star attack dogs. I wondered when they were going to find a replacement for Mark Foley.

This is sick.. You all who are falling for the blame game, who just want to point fingers at the other side are just as bad as you say the other side is..

They stripped the bill of everything that would have helped the little guy. All of you seem to believe Bush AGAIN when he gave the doom and gloom speech...

Whatever the reason is it didn't pass, Im glad. Bush and the Democrats were on the same side too! Wake up people.

See, just as I said in the past, republicans are undercover punks.

As it pains me to say this, I am very proud of Congressman Gresham Barrett (R) for voting against this piece of garbage.

Can anyone remember when these assholes even mentioned 'The American People'? This is the first time I had heard it in years! That in itself says a lot, even it is a disgusting, oozing stream of bile coming out of their mouths.

Boner would throw his mama under a bus if it could make Pelosi look bad...

Gotta love the GOP. They've run EVERYTHING for 6 of the past 8 years—and still control the White House. Yet this is somehow morphing into a Democratic failure.

1/20/09, hopefully the greatest day ever.

Read my new book after you elect me as President:

How I Saved The U.S. Economy or The DemocRATic Party conspiracy to enslave working 'Mericans.

Criminally As Always,
John McCain

P.S.: I've advised Cindy to increase her dose of Percocet.

Seems to me that we have the words of only some pretty unreliable characters that defeating this travesty was a bad idea...

Matt Yglesias's point is well taken:

But it seems to me that if a rescue is really as necessary as informed observers think, then why shouldn’t the GOP’s friends in the business community have forced them to go along? Financial services firms might have been strongly opposed to a Swedish-style scheme, but most companies (of course) aren’t financial services firms for them the strong interest is just in having something done rather than nothing. At the end of the day, I think the Democrats had the strongest hand and just blinked at the thought of going “all-in” with it. Arguable that was the responsible thing to do. But on another level, you really can’t ever get anything done in the American legislative process if you’re not willing to engage in a little brinksmanship and I’m not sure this mentality bodes well for the prospects of health care reform or whatever.

djl @ 55:

MikeC @ 21:
I'm glad the Republicans didn't vote for this crap.. I wish the Democrats would stand up to Bush, at least once...

I agree with you completely Mike...I am disappointed in all the politicians that voted for this bail out-this plan is garbage and I wish ALL the dems had stood up to Bush and come up with a better plan. Paulson has no business having ANY say in ANY of this and if any of you read this bail out you should be ashamed of yourselves for allowing yourselves to be BUSH WHACKED! This bill DOES allow CURRENT GOLDEN PARASHOOTS, It DOES allow for EXCESSIVE COMPENSATION, IT IS A BULLSHIT BILL!!

Total bullshit indeed. Its more trickle down crap. Pelosi says they took out the 'golden parachutes' which is a lie. Theyre still there. They stripped the bill of everything that would help the little guy, only the corporations would have benefited.

Bush pretty much demanded $700billion, what do the Democrats do? They try to authorize $750 billion!

So many people here want to be loyal to their party that they don't even see their party is trying to screw them over!

Kathleen @ 62:

bilhelm-X @ 23:

I'm John Boner and I approve this crybaby message!

Another idiot from Ohio, I mean "medieval times". That state needs a nuke..

I thought there was no violence here at C and L

Hey Kucinich is from Ohio so am I

I'm from Ohio, and I agree. nuke it. it will be a heroic sacrifice for the good of humanity.

Which Simpson character was based on him:
Principal Skinner or Reverend Lovejoy ..?
I cant quite tell ...

The reality is, that the Republicans just might have inadvertently saved the Democratic party from going down the tubes with them. This bailout was going to fail because it was trading OUR money for the investors money. Bailing out banks won't stop their failures if they have billions in bad investments, and it won't make them put loans out because you need consumers with cash in a marketplace for that.

The dollar got stronger, because they didn't have to print more money which would be a tax on you.

Really, I'm dancing with glee. This is the best news in a month. If there is a collapse, it will be from the derivatives market. Wall Street is too corrupt and dishonest right now to get any more money from other countries -- much less the American taxpayer. Throwing good money after bad would just give these guys more gold in their parachutes.

This was a set-up from the beginning. Some of the Democrats were probably in on it.

It was wrong to support this bill in the first place, and even if it passed, Republicans would've blamed the Democrats for not listening to the tax payers. YOU CAN'T WIN!

