Fatal Mistake By House Republicans

I do not know which genius in the House Republican messaging department decided to suggest that their members voted "nay" on the bailout because Speaker Pelosi was mean to them.

But whoever it was will be receiving holiday cards from Speaker Pelosi and her successor for a long time. Yes, that long.

Barney Frank's expert riposte cemented a flash impression of Democrats and the Treasury Secretary working together to find a solution to the national crisis while GOP bomb throwers let their egos rule the day.

Immediately my own mind went to the episode in 1995 in which Newt Gingrich shut down the U.S. government because he was upset Bill Clinton made him and Bob Dole sit at the back of Air Force One. (I'm not alone. A google search revealed that Huffington Post blogger Barry Yourgrau has already made the comparison.)

Dear reader, the time is nigh for you to write to your local paper and observe quite politely and pleasantly that the American people demand the Republicans attempt to regain the mantle of "fiscal responsibility" so tarnished by the Bush administration.

And if the DCCC isn't already cranking out ads using that language -- it should be.

Here's a fun fact: the GOP congresscritters who voted no were largely in closely contested swing districts.

The ad writes itself: "Congresscritter _______ would like to tell you his vote against the plan to save our economy was made out of principle. Turns out, he's more prideful than patriotic."

Do Republicans hate government so much that they want a permanent ringside seat?

Follow Bart Motes on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bmotes

Comments

[res05e]

Partisanship on both sides of the aisle has come home to roost. Frank's and Pelosi's comments were just as counterproductive as the Republicans' complaints about Madame Speaker's speech. Party loyalty is a red herring. The real issue is that there is limited support for the bailout legislation among constituents in swing states; that goes for the Democrats and the Republicans who voted against the bill. 95 Democrats voted "no," remember. James Madison purposely limited majority control when he wrote the Constitution in order to avoid a problem like this - i.e., the country is facing a crisis, but the majority's will is counter to the best interests of the majority. What we need are representatives - on both sides of the aisle - who are willing to put their responsibilities to the country and to the Constitution before their political aspirations. It takes true leadership to inspire politicians to such altruism, and I have not seen that kind of leadership from Democrats or Republicans.

Perhaps the bailout needed some editing.The Federal Reserve has wide latitude as the lender of last resort to bail out failing financial institutions. The Department of Treasury also has broad powers in times of financial crisis; they brokered the AIG deal without any help from Congress. The SEC just issued new regulations. The executive branch has the opportunity to act -and has in fact been acting - without Congress. Maybe Congress can pare down that $700 billion number and stabilize the banks before the real economy

[Shieldmaiden]

The Republicans better propose a better bailout plan. I'm not a fan of bailouts but we may need one but one that actually helps average people. None of this golden parachute nonsense. Either way though the Republicans should have had a better response to why they killed the bill. They could have said they were opting out to write a better bill, but nooooo Nancy made them cry.

[Geekboy]

What has happened here seems most likely less strategic and more related to the players' survival instincts. Consider the dynamics:

1) Bush and Paulson have made a convincing case to legislators that something dramatic must be done quickly. Unlike the former Patriot Act and WMD "must act now" emergencies, this does not look like bluster.
2) Regardless of merit, the population in general hates the idea and is very vocal about it.
3) As usual, 1/3 of senate seats are up for election, but all house seats are up.

Any wonder that progress on the bailout has been mostly in the senate where 2/3 of the members don't have to answer for it immediately? Also, any wonder that house republicans, who are trying to distance themselves from Bush and what his administration have done, are the ones feeling the most pressure to NOT support the bailout?
A democrat supporting the bailout can at least claim the high ground by being bipartisan enough to respond to a crisis, even if they can claim it's the other guy's crisis. A republican supporting the bailout looks like an apologist for Bush.
Oddly enough I'd guess republican support for a bailout bill would be likely, if the bill were fashioned in a way to inflict maximum embarrassment on Bush :D Then they could go back to constituents saying "I did what I had to, but made that b****** pay for it!"

