Bush’s gambit
I see now that Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd has come forward with his own proposal for fixing the U.S. financial system. Dodd, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, is calling for more oversight of the Treasury Department, limits on executive pay (a red herring), and for the government to be able to get equity stakes ...
I see now that Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd has come forward with his own proposal for fixing the U.S. financial system. Dodd, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, is calling for more oversight of the Treasury Department, limits on executive pay (a red herring), and for the government to be able to get equity stakes in companies that take the bailout (potentially a good idea, but also a can of worms).
I see now that Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd has come forward with his own proposal for fixing the U.S. financial system. Dodd, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, is calling for more oversight of the Treasury Department, limits on executive pay (a red herring), and for the government to be able to get equity stakes in companies that take the bailout (potentially a good idea, but also a can of worms).
You’d have to think that even President George W. Bush and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, who sent Congress a bare-bones bill with zero oversight provisions, had to see this coming. In fact, I think they want Democrats to take this legislation and run with it. Why? Because once the Democrats put their stamp on the bill, they’ll no longer be able to hang any failure around Bush’s neck. It’ll be their failure, too.
UPDATE: Republican blogger Patrick Ruffini evidently agrees:
Republican incumbents in close races have the easiest vote of their lives coming up this week: No on the Bush-Pelosi Wall Street bailout.
God Himself couldn’t have given rank-and-file Republicans a better opportunity to create political space between themselves and the Administration. That’s why I want to see 40 Republican No votes in the Senate, and 150+ in the House. If a bailout is to pass, let it be with Democratic votes. Let this be the political establishment (Bush Republicans in the White House + Democrats in Congress) saddling the taxpayers with hundreds of billions in debt (more than the Iraq War, conjured up in a single weekend, and enabled by Pelosi, btw), while principled Republicans say "No" and go to the country with a stinging indictment of the majority in Congress.
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