I’m sure Nancy Pelosi dislikes George Bush much more than Clay Evans does. That leaves very little doubt that screwing the Republicans and George Bush is much more important to here than passing the bailout plan. Powerline has some interesting insights on Nancy’s hard work to pass the bailout plan…
Nancy Pelosi must be the most ineffective House Speaker of modern times. The Democrats have achieved virtually nothing since taking control of the House and Senate in 2006, and have consistently avoided the responsibility that goes with being the majority party. Which may explain why, until very recently, most Americans were unaware that the Democrats were actually in control of Congress.
Oh, so the Democrats could have passed this bill w/o Republican help?
Did they really want to pass the bill?
Everyone has heard about the weirdly partisan and inaccurate rant which Pelosi contributed to the debate on the bailout bill. But that speech did not take place in a vacuum. Public opinion is running strongly against the bill, and it required political courage to vote for it. If you look at the list of those who voted “No” in both parties, it is mostly members who are engaged in tough re-election campaigns. This is true on both sides of the aisle.
That being the case, and given the fact that the legislation was in fact a negotiated, bipartisan compromise, the first duty of the majority party is to line up its members to support the majority’s bill. But evidence is growing that the Democrats did no such thing.
As of yesterday, the Democrats’ House whip, Jim Clyburn said that he hadn’t even begun “whipping” Democratic representatives, and wouldn’t do so unless and until he got orders from Nancy Pelosi. Today, Democratic Congressman Peter DeFazio told NPR that he never was “whipped” on the bill. So Pelosi evidently left Democrats to vote their consciences–which is to say, vote against the bill if they thought it was politically necessary–while counting on Republicans to put the bill over the top.
Great time for a partisan rant Nancy. I would have expected it from Clay Evans, but not from the Speaker of the House. No “whipping” and rubbing salt in the wound of Republican. Sure looks like Nancy got exactly what she desired. The hands still being played out, could be interesting.