[terraprieto]

I don't care WHO killed the giveaway, I just want it to STAY DEAD.

NO WELFARE FOR WALL STREET!!!

We’ve been told, over and over again, that the U.S. cannot afford universal health care, or a high-speed train system, or free university education.

But Bush, Obama, Frank and Dodd think we can afford for billions in welfare for rich Wall Streeters.

NO! Let them fail! If bankruptcy is good enough for struggling homeowners, it’s good enough for Goldman Sachs.

NO WELFARE FOR WALL STREET!!!

Call your congressmember NOW. Keep the bailout DEAD.

[drkazmd65]

Whatever their reasons for voting AGAINST this debacle of a bailout plan - I THANK the Repbublicans that did so.

The whole plan was huge, targeted aid to the corporations that got us into this meltdown to begin with, had little to know oversight and accountability built into it, and horribly poorly thought out.

I THANK them and the 'Left-wing' Democrats (gotta love Dennis Kucinich!) that voted against this mess.

Now maybe,... just maybe,... we can get a plan in place that doesn't flush a $Trillion or so down the toilet that is Wall Street, and that actually HELPS actual citizens of this country?

[deliriousgod]

being Republican means never having to say you were wrong

[RTIII]

The headline of this intellectual vacuousness is probably right about hurting Rs at some point.

"Probably" because large numbers of people get it. (Yesterday Congress' telephone switchboard failed, there were so many calls crying "NO!") We don't need this bailout; it solves nothing and at best only slows down impending doom while devaluing all dollars. FAR smarter is to reject ALL bailouts and concentrate on core causes of our difficulties.

More intelligent proposals include a bottom up bail-out, equally unfair, that keeps people in their homes by reversing the direction of aid. This does not, however, address fundamental problems any more than the original bail-out did, and is also a band-aid.

Addressing fundamental issues, alter the Federal Reserve; leave existing banks alone and let them continue to hold their questionable assets, changing Fed OWNERSHIP to the people, and seed it with perhaps $250B and with congressional approval in increments of, oh $100B.

This leaves the "entire system" more or less as it was yet guarantees a clean money supply from here forward, originating new loans as the old Fed did; old balance sheets aren't altered and we, the people, are the ones who the banks are beholden to, instead of the other way 'round. For stimulating the economy, new Fed can be chartered with priority toward helping fund infrastructure at state and local levels throughout the US.

Replacing the privately owned Fed with a publicly owned one would be a real fix we should all support.
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[anandakos]

Watch out people. The vast majority of citizens in the country, Democratic, Republican, and Independent, despise the bail-out; I am one of them. Many think a smaller version might yet prove to be or have been necessary, but they still hate it.

I believe the Republicans have done the country a service. Some of them may have had rotten motives for their action, but this thing was a huge scam to raid the treasury, let's not forget that. Yes, the stock market took a big dive on its rejection, but Asia, Europe, and now apparently the US have recovered a little; markets do that. It's NOT a good idea to base a campaign on an expected stock market crash.

If Senator Obama wants to own this issue he should be articulating reasonable and targeted improvements to regulation. Things like outlawing the purchase of credit default swap insurance by anyone except the creditor of the indebtedness insured -- any other purchaser is betting on a default that he or she can help bring about; full re-nationalization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac OR complete and explicit privatization of them coupled with migration of all low-income housing support to Ginnie Mae; adoption of capital adequacy ratios which rise with the size of a banking entity (making the failure of "too big to fail" institutions less likely); and exclusion of collateralized obligations from capital adequacy computation.

[reliant1]

BEIJING, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Chinese regulators have told domestic banks to stop interbank lending to U.S. financial institutions to prevent possible losses during the financial crisis, the South China Morning Post reported on Thursday.

The Hong Kong newspaper cited unidentified industry sources as saying the instruction from the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) applied to interbank lending of all currencies to U.S. banks BUT not to banks from other countries.

