Detroit Automakers A Relic Of The Past
Celebrity Fires Consume the Media
To Battle Stations
Failure To Blow Election Stuns Democratic Party Faithful Mourn End To Losing Tradition
Looking Past Palin
The Earth’s Not Flat and It’s Not Warming
A Force For Good -- But Not At State
Palin Saboteurs Want to Kill Her Career Now
As GM Goes, So Goes The GOP
Happy Thanksgiving
Quantum Of Nonsense
Obama's School Choice
And They're Off
Time To ReassessThe Iraq War?
Erbe: Liberals,Get A Grip
Leaving Home
From Victim To Victor In Black America
They Gave All, For . . . This?
'No' To Obama'S Experimental Government
Failure Is Not An Option
Weekly Review
Keeping Cool Over Joe Lieberman
Leaders Duck And Hide While Wall Street Steals From Us
Obama's Call To Service Meets The Economic Meltdown
A Bridge We Need
Trusting Paulson
The Secret Of Happiness
History Is Screaming
'Keynsian Moment' Needed To Fight 'Great Recession'
A Lemon Of A Bailout
For Obama, A Game Of High-Stakes Fiscal Poker
No One Should Be Railin' Or Bailin' On Palin
Must Obama 'Discipline' Democrats?
A Warrior Departs: 'Tell Them My Story'
The Insane Rage Of The Same-Sex Marriage Mob
Sarah Palin Is Not The Future Of The GOP
Walking On Sunshine
Hillary Appointment: The Audacity Of Broken Promises
GOP Needs Night Of The Long Knives
Obama's Washington
The New World Financial Order
A Bomb Thrower Vs. Obama Bashers
Let'S Hope Gop Will Give Us SomeThing To Vote For Rather Than Against
Is Gay The New Black?
DiscriminaTion Still Lives
The Truth about Government
Quo Vadis GOP
Sunset For The Old White Guys
Note To Gop: Get Serious About Women Candidates
Revenge Of The Boxes
Change We Can Bank On
Let Them Eat Spam
Choices Have Consequences -- Unless You're Joe Lieberman
Dean: Dems 'Big Tent' Party Now
Don't Bail Out the Big 3 -- Interview With Dan Ikenson
The Other Deficit
Blind Defense of Koran Abrogates Reality
Some Of My Best Friends Are…
In Detroit, Failure's a Done Deal
Evil Concealed By Money
The Clinton Gamble



Kondracke180.jpg
If Rescue Passes, Here's Who Gets Credit And
Blame
Morton Kondracke 10/3/2008
Digg This Story!
Del.icio.us Reddit StumbleUpon Yahoo! MyWeb Technorati Google Bookmarks Furl Ma.gnolia Newsvine Bloglines Rojo Facebook
Staring into the abyss of economic ruin -- to be followed quickly by political ruin -- America's political leaders are struggling to come together on a financial rescue package.

With President Bush seemingly unable to convince anyone of anything, Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain have abandoned ambiguity to call wholeheartedly for passage of a package.

And congressional leaders, as of this writing, once again are scrambling for a formula that will gain the 12 votes needed to pass the rescue in the House.

It's emphatically true that the House's 23-vote rejection Monday of what was widely tagged as a "$700 billion Wall Street bailout" constituted a massive, bipartisan failure of leadership.

Still, certain members stood out as profiles in courage while their colleagues headed for the high grass. And some leaders deserve credit for trying to save the day -- and for continuing to try.

Of 41 members considered to be facing the toughest re-election races, only nine -- six Democrats and three Republicans -- bucked inflamed public opinion and voted to save the economy from ruin.

The roll of honor deserves to be called: Democratic Reps. Bill Foster (Ill.), Paul Kanjorski (Pa.), Tim Mahoney (Fla.), Jim Marshall (Ga.), Jerry McNerney (Calif.) and
Christopher Murphy (Conn.).

And, even more so, the three Republicans, who did the right thing in the face of a Democratic tide raging against them: Reps. Mark Kirk (Ill.), Jon Porter (Nev.) and Christopher Shays (Conn.).

Kirk recommended to GOP leaders a political pact that might have saved the rescue package Monday -- and might help pass a new one.

It is: Have the House campaign committees agree not to mount campaign ads against members favoring the "bailout." So far, the idea has gone nowhere.

Another standout is Rep. John Campbell (Calif.), whose support for the rescue may have cost him leadership of the conservative Republican Study Group. Other members also deserve credit for their roles in trying to save the financial markets from lockdown -- and the economy from collapse.

Certainly, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, is at the top of the list for working with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to craft an acceptable rescue package -- unsuccessfully, as it turned out.

Paulson was widely deemed the financial sector's savior -- a Wall Street David Petraeus -- when he brokered the takeovers of Bear Stearns and the American Insurance Group and nationalized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Add Feed to ZapTXT Add Feed to Bloglines Add Feed to Technorati Add Feed to LibWorm! Add Feed to My Yahoo! Add Feed to Google Add Feed to Newsgator Add Feed to Rojo Add Feed to Windows Live Add Feed to My MSN
Chaos Has The Floor COLOR
By Parker - Florida Today * Posted 10/2/2008 12:00:00 AM
Post to MySpace!
Comment
Email
Chaos Has The Floor COLOR
© Copyright 2008  Parker - All Rights Reserved.

Posted By: Jim W  on Saturday, October 04, 2008

I like that- if it passes, who gets the blame? Isn't that just like Washingtons logic? No good deed shall go unpunished. Marvelous!!!

Posted By: John Handforth  on Sunday, October 05, 2008

Now that this has passed, the government will be issuing Prozac to everyone, because we'll need a larger bailout for those that claim to have missed the boat one this one.

Did they really pledge Fort Knox to China?

Make A Comment
We appreciate your feedback. Post a comment using the form below.
Your Name (required)
Your Comments
Type the characters you see in the image:
 





© Cagle Cartoons, Inc., All Rights Reserved; Artwork and Columns © each respective artist and writer.