All this bull$hit is happening right in front of our eyes and there's nothing we can do about it.

America is history.

Scott @ 70:

Personally, I think Pelosi was stupid for giving a speech like that -- this "agreement" was on shaky ground, at best The Republicans were just WAITING for a reason to kill this thing, and her speech gave them an excuse (albeit, a pathetic excuse) to do it. She should have known better.

maybe she DID know better. maybe the dems did it on purpose to bait these republicans and hold them accountable, at the same time allowing the dems to not be "blamed" for an unpopular bailout.

from the article:

"So you’re willing to kill the bill and let the market plunge 600 points because Nancy gave a mean speech? Wow."

This is retarded, the markets are going to go down regardless.. Why did they go up so fast in the first place? Because of the fraud that caused this mess. They have to go down in short term. The bill not passing is not why the market goes down..

Sounds like the Newt Gingrich defense that they made him sit at the back of the airplane so he made the country pay for his widow hurt feewings.

rick street @ 69:

Kathleen @ 62:

bilhelm-X @ 23:

I'm John Boner and I approve this crybaby message!

Another idiot from Ohio, I mean "medieval times". That state needs a nuke..

I thought there was no violence here at C and L

Hey Kucinich is from Ohio so am I

I'm from Ohio, and I agree. nuke it. it will be a heroic sacrifice for the good of humanity.

Michigan here. Don't nuke 'em, they are too close.

Maybe some selective concrete would do.

I am amused by the ineptness of the GOP. Why do they hate America?

I thought McCain parachuted in and got all his folks wearing the same yoke. Seems that didn't work out the way John claimed it did.

 I think this is really what Boner is whining about. It was all lined up that the republicans would march down and vote for the bill just as McCain instructed. Now some of them strayed off the path and McCain is no longer seen as the strong leader he was supposed to have been viewed as. Some put their own political career ahead of McCain's political career.

The Boner and his crocodile tears…. If the Repukes are going to play this game with the taxpayers’ money and livelihood, then the Dems should just take control, rip up the original proposal and make their own, adding the oversight and regulation, REALLY getting rid of any golden parachutes, heck, throw in some national health care, etc., etc. Otherwise, let this false version of a “free market” correct itself. The Wall Street pigs made their beds, now sleep in it.

bilhelm-X @ 23:

I'm John Boner and I approve this crybaby message!

Another idiot from Ohio, I mean "medieval times". That state needs a nuke..

Their so freakin' stupid in Ohio (where my idiot, Bush loving brother-in-law lives), they would probably vote to nuke themselves if a republican proposed it!

How those ignoramus's could be voting for McStupid after all the economic devastation Bush and the GOP has dropped on them - is simply astonishing.

I'm still trying to find any text of Speaker Pelosi's remarks. Nothing on any site I can find yet.
This is terrifying, but exhilarating. I've long thought the economy too pumped up and too dedicated to enriching the upper end. We now have a chance for that market socialist country, which is aware it is just one country among many, that the left has desired. Whatever happens, there will be a definancialization of the economy,and a realization that the economy is more than the national balance sheet.. I think we can still turn back to a productive economy as opposed to a paper pushing one. It will hurt, but hey, it would be worth it, if we can avoid some sort of Christian facism..

NoGWBpolicyleftinplace @ 91:

bilhelm-X @ 23:

I'm John Boner and I approve this crybaby message!

Another idiot from Ohio, I mean "medieval times". That state needs a nuke..

Their so freakin' stupid in Ohio (where my idiot, Bush loving brother-in-law lives), they would probably vote to nuke themselves if a republican proposed it!

How those ignoramus's could be voting for McStupid after all the economic devastation Bush and the GOP has dropped on them - is simply astonishing.

Short answer; DIEBOLD.

Need I say more.

for the last time, this is about bribery and criminal behavior, not about the vote. I am disgusted that the only thing the democratic leadership has to do is blame republicans for not voting to pay criminals what will amount to trillions of dollars. Why in the hell are you defending Frank for wanting to pass a bill that will guarantee poverty for every damned one of us?
Are you people blind to what this bail out really is? I have rarely seen such ignorance on progressive sites before? The actual "progressive" democrats in the house voted against this bill. What the hell are you all thinking?

taking it out on the Reptile party is ridiculous. This was all about absolute power and corruption. The progressives and conservatives won a small victory today because they forced the outright criminals to delay the destruction of our government. Do you really think it is a good thing to give a trillion bucks to someone that Bush appointed?

