September 21, 2008
A hopeful thought about Garbage Pail politics
Posted by
Mark Kleiman
A reader writes:
This has to be bipartisan. Democrats should use the fact that they are in the majority to get the bill that they want, but if there is going to be a bailout, then the Republicans have to come on board. This is going to be a disaster, whatever bill gets passed. It may be the best disaster still available to us, but it's still a disaster. What I would not countenance, if I were a Democrat in Congress, is taking responsibility for the crisis by passing a bill, while letting the Republicans sit on the sideline. Do that, and I absolutely guarantee you that, when the pain hits, the Republicans will pass the blame onto the people who were willing to be adults and deal with it. They've done it before, but not this time.We are bailing out one of the Republicans' core constituencies. As badly as we need this, they need it more. They'll blink.
So far, the polling suggests that a bailout is hugely unpopular. That gives Pelosi and Reid bargaining power.
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