"The decree appears to be Beijing's first attempt to erect defences against the deepening U.S. financial meltdown after the mainland's major lenders reported billions of U.S. dollars in exposure to the credit crisis," the SCMP said.



The bailout is sooooooo passe now. We were into rescue plans....but that has come and gone as well.

Search and recovery is all that's left.

[Jigglypuff]

What if the good people of Mainstreet America were to take to the streets and demand that Pres. Bush and VP Cheney resign immediately based on their incapacity to run this country?

[TheJibreelaMonsters]

Democrats Control the HOUSE

[Researchguy66]

...and 90-odd Dems actually voted against the bill, including enough committee chairs and sub-committe chairs to have allowed the vote to pass.

Frank's remarks might have been good sound bites, but they're extremely disingenuous. He knows that they only needed 12 Republican votes because they permitted at-risk Dem's to vote "no".

I'm against the bailout, so I'm thankful it failed. If it passes, it will doom any shot O*bam*a has at using taxpayer debt obligations for economic stimulus. So, we can have a bank bailout now or a government investment in energy independence. I know which one promises a better future for America.

[JohnFromCensornati]

"Immediately my own mind went to the episode in 1995 in which Newt Gingrich shut down the U.S. government because he was upset Bill Clinton made him and Bob Dole sit at the back of Air Force One."
This observation alone should tell you that the voters will not send the Republicans into exile. We should be so lucky.

[metalpipe]

Turns out voting against the bailout bill was probably the wisest course of action:

http://market-ticker.denninger.net/

I hope my boy Obama reads this and reforms his views to challenge us to have courage.

[vippy]

I believe McCain and Obama both were called to Washington and bought!
Remember, the AMT issue was left alone and congress was going to take a break
without addressing this very important issue for us.

[LexLuthier]

My "boy?"

Did your parents try to teach you decency and respect without success, or did they just not care?

[Bart Motes - Huffpost Blogger]

Whoa there, tiger. Saying "my boy X" is way different from calling someone "boy." It's more akin to my friend, my homie, etc.

[nazcalito]

It is a mistake for the Democratic leadership to associate the Democratic party with the bailout. After all, the people who asked for it were Bush and Paulson. Pelosi and the Democratic leadership caved in to threats from Wall Street that the pension funds and 401ks would be the first to go. That a large number of House Republicans acted independently is a good thing, but it was only because of pressure from their constituents that they did so. 40 percent of the House Democrats voted against the bailout too, and they were not the conservative ones, either.

[RTIII]

Pelosi is a failed leader because she's not a Democrat. Oh, her name-tag is prefaced by D, but that doesn't make it true. She's what we can a DINO - Democrat In Name Only.
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[Rockwell]

Can't wait to see Jon Stewart's take on this. That whining press conference that Boehner held was GOLD! This sh%t writes itself, as the saying goes.

[dutchgirl55]

Republicans...the gift that keeps on giving.

[PumaAnn]

I think many of you don't take this very seriously. It will take time, I suppose, for the problems to hit you personally.

It's not fodder for comedy.

[luckynewman13]

No, what is fodder for comedy is your support for McCain and his terrifying joke of a world view.

[metalpipe]

Puma, my favorite McCain lite poster, you are missing the point. The issue should have been taken seriously many years ago. The Bush, McCain, Gramm, Greenspan foursome made this all possible. Their is only room for comic relief on this, as their is no budget for it. It would take 4-5 trillion dollars to alleviate this mortgage debacle. This 700 billion would fly away like leaves in the wind were it handed to the market.

[drkazmd65]

There is always a fine line between tragedy and comedy PumaAnn - it wouldn't be funny if it wasn't based in a (somewhat) painful reality.

If we can't laugh, even when there is a lot to cry about - life just ain't worth living.

And I plan on laughing for a very long time to come.

Lighten up!

[cylindar]

No matter what the reason for the delay in passage, it will be overcome and a bill will pass and this will be history. The smart thing to do is to move on and consider the next job at hand which would be to really figure out how to get out of this mess because the bailout won't really do it anyways.