ARE YOU MAD?

The Truth Hurts @ 60:

Gotta love the GOP. They've run EVERYTHING for 6 of the past 8 years—and still control the White House. Yet this is somehow morphing into a Democratic failure.

That's why I hate that fat liar Lou Dobbs so much. Racist Lou purposely ignores the fact that the Repukes are mainly responsible for six of these eight years of Hell, yet he tries every night to covertly blame "the do nothing Democrats" for the Nation's present state. Lou's idiotic peons bring his bullshit propaganda here all the time.

This hangs on the Bush Aministration and the GOP leadership During those and years and back to Gingrich and Reagan. Deregulating WS. Boehner and all republicans can dish it out but can't take it. THEY OWN THIS MESS. She told the truth about their inept asses, how dare she expose them for the fraudulent thieves that they are. She exposed them. Put the blame exactly where it belongs. They want to steal credit for this. If it wasn't for the brilliant ledership of old mccrumpie. We would've been overrun by terrissstttz.

Left&Left @ 99:

The Truth Hurts @ 60:

Gotta love the GOP. They've run EVERYTHING for 6 of the past 8 years—and still control the White House. Yet this is somehow morphing into a Democratic failure.

That's why I hate that fat liar Lou Dobbs so much. Racist Lou purposely ignores the fact that the Repukes are mainly responsible for six of these eight years of Hell, yet he tries every night to covertly blame "the do nothing Democrats" for the Nation's present state. Lou's idiotic peons bring his bullshit propaganda here all the time.

Exactly. I was thinking about this as all the fireworks happened this morning.

constituent @ 98:

Scott @ 84:

rick street @ 77:

Scott @ 70:
maybe she DID know better. maybe the dems did it on purpose to bait these republicans and hold them accountable, at the same time allowing the dems to not be "blamed" for an unpopular bailout.

Never underestimate a politician or a raccoon. They are both very dangerous.

You are giving WAY too much credit to the Democratic party! :)

You are giving WAY too much credit to the Republican party!

I hate republicans as much as the next person but there is a silver lining.

Today, the republicans ensured that Barack Obama is the next president of the United States.

This makes John McCain look like the inept crusty, old gigolo he is

constituent @ 98:

Scott @ 84:

rick street @ 77:

Scott @ 70:
maybe she DID know better. maybe the dems did it on purpose to bait these republicans and hold them accountable, at the same time allowing the dems to not be "blamed" for an unpopular bailout.

I don't know... The Republicans seem to have a decent track record of sticking it to us. Then again, I think it's in the favor of the Repubs hat half of this country is really stupid.

You are giving WAY too much credit to the Democratic party! :)

You are giving WAY too much credit to the Republican party!

Democrats wanted Main Street to Bail Out WALL STREET! My oh my how the roles have changed! LOL!

Kathleen @ 35:

sound like whining to me.

Chris Matthews hit the nail on the head with Rep Cantor. He ripped him up.

Rep Cantor is one of the Republicans trying to rip off his Republican uniform and run home and act like he never voted for deregulation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgq3UFVi2s8

Chris Matthews ask Cantor "Is the Republican Party responsible for the economic policies of this country right now"

Cantor dances

Chris Matthews "I have never in my life seen a party run from its own record like the Rebublican's have"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

REP TRENT FRANKS JUST SPEWED THE MOST VILE LIES ON THE FLOOR ABOUT IRAN. The warmongers want to attack Iran before this administration is out.

and that's their October surprise...

To be truthful, this mess only shows that the true terrorists are the Republican party. You cannot deny that this was a set-up. They even allowed McCain's shenanigans last week to happen and worked them in.

None of the attention was paid to the bill and its implications of what trouble it might cause to the American people. Let's face it. No one gives a damn about how this affects everyday folks.

Again, I say, of all parties that have been screwed in this entire mess, it is the American people who work hard and earn their money everyday.

The rich aren't going anywhere. They will still be having their little get-togethers in the Hamptons while the rest of us stand in bread-lines.

TimV @ 108:

Look, I didn't like the bailout very much, but let's face it. It's something. I smell this as a political stunt to try and have St. McCain come in and save the day. Let's not let that happen. If you're in a district by one of the Nay voters call them... yes CALL, don't email cause they don't read those... and raise hell. Show them exactly how politically unpopular this stunt is.

GOP = Gratuitously Offended by Pelosi.

