OK. Here’s the House tally for the bailout bill: 228 to 205 against.
Dems: 140 to 95 in favor
Repubs: 133 to 65 against
Clearly, the Democrats had enough votes to make what absolutely had to happen happen but when you are dealing with the monumental incompetence that is Nancy Pelosi, nothing is a sure thing. (Run against Congress, Senator McCain, run against Congress)
The Republicans have blamed the partisan nature of Pelosi’s floor speech before the vote, singling-out the “anything goes” policies of the Bush Administration, for the failure of the bill. The Democrats have cried foul saying that you vote for a bill and not for a speech. Fair enough, but perhaps the Republicans remembered some hearings way back in what must seem ancient history now regarding some of the monkey business going down at Freddie and Fannie back on 2004.
Video below of those hearings include Maxine Waters extolling the virtues of 100% (no down) loans, not-so-veiled racist accusations leveled against Fannie’s regulator, a Jamie Gorelick reference (the woman is becoming the Zelig of turn-of-the-century shit-storms… if you see this woman coming towards you, run as fast as you can the other way), Barney Frank, the brothel operator, telling everybody to just move along, there’s nothing to see here, please just move along, a questioning of Franklin Raines' (Fannie's top dog) compensation package and at the very end, Bubba himself, assessing the situation.
Bottom line: ask yourself who are the folks who are the free-wheeling, anything goes, laissez-faire types when it comes to affordable housing, "meeting goals" and keeping the nosy away from the leverage and patronage afforded by those two houses of ill-repute, Fannie and Freddie.
We remember with some degree of clarity, The Economist, commenting back in the ’03-’04 timeframe on how the American economy, post-9-11/post dot.com bubble/post accounting firm scandal, was being propped-up by housing prices…. But for how long? As in, when those housing prices that everyone is using as equity to keep the economy moving flattens or even falls, then what?
H/T: Hot Air
Monday, September 29, 2008
Bail (Out!)
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5 comments:
I'm convinced that if Pelosi got up and gave financial equivalent of The Gettysburg Address, that the GOP congressional delegation would have knocked the bailout plan down.
i.e., she was a convenience for them. An excuse to vote "no".
I mean, c'mon... "We can't vote yes on a plan we were going to vote yes on to stave off the very real threat of financial disaster because somebody made a speech"???
How many speeches do you actually hear about made in congress? Hardly a-one. Nobody listens to those damn things. There's a reason all those seats are always empty. It's not like listening to Winston Churchill or a U2 concert.
GOP Members used Pelosi's status as right wing red meat to turn a speech into actionable partisanship. Why? Because -- against their better judgment -- they wanted to look good for the folks back home.
And have you heard what she said? It's not like she kicked their dog, slapped their children, etc. She said, basically, "And a little regulation and oversight over these past 8 years woulda killed ya?"
Hardly a reason to "go".
What that was yesterday was the triumph of politics over "Welcome to the World of Ya Ain't Got a Choice".
The even money (If I have any left) is that a similar bill will be passed through within two weeks.
- Shank Piston Getting The Hang of This Whole Picking Off a Wolf From 300 Feet in a Helicopter-Thing
Mongo,
I agree it was a tactical blunder for the Repubs to even bring up Pelosi's speech as the reason they weren't going to vote for something in the first place.
It was childish and petty. The speech stood on its own as a testament to the glittering jewel of colossal ignoarance that defines Pelosi.
But as far as "a little regulation" killing people? If you watched the video then it becomes apparent that, yeah, it may have killed a few people gaging by the vehemency of the response to a little oversight. Even Bubba agreed.
But back to Pelosi: How does she let legislation this monumental even make it to the floor if she doesn't have the votes? 95 of her own party voted against this thing. Word around the campfire is that she let a few off the hook... allowing them to vote "no" if it meant their political survival. Woops. Nancy needs some math lessons. Again: a glittering jewel of colossal ignorance.
Well, that sounds like What Came First, The Chicken Or The Egg? - material if there ever was. But, from this here lying and half-truthing perspective, I've gotta believe she was undoubtedly given a number of GOP votes to be counted on by GOP leadership and proceeded thereon believing there was enough to carry the day. Otherwise, why bother?
- Shank Piston Feeding His 6,000 Year Old Dinasour
Why bother? Perhaps because she is wholy incompetent or.... she never really wanted this thing to go through in the first place.
But since I don't believe she possesses the moxie and guile to pull off something that cynical, I'll settle again on monumental incompetence.
Quick answer to your request for a post: I'm starting to lose focus on just what the crisis really is. I'm not sure there is one outside of a few overly leveraged, badly run Wall Street investment firms.
This whole thing has caused me to take a crash course in banking and loans and I just don't see that the problem is very widespread.
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