Blaming Nancy Pelosi's "tone" for their reason for voting against the plan is ludicrous. If the GOP didn't approve of the plan as proposed, they've got an obligation TO US to come up with an alternative.

This whole dog and pony show just proves that our elected representatives care more about their politics than their constituents. I say, vote them all out and start over in November with Representatives who can learn to work together and not get into elementary school playground games.

My daughter's third grade class can behave and cooperate better than this.

I agree Punditmom its time to put up.  If there is an alternative then lets see it.  Its not OK to just say not that there has to be some other idea put forward.  If this bill is bad then give us what you think should be done and why.  They are not elected to complain they are elceted to work.  I saw the one guy from I think Miss come out with letters from economist that the bill was bad as his reason for not supporting it. Then those economist should have an alternate plan.  I am ready for the alternate.  This one was like the cod liver oil my grandma used to give us.  Hold your nose and swallow.  If you got a better idea put up or shut up. 

Michelle

I blog at http://www.mommycan.blogspot.com/

An excerpt from Yahoo News:

" WESTMINSTER, Colo. - Democrat Barack Obama called on Congress to stay in Washington and pass a bailout for the hobbled financial industry, minutes after the House rejected the latest plan.
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"One of the message I have for Congress: Get it done," Obama said.

The Democratic presidential candidate said he's confident Congress will eventually work out something, however. "I'm confident we're going to get there, but it's going to be rocky," the Illinois senator said..."

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

BlogHer is non-partisan but our bloggers aren't! Follow our coverage of Politics & News.

...and Republican credibility re: free-market economy.

Rep. Pelosi says: "They claim to be free-market advocates, when it’s really an anything goes mentality. No regulation, no supervision, no discipline. And if you fail, you will have a golden parachute and the taxpayer will bail you out. Those days are over. The party is over in that respect."

So - what do you think?

Democrats, do you think she was wise to make these comments at this time?

Republicans, do you think the GOP has lost credibility re: free-market advocacy?

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

BlogHer is non-partisan but our bloggers aren't! Follow our coverage of Politics & News.

Democrats have enough members to pass the bill without more Republican votes.  Why did 95 Democrats vote 'nay'?  Nancy Pelosi can point fingers at Republicans all she wants but the facts show that she can't influence her own party.

LePlusJeune - proud Independent

www.remodelle.net

Alright, I am not going to pretend to know much of anything about economics.  I don't understand investments, as I never really had much of anything to invest.  Although, I understand that this Wall Street crisis can spread if banks are less likely to offer credit due to the crisis.  I also understand that a 700 point drop in the DOW = Bad.  

 Why indeed did 95 democrats vote against it?  I know more voted for it than against it, but 40% of house democrats voted against it, in addition to the 2/3 of Republicans voting against it.   What did they oppose?  Is it purely political?

Corina Fiore from www.dtemama.com

and she sounds like they have all sounded this entire time.

I'm now more confused than ever.

Politics & News Contributing Editor
Queen of Spain

The bailout proposal is scary. But here's some food for thought: From the Wikipedia entry on Herbert Hoover:

Hoover's stance on the economy was based largely on volunteerism. From before his entry to the presidency, he was a proponent of the concept that public-private cooperation was the way to achieve high long-term growth. Hoover feared that too much intervention or coercion by the government would destroy individuality and self-reliance, which he considered to be important American values. Those ideals, as well as the economy were put to the test with the onset of The Great Depression. At the outset of the Depression, Hoover claims in his memoirs that he rejected Treasury Secretary Mellon's suggested "leave-it-alone" approach.[13] Critics[who?], on the other hand, accused Hoover of sharing Mellon's laissez-faire viewpoint. It is often inaccurately stated that Herbert Hoover did nothing while the world economy eroded. President Hoover made attempts to stop "the downward spiral" of the Great Depression. His policies, however, had little or no effect. As the economy quickly deteriorated in the early years of the Great Depression, Hoover declined to pursue legislative relief, believing that it would make people dependent on the federal government. Instead, he organized a number of voluntary measures with businesses, encouraged state and local government responses, and accelerated federal building projects.