You've got it backwards. My Congressman is a Democrat, I just called and raised hell because he voted FOR this bailout..
How do you fix debt with more debt? Why would you believe Bush when he tries to scare you.. AGAIN? Bush demanded $700 billion, they wanted to give him $740 billion! Wake up!

I am new to this whole comments thing, so my apologies in advance for errors I've made in posting above and if this post is excessively long. I agree with a small handful of commenters on here that realize this "bailout" is criminal and needed to fail. I am pasting Glenn Greenwald's post today in Salon, I recommend everyone read it and click on his link at Salon.com.

Monday Sept. 29, 2008 10:03 EDT
Bailout follows the 10 normal principles for how our government functions
(updated below - Update II)

The word being used most frequently to describe the bailout package that is about to pass is "extraordinary." That adjective may apply to the amounts of money being transferred from taxpayers to Wall Street, but the process by which this is all happening is anything but "extraordinary." All of the "principles" that drive how our Government functions in general -- what explain the last eight years at least -- are perfectly evident in what has happened here:

(1) Incredibly complex and consequential new laws are negotiated in secret and then enacted immediately, with no hearings, no real debate, no transparency. Nancy Pelosi has praised herself for decreeing that the new law will be online for 24 hours before Congress votes on it -- a full 24 hours for the American public to understand and assess a law that forces them to subsidize Wall St.'s losses in a way that may impact them for decades, if not generations. The most significant and consequential pieces of legislation over the last eight years -- the Patriot Act, the various expanded surveillance laws, the Military Commissions Act -- were the by-product of identical anti-democratic processes.

(2) Those who created the crisis, were wrong about everything, drive the process. Experts who dissent from the prevailing Washington orthodoxy, particularly ones who were presciently warning about what was happening, are simply ignored -- systematically excluded from the process. Professor Nouriel Roubini:

It is pathetic that Congress did not consult any of the many professional economists that have presented -- many on the RGE Monitor Finance blog forum -- alternative plans that were more fair and efficient and less costly ways to resolve this crisis.
Last week, Hank Paulson -- who bears responsibility for the crisis in numerous ways -- demanded that $700 billion be transferred to him in order to purchase toxic assets from his Wall St. friends, and while there was much howling of outrage in many quarters, no other framework was ever considered.

(3) Public opinion is largely ignored, as always, and public anger is placated through illusory, symbolic and largely meaningless concessions. Much is being made over the allegedly strong oversight provisions to limit the Treasury Secretary's power, accomplished through the creation of two oversight panels -- one that is composed of 5 administration officials (including the Treasury Secretary himself, the Federal Reserve Chairman and the SEC Chairman -- the definitive foxes guarding the hen house), and another that is appointed by Congress but which -- as is true for everything Congress touches -- has little real authority over what is done.

Identically, executive compensation limits -- used to bestow the plan with its populist bona fides -- are minimal and extremely limited. Worse, the public is being told that the financial services industry must pay for any losses to the Treasury still outstanding after five years, but the bill requires nothing of the sort, simply requiring that the president "propose" a plan for recoupment, not that Congress enact any such plan.

And, most of all, while not as absolute as it was in the original Paulson proposal, the Congressional plan still vests extraordinarily vast and centralized power in the Treasury Secretary -- just as Paulson demanded. As the NYT put it this morning: "During its weeklong deliberations, Congress made many changes to the Bush administration’s original proposal to bail out the financial industry, but one overarching aspect of the initial plan that remains is the vast discretion it gives to the Treasury secretary."

(4) The Government begins with demands for absolute power so brazen and absurd that anything, by comparison, seems reasonable. Thus, the law that will be passed does improve on the original Paulson Plan in certain ways -- equity shares under some circumstances, some oversight provisions and mild home-owner protections -- and people thus end up grateful for what is, by any measure, an extreme outcome, all because it's not quite as extreme as what the Bush administration began by demanding.

(5) Wall Street, large corporations and their lobbyists own the Federal Government and both parties, and (therefore) they always win. Professor Roubini:

Thus, the Treasury plan is a disgrace: a bailout of reckless bankers, lenders and investors that provides little direct debt relief to borrowers and financially stressed households and that will come at a very high cost to the US taxpayer. And the plan does nothing to resolve the severe stress in money markets and interbank markets that are now close to a systemic meltdown . . . . This is again a case of privatizing the gains and socializing the losses; a bailout and socialism for the rich, the well-connected and Wall Street. And it is a scandal that even Congressional Democrats have fallen for this Treasury scam that does little to resolve the debt burden of millions of distressed home owners.
Both parties depend on, are drowning in, the largesse of the very industries they are supposed to regulate, and the only possible outcome from the very beginning was that Congress would do what most helps Wall St. and their largest corporate donors. That's what they always do.

