Don't Take That Tone With Me, Miss Nancy Pelosi!

It's not often that I'm surprised at what comes out of politicians' mouths. But when House Minority Leader John Boehner and his crew started whining like a bunch of petulant children about how things were going on the economic bail-out vote, I just about lost it.

Boehner and his pals hadn't really just acted like a bunch of whiny schoolboys because their feelings were hurt, causing them to stomp their feet and take their toys home so "the girl" they didn't like couldn't play, did they?

Here's what got their knickers all in a twist:

The fact that the GOP is trying to blame the failure of the economic bail-out/recovery bill to pass on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is nothing short of outrageous.

If you look at the voting recap, representatives in districts with tight races tended to vote against the package, while those who were in safe districts voted for the bail-out. In trying to point the finger of blame at Pelosi's floor speech yesterday and criticizing her for her "tone" as the reason for the failure to pass is just an attempt by the GOP to play hide the ball with voters about who was really responsible.

When was the last time you heard men criticize other men for talking about something with a "tone." All I could think of was my parents, lecturing me in my teen years, when I had let loose with some semi-snarky retort, '"Don't take that tone with me, young lady!" But that's another post for another day.

Let's refocus the discussion. This isn't about Pelosi's floor speech. It's not about hurt feelings. It's about the world economy getting ready to go into full meltdown, and the GOP is to blame since they're the ones who have pushed and pulled and scratched and clawed over the last 15 years to take apart our regulatory system one statute at a time. They succeeded and thought they had managed to convince us all that our investments and bank accounts would be safe in a world of voluntary compliance.

When the government doesn't enforce its own regulations, or weakens them for special interests, investors become Little Red Riding Hood with the markets being the wolf trying to pretend he's the kindly old grandma. The regulators are the Woodsman -- and without the Woodsman, you can guess what would have happened to Little Red. That's why whatever gets worked on in Congress to "bail out" the economy, there had better be ramped up oversight -- regulations with some real teeth -- or else we'll be back in this mess sooner than you can say' investor revolt.

Regardless of what you think about this particular failed package, lawmakers acting worse than the third-grade boys in my eight year-old daughter's class was not the appropriate response if they couldn't agree on this plan. The fact that it's the one they chose says only one thing -- congressmen and congresswomen who can't find a way to come together to figure this thing out without political games need to be given a permanent electoral time out.

The good news is that we, as voters, can oblige them in just a few weeks.

When she's done figuring out what the appropriate punishment should be for lawmakers who put politics above voters, you can find her at her place, PunditMom, where she writes about the intersection of motherhood and politics. She is also a contributor to MOMocrats and a Contributing Editor for Politics & News at BlogHer. She also spent several years as an Enforcement attorney at the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Comments

[Kerris]

All I can think of when watching Pelosi speak is that, no matter who wins in November, this is the human being 2nd in line to the presidency if anything should happen to the Pres or VP.

There is a god.

[MyVoiceHere]

With the RNC commercial showing up before the bill was defeated blaming the Democrats and Obama for the bailout it shows that the House Republicans were bluffing on giving their share of votes expecting the Democrats to pass the bill on their own. If that is not what happened, we are left asking who is the Republican leader really? Not Boehner, Not Bush, Not McCain. There was not one Republican that would say that Pelosi's speech changed their vote.

[apoyo]

It's a wonderful day when a women rises to so much power (!)

[LongTimeLiberal52]

OK, now I'm really confused...

Courtesy of Laura Rosen, this little tidbit from Bloomberg.com ( http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a9MTZEgukPLY&refer=home ):

"The Federal Reserve will pump an additional $630 billion into the global financial system, flooding banks with cash to alleviate the worst banking crisis since the Great Depression.

The Fed increased its existing currency swaps with foreign central banks by $330 billion to $620 billion to make more dollars available worldwide."

Does this mean that the $700 billion in taxpayer money specified by the "bailout" wasn't really necessary after all? Whew - glad THAT's behind us!