Speaking of politics and strange bedfellows:
Newt is right
by kos
Tue Sep 23, 2008 at 11:38:49 AM PDT
The Grinch is making sense:
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said Tuesday that any lawmaker who votes for the Bush administration's $700 billion bailout package, which he called a “dead loser,” will face defeat in November.
Gingrich (R-Ga.) said he thinks Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is trying to scare lawmakers into passing the bailout plan quickly and without thorough study.
“I think what Paulson hopes to do is say, ‘If you don’t do exactly what I want you to do, the whole world’s going to collapse on Tuesday’,” Gingrich said.
The former Speaker, talking to reporters at a lunch, added that he expects Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) to back the plan. He predicted that, if Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) ends up opposing the administration proposal, there will be an overnight “emergence of a McCain/reform wing of the Republican Party.”
Gingrich said that occurrence would turn the election on its head, with Republicans running ads that feature Obama with President Bush on the same team in pushing for a “nightmare” bailout plan.
The former Speaker said that by November, the flaws in the plan will be apparent, and voters will “break against anyone who votes for it.”
There are so many good reasons to oppose this plan -- on policy, on politics, on common sense -- that it's crazy to think that anyone is even remotely taking it seriously. It's not a bailout, it's a gift to the Wall Street elites who made a bad bet, and now want us to pay the bill. Remember what the White House says:
With respect to executive pay, again, I'm not going to get into specific, point-by-point details on what our views are on that, other than the Secretary of Treasury said it would make more difficult to make this plan work and effective if you provide disincentives for companies and firms out there who are holding mortgage-backed securities and other securities from participating in the program. You have to remember, these are not all weak or troubled firms that own mortgage-backed securities. A lot of them are very successful banks and investment houses that have done very well, have been responsible, are holding performing assets that have value. They were not necessarily irresponsible players, and so you have to be careful about how you deal with them.
In their own words, this isn't about bailing out troubled firms. It's about gifting "very successful banks and investment houses that have done very well."
This ridiculous bailout plan needs to be immediately snuffed out. Anyone who votes for this thing won't face just trouble this November, but in 2010 when primary season comes around. You want a bipartisan popular revolt on both sides of the ideological divide? This will do the trick.
dailykos.com |