(6) The people who run the Washington Establishment are drowning in conflicts of interest. Hank Paulson let Lehman Brothers go bankrupt while intervening to save AIG, only for it to be revealed after the fact that Goldman Sachs -- Paulson's career-long firm of which he was Chairman until just a couple years ago -- would have lost $20 billion had AIG failed. Worse, Goldman's current CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, was present with Paulson when the decision to save AIG was made.

Beyond the litany of Wall St.-loyal government officials demanding this Wall St.-friendly bailout (Bush's Chief of Staff, Josh Bolten, is also a former Goldman Sach official), Congressional leaders are, with very few exceptions, all vested heavily in Wall St. As but one example, Nancy Pelosi's tens of millions of dollars are invested (.pdf) in firms such as AIG, AT&T and others. It only stands to reason -- as always -- that if Wall St. is both owning the Government and running it, it will prevail over the proverbial "Main Street" every time. And it does, and just did again.

(7) For all the anger over what Wall St. has done, the Government -- as it bails them out -- isn't doing anything to rein in their practices. Nancy Pelosi today said: "We sent a message to Wall Street -- the party is over," but to the extent that's true, the Government has done nothing to bring it to an end. To the contrary, by announcing -- yet again -- that there are never any consequences for recklessness and real corruption on the part of the ruling class, that behavior is only being further incentivized. If you were running a large financial services corporation whose failure would jeopardize many other companies, why wouldn't you continue to pursue extremely high-risk/high-reward transactions, comfortable in the knowledge that the Congress you own will protect you from any real cataclysmic failure (in exactly the way that high government officials know they can commit crimes with impunity and thus are incentivized to do so)?

(8) When the Government wants greater and greater power and wants to engage in pure corruption, it need only put the population in extreme fear and it gets its way in every case. Establishment mavens rush forth to assure the public that they have no choice but to submit to what the Government is demanding. The anger and impotence level of the citizenry increases further, further alienating them from their Government and ensuring even greater levels of submission in the future, grounded in an accurate perception of futility.

(9) On the most consequential and fundamental questions that define the country, the establishment/leadership of both political parties are in full agreement, and insulate themselves from any political ramifications by acting jointly. Democrats in particular jump eagerly into line when told they must cooperate with the White House to avert whatever the Disaster du Jour is (and in this case, House Republicans were most impressive in defying these orders until they, too, were basically whipped into line), but ultimately, the differences between the parties at the level of their leadership are impossible to detect.

(10) Whenever you think that the Government has done things so extreme that it can't top itself -- torture, theories of presidential lawbreaking, a six-year war justified by blatantly false pretenses -- it always tops itself. On top of the massive debt under which the country was already drowning, another $700 billion is now being added in order to save the nation's richest individuals from the consequences of their own recklessness, allowing many of them not only to remain enriched, but become further enriched, all while basically ensuring that the Government is incapable of spending any money for years, if not longer, on programs designed to improve the lives of the vast, vast majority of its citizens -- the same citizens who are forced to fund this bail-out. That seems hard to top, but the only thing certain is that they will find a way to do so.

UPDATE: Amazingly, the House just rejected the bailout, sending the Dow plummeting by more than 500 points. According to Kagro:

The bill is defeated. 205-228 -- there was a last, and I mean really last, minute switcher. A Dem, switching from yea to nay. Could have been a yea voter looking to move to reconsider. Partisan breakdown: 140 Dems for, 95 against, and 65 Rs for, 133 against.
The economy and the markets are clearly in severe distress, and some form of Government action is needed. I don't think anyone denies that. But this was the wrong deal, and in terms of market confidence and stability, there's probably nothing worse than announcing so definitively -- again -- that a deal has been agreed to, only for it to be defeated. Our political leaders are as inept as they are corrupt.

UPDATE II: House Republicans are blaming a speech Nancy Pelosi gave this morning for defeat of the bill, claiming that her "partisan tone" drove many GOP members to vote against it. That is really dumb. If House Republicans decided how to vote on this bailout based on a speech Nancy Pelosi gave -- rather than their views on the merits -- that is as potent an indictment of those GOP members as anyone else could make.

