The scene yesterday: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson falling to one knee to beg House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to get the House to approve the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street. So desperate. Man up, Hank.
One problem: if Pelosi wanted to get the package through, she could do it in the blink of an eye. The Democrats are the MAJORITY. And yet, she and Barney Frank and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer are screaming about how “impossible” the Republicans are being in opposing this behemoth bill.
But remember: Pelosi has 230 plus votes. Girlfriend can pass whatever she wants, and often does, from opposing the Iraq war by underfunding it to last week’s sham drilling bill. Her party is the MAJORITY. She and Hoyer cry out for the need for Republican votes on the bailout, when in fact, they need none.
So why all of the drama?
Because the Democrats need cover. They are so eager to fork over $700 billion of YOUR money to…whom? Wall Street. Bankers. Plutocrats. They are so quick to pass off your money to these villains that they need the Republicans to go along so they can ALL get the blame if it goes south.
The Democrats, who get more money from Wall Street these days than the Republicans do, are supposed to be the party of “the common man?” “The average Joe?” Sure.
The latest is that Pelosi now threatens to ram through the bill, to which the House Republicans say, “Be our guest.” The vast majority of Americans oppose this package as currently constituted: it’s way too much government intervention for them, with too few guarantees that they’ll get their money back. The Republicans know this, and it dovetails with their basic philosophy of limited government and fiscal discipline.
Voila! Huge victory for the Republicans, and for John McCain. Suddenly, the Democrats are working with President Bush (whom they still loathe and deride) and his administration (which they’ve called “incompetent” for years. Is it still incompetent? The Dems suddenly think the administration is wise and swell.)
The Republicans are now marching with the average American while the Democrats have thrown in with Wall Street.
And now McCain—who has completely eclipsed the feckless Barack Obama on this—-can say that reform, transparency, accountability, caution, humility, and taxpayer protections will be the order of a McCain administration.
Those things have always been true for McCain, and they are truer still.
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