The Great Depression followed. How much because of his inaction, I could not say. But it gives me a degree of anxiety to hear the same rhetoric today.

Laura Scott, BlogHer Contributing Editor, Tech/Web
design, snap, blog, tweet

Well,did McCain put the  horse before the cart today when he took credit for passsing the bail out? I think the old cowboy is getting a little slow//  Then there is Ms palin? What a laugh I believe I have a crasp for what is going on more than she does.. Can't she think?

I think his blustering show of "leadership": flying back to DC as if he was going to solidify support singlehandly was very risky, and it failed. It shows he doesn't have the control over his party that say, a Tom DeLay did.

Which perversely, might make him more popular among independents, since Congressional Republicans are even more vilified than GW Bush. 

Morra Aarons-Mele
www.womenandwork.org

I wish it were as easy as it sounds, but banks literally cannot lend money because they have too many loans outstanding and not enough cash reserves. It is impossible for them to lend money until they free up some cash. The way to do that is to sell their outstanding loans, which is what the bailout would buy.

Suzanne Reisman, Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants

Our beloved Wachovia, sniff sniff. Gone. Just spent 15 minutes discussing bank failures with Michelle. It wasn't fun.

I'm slightly afraid to call my banker daughter (the really old 25 year old who is trying to plan a wedding and not think about bank failures.)

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

I have to say that I am glad that the bail out didn't pass. I totally agree with the comment of "Democrats have enough members to pass the bill without more Republican votes. " Why am I getting the feeling that we are getting set up for a bigger failure? I really don't like either way this is going.

I found this video on you tube (its not mine)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5tZc8oH--o

 I have enough of an open mind to see and remember those dates in this. There are honest people that work on the stock market that are not getting the fair end of the deal, and there are people that cannot even afford to make ends meet and wish they could afford to even put some money in a 401k that are going to get the raw end of the deal. So either way this is not good. Every time the government sticks their nose into the free market, it ends up a cluster.  I really am getting fed up with both parties on this, wondering..should we go back to the Wig party...(j/k)

A Hobson's choice is basically take it or leave it. Since we don't know what is in the bill exactly how can we evaluate if it is good or bad?

We know Wall Street wants this. We know that Congress wants this out of the way before the elections. Non-partisan Open Secrets.org might provide an answer as to why - they have a money breakdown of how much the industry invested in both the Democrats and Republicans. What? You thought this action was for the good of the country?

What is in the bill? How much have we just been or about to be shanked?

Thomas.loc.gov is the portal to find out information about U.S. House and Senate Bills, Public Laws and all kinds of juicy governmental type stuff.

On the front page LOC has put a direct .pdf link to the amendment to the Senate Amendment HR 3997 Also known as Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. There are 109 pages of governmental English but if you pace yourself you can find out what is and isn't being said by the press or by members.

There are other plain English interpretation:

Public MarkUp will let you jump to the section you are interested in and if you want to comment on the section you can.

National Association of Credit Union Supervisors take is nice and short.

Open Congress.org has a more visual breakdown of what happened, how the vote was split and you can get as much or as little information as you want.

And if you really want to give yourself a headache and heartburn you can read the General Accounting Office's GAO’s Efforts to Assist the 111th Congress and the Next Administration.

See it is not just about this bail out. These are major events that the next president must deal with in addition to this bail out.

Nobody in their right or left mind would want to be president after reading that document.

Gena - Out On The Stoop

I am convinced that rationally the bailout plan is necessary to avoid our economy falling into a bigger quagmire than it is already in. However, I strongly feel that by handing over $700 billion to the financial institutions we are sending a terrible message to the American people. The vast majority of us don't fully understand the ramifications of the situation and I have read enough well conceived of arguments from publications such as The Economist that the bailout is a terrible idea and will just prolong the agony. Emotionally, why should the American tax payer have to bail out the banks when every time the issues of social security and healthcare come up the government cries 'poor'.  Maybe this is the best thing that could happen to America - we need a good shake up to bail us out of our general lethagy and inability to act to really get this country back on track.