What seemed to happen is that enough members were afraid of the extreme public anger against this bailout bill and petrified of what it would do to their future job security. That's a good thing -- it's called responsiveness and accountability.

Disgusting antics of the House GOP ! Putting their feelings and McCain's campaign over the economy of the nation. -773 drop this afternoon. Retirements gone down the tubes and the REPUGS vote "no" because they got their feelings hurt (which is crap. Pelosi told the TRUTH).

CNN; "Its bull that John McCain says 'he puts country first' is a joke, and Sarah Palin needs to resign. She does not under stand the questions ask. The entire GOP is out of control. Their over all judgement is flawed and they put the Republican Party over anyhing and anyone. THEY HAVE TO GO THIS TIME!

I am disgusted! I will not be voting Republican this election.

paranoia @ 82:

My democratic representative vote against this! And he is progressive of Oregon. I think the Repub did us a favor. But I also think the Democrats that did vote for this. did so out of haste. Stop panicking, and get your composure, we are just inches away from election. Bush has no intention of the bill passing as he sent a brigade from Iraq for riot training for October into the USA. The economy has to collapse in order to create panic with the public in order to get martial law for him to stay in power. Not everyone had a chance to read the new bill thoroughly to even get a decent passing. But look how quickly the repubs have turn this around to bash the Democrats!!!! do you not think the Bailout Bill smell funny??? I haven't read the Bill yet and already it has a partisan attack connected with the talking point.

Um, you would be right - the October surprise will not be coming until October - maybe
the Bushies have decided on Halloween. Then they could really scare the bejeebus out of us (even without masks), steal everything else that may be left in the treasury/wall street, and run off into the graveyard mist. Then the guys dressed like Darth Vader will start playing trick-or-treat in a neigborhood near you.

Pelosi's speech
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMLo7i38D58

I'm not unhappy that the bill didn't pass, but then again, I am not retiring for about 20 years and I have a low fixed rate mortgage. I hope EVERYONE remembers that each day about 9800 homes are foreclosed on. Baby boomers are scared witless (perhaps by design) that their life savings may evaporate. I still haven't heard anyone wondering how we allowed a corporation to get "too big to fail". I thought we had free enterprise here in America, and not monopolies. While Rome burns, some folks are happy to call names (not that I think the enablers of this (possible) catastrophe don't have it coming, and hopefully jail time as well. And the inevitable damning by future historians. Country first? Let's ALL hope that the little folks, which are after all, you and I, can somehow get Humpty Dumpty back together again for the sake of the future generations of Americans. I didn't vote for bush, and have watched and complained about a lot of the legislation which has come out of our Congress, and the signing statements which invalidated the legislation that I generally thought was good or had merit. I stand as a citizen of America, disgraced, as we ALL should feel, for being such awful custodians of this most noble of political experiments (America). I am ashamed of the performance of this country's current citizens (myself included) for letting crooks and liars cause such reprehensible damage to our Constitution, our reputation and our freedoms. I will be quite embarrassed to hand the reins of our beloved country to the next generation. We all should be. Now lets cut the crap and clean this place up!

Peace to ALL,

John

NoGWBpolicyleftinplace @ 118:

Alice X - (Click Here for Nader Debate What If) - status quObama - change you can pretend in - @ 83:

rick street @ 69:

Kathleen @ 62:
I'm from Ohio, and I agree. nuke it. it will be a heroic sacrifice for the good of humanity.

Michigan here. Don't nuke 'em, they are too close.

Maybe some selective concrete would do.

I'm from Michigan too. Not talking about northern Ohio, talkin' about them rednecks down near Kentucky and West Virginia.
We would be safe from that.

yeah, boehner is from just north of cincinnati, represents a lot of upper middle class fugitives from the racially polarized and high crime cincinnati area. the whole metro area tends to be a neocon/religious wingnut haven. (we have the flintstones, i mean "creation" museum in northern kentucky)

FunMe @ 7:

The only thing missing from photo above was a crybaby FAKE tears on BONER's red face.

Throw the bums out!

Those fake tears are "crockodile tears". That's what my mother called them. What a wus Boehner is!!

This whole thing is one big dog and pony show. The Dems are damned that the bailout didn't go through and damned if it would have. These jokers are now saying that Pelosi declared Martial Law. WTF!

It's all over people. RIP America!

Continuing typing, since that's all we're capable of.

