Bailout blues
"House GOP rises up against Cheney"
Big Dick Cheney fizzled.
Yep, Cheney stomped up to Capitol Hill to strong-arm unhappy Republicans into giving the Bush regime the blank check it demands for distribution to its friends and cronies.
But, he didn't scare them.
From politico.com: "There was a time when Dick Cheney could turn back a Republican revolt on Capitol Hill.
That time is gone.
The vice president traveled to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to silence a chorus of GOP complaints about Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s $700 billion plan. But House Republicans who walked into a closed-door meeting with Cheney steaming over the plan walked out just as angry, and they described what happened in between as both “a bloodbath” and “an unmitigated disaster.”
Texas Rep. Joe Barton took the unusual step of telling reporters gathered outside the Cannon Caucus Room that he had confronted Cheney “respectfully” about his concerns — a level of dissent Republicans once considered heresy under the Bush administration.
Another lawmaker present — who spoke on the condition of anonymity — said that Cheney, White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten and economic policy adviser Keith Hennessey “were in worse shape when they left than when they came in.”
Cheney’s inability to turn around members of his own party said plenty about how congressional Republicans view the Bush White House these days — but maybe even more about their discomfort with a bailout plan many of them see as an attack on their free market principles. [..]"
I watched a good bit of the hearings in front of the Senate Banking Committee, or rather listened as I quilted in my sewing room. The Senators on both sides of the aisle were extremely unhappy...dashing Paulson's hopes of a quick pick-up of $700 billion.
Chris Dodd came out and called the Paulson plan unacceptable. Richard Shelby, the Republican ranking member, is skeptical that the plan would even work. I didn't hear any positive comments.
Sen. Sherrod Brown said he hadn't received one phone call from a constituent that was positive...that people making $50,000 a year are not interested in bailing out executives whose country club fees are many times that.
The anger in that Senate office building just reflects the anger in the country...we the people don't want to give a huge chunk of the Federal treasury away, no-strings-attached, to those rich people who created the problem in the first dang place.
I'm happy to see both Dems and Repubs working together on this.
