Stop the revolt?
Posted on September 26th, 2008 at 10:10 am by East of EdenBarney Frank, that long-standing beacon of legislative power and insight is now telling us that the Republican members of Congress need to “drop the revolt” against the Bush bail out plan. Really? Drop the revolt? How about listen to what the other side has to say Mr. Frank. The GOP legislators are only responding to the American people, their constituents, the people they are supposed to represent and care about. Frank also was shocked at the “level of divisiveness” that surfaced in Thursday’s talks on the plan. I don’t know how Mr. Frank can be surprised, unless he is living under a rock, or not looking out his window, or on the internet, or the poll numbers or any news broadcast. Americans all over the country, from all political persuasions, are frustrated, and mad about this bail out, and they are letting their frustrations be known. I’m glad that some in Congress are standing up, and saying NO to the blank check plan offered by Hank Paulson and George Bush, and agreed to by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.
Other democrats are chiming in with indignation as well. Sen. Schumer of New York thinks Pres. Bush should tell John McCain to take a hike, because apparently he is “harming more than helping the process”. I guess his good buddy Obama is ok to stay though, is that right, Chuck? Never mind that one of them will be the next president, and really should be in the know on what eventually happens. Sen. Reid also is worried that the Congress will have to postpone their “long-sought adjournment” plans. Well I’m sorry Harry, but most Americans don’t get the sweet vacation time that you all in Congress do. Don’t expect any sympathy from regular people if you have to cut your long weekend short. We’re all worrying about how the bail out will affect our children and if we will have anything left in our retirement accounts by next Wednesday.
I don’t think it’s ever been part of the rules of Congress that GOP legislators have to be in lock step with their President. Sadly, they have picked a time that is too little, too late to stand up to Bush. I wonder had GOP legislators stood up to the President years ago would be in this mess now?
11 Comments
Leave a comment
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Where have THESE Republicans been?
These who are so stalwartly right,
These of such spending discipline,
These w/purse strings drawn tight?
Year after year,under King Doofuss,
We’ve heard barely whimper or cry
As spending soared to record levels
And “W” just let it all go by.
Republicans with backbone? Wow,
When did that latest change hit?
Last backbone I remember was he,
Ronald Reagan. That was it!
A deal now is a deal with the devil
‘Cause with Pelosi etal is the same
But, glad McCain came back to lead
Cause his toughness gives him game!
Whodat knows that there is no good answer for taxpayers. This is all about just cutting our losses.
The whole thing is pathetic. It amazes me that a minority of republicans who do not have the votes to stop any legislation can stop the whole process.
Both parties caused this mess. Both parties are trying benefit their presidential campaigns. Government intervention is the root cause of most of these problems and government intervention will not correct them.
The more i listen to the government tell me how they are going to take over things and fix our lives, the more i start to wish i had been a ron paul supporter.
JE, you’ve hit on the beauty and the bane of our system. A few people can totally poop out the party for the rest of us, or them. But I really think the concens they’ve (the GOP Rebels — said in your best Darth Vader voice) raised are valid, and I also think that some of their proposals are valid, and should be looked at. They want to push more of the bail out on the private sector…the people who should be dealing with this in the first place. My gut tells me if the banks knew they were not getting a free ride, they would be more than willing to step up to the plate and heal themselves as much as they can. If they want to make any money on thier bad loans, why don’t they go and take it upon themselves to renegtiate bad mortgages?? Credit Card companies do it, hospitals do it and so on.
Well, at least they have everyone in a room working it out… that’s at least a step in the right direction.
And yes, we would have been in this mess if the Republicans would have stood up to Bush a year ago. This thing goes back over a decade and we can’t forgot what role we, as individual consumers, have played in this.
Amen to the responsibility of individual consumers!
Basically we have a consumer driven society where in times of economic slowdown the government tells us it is patriotic to go spend money to support the economy. A nation/economy cannot survive that way. To quote an FOB (friend of Obama), “America’s chickens have come home to roost”
One quick question…
Why are the financial geniuses in congress having such a hard time fixing this? Many of them came to washington with very little money, took a job paying less than $200,000 and are millionaires by the end of their first term. With that kind of investing/saving ability they should have our government in great shape!
Hmmm, perhaps they didn’t actually earn the millions, or didn’t have to do much to acquire it.
For example: John Kerry married Theresa Heinz Ketchup; Ted Kennedy inherited trust funds; Obama wrote two books; McCain married a wealthy heiress and savvy business woman….and so goes many others. These guys lack experience with markets and investments.
Hence, many are not qualified to deal with this crisis.
They are having a hard time dealing with this because they don’t want to be blamed if it goes belly up. It’s the “not in my term” syndrome. Never do anything in your term that might haunt you, thus we have a ‘do nothing’ Congress.
Kristen and Eden hit the nail on the head. Few are qualified and none of them want responsibility if it goes wrong. One of Pelosi and Reid’s demands was to have at least 100 Republicans vote for it.
Yeah, i know. My question was purely rhetorical. They are all (repubs and dems) pitiful. I wouldnt let any of them balance my checkbook, yet they are sucking up nearly half my income.
On a seperate note, are we going to have the live chat room thing for the debate?