This is such a set-up for the American people. Blame Pelosi and the Dems for crashing the bus (that they just threw her in front of!) - now the sheep will BEG for passage of the so-calle bailout! We will be putting the nails into our own coffin if we fall for this diabolical gamesmanship! Can you spell A-m-e-r-o?

From what I've been able to learn about this bill, it basically planned to give the crooks who created the problem an immediate 250B, oversight by the same crooks who not only failed to provide oversight but supported the lack of it, to give Bush $100B in discretionary spending (say WHAT?!!!) and effectively gives Bush another $350B to throw around has and when he wishes IF the Congress chooses NOT to vote for the final tranche, by virtue of his veto power (weird I know). Judges are meanwhile barred from helping to renegotiate mortgages.

Based on the above I was against the bill 'on principle' so I'm okay with its failure in that respect. But this isn't about simply bailing out a bunch of wall street crooks but concerns a struggling population in very direct ways. The Republicans didn;t vote against the Bear Stearns, or Freddie or Fanni bailouts so why go against this bill?

Their excuses for their nay votes are pure politicking as other have noted. If by chance they were against it because of taxpayer discontent, why haven't they used that excuse already? Because taxpayer discontent at bailing out Wall Street crooks is not part of their rationale. at all.
As noted by others, Bush wanted it so it can be argued that they don't want to be tainted with public distaste for Bush and the bill 'on-principle', come the elections.
BUT then they aren't claiming they are champions of a disgruntled electorate--instead they are blaming the DEMOCRATS for their own opposition and they don;t even mention the specific of the bill but are just crying and whining about socialism and a completely fictional slight by Pelosi.

BTW the GOPs financial backers aren't particularly hurt by the Dow drop---they've got their wealth all over the place. they've made insane amounts of money already and they can easily afford to take a hit against their net worths.

If the Repubs said this is a bad bill, I'd praise them for it, but that's clearly not why the voted against it. Instead they are throwing a tantrum out of political panic.

two weeks ago mccain said the 'economy is fundamentally strong' so whats the
worry john? your palying politics mccain with your stunt going to the hill
acting like you did something. NOW trying to place blame on obama is
ridiculous. you gambled again mccain and you bet wrong.

The Very Bitter Ceci Hussein @ 115:

To be truthful, this mess only shows that the true terrorists are the Republican party. You cannot deny that this was a set-up. They even allowed McCain's shenanigans last week to happen and worked them in.

None of the attention was paid to the bill and its implications of what trouble it might cause to the American people. Let's face it. No one gives a damn about how this affects everyday folks.

Again, I say, of all parties that have been screwed in this entire mess, it is the American people who work hard and earn their money everyday.

The rich aren't going anywhere. They will still be having their little get-togethers in the Hamptons while the rest of us stand in bread-lines.

Right on.
Anyone who actually believes these rich, entitled mother fuckers give a shit about any of us common folk deserves whatever happens to them. The rich have always fucked the poor in the ass.

Scott @ 70:

Personally, I think Pelosi was stupid for giving a speech like that -- this "agreement" was on shaky ground, at best The Republicans were just WAITING for a reason to kill this thing, and her speech gave them an excuse (albeit, a pathetic excuse) to do it. She should have known better.

Bullshit. If the Pelosi excuse hadn't come along they'd have found another one.

Cary Polevoy @ 142:

SHAME

Shame on the 132 Republicans and 94 Democrats in the U.S. House that just voted down the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.

Against the leadership of both parties, they have voted AGAINST the interests of middle America as well as American business.

No better solution to the crisis has been proposed. They stood on shallow and hollow self-interest, uncaring about their constituents.

Their actions are as treasonous as anything anyone could do. They swore oaths to protect the United States. Unless they change their votes and get this legislation passed, or something darned close to it quickly, they will be responsible for failing to avert, in fact aiding and abetting, the greatest economic catastrophe since the Great Depression.

So in other words, they should rob the tax payers. Is that what you're saying?

Look, those banks that issued out those loans would have made out like bandits. Not only would they have recieved taxpayers dollars to please their investors, but the interests on the loans owed. You think they're going to let the people they gave loans too just walk away since the government paid the banks off? That would have been a chance to double heir profits!

boner & cantor....a drunk and a skunk

Pelosi is a puppet. Remember that deer in the headlights look when she won the election?

She's Joe Leiberman in a skirt who pretends to be Mary Poppins.