>>>And both presidential candidates appeared also to be politically impotent.

Explain why Barack Obama was "politically impotent."

Is it b/c he didn't rally the House Republicans?

McCain was the one who said he would rally the House GOP. They really listened to him! This is a huge mistake by the Republican Party from the top down (Bush, McCain, House leaders, House GOP rank-and-file).

Btw, people will be losing jobs b/c the Republicans didn't act. Heckuva job Republican Party!

National Review Online:

Rich – I’m afraid Rep. Frank has a point on this one. Some feelings on the GOP side were hurt, so they voted against the economic well-being of the country?

Sincerely,

A very concerned GOP staffer.

corner.nationalreview.com

This is not the time for either D's or R's to play politics; a 700 + stock market crash is not good for anyone, no matter your politics. The people who voted against this bill are going to own the chaos that may hit between now and election day, so that the votes taken today out of fear of losing seats may be the votes that actually cost them seats.

This is the failure of McSame.. period.

Per Politico:

McCain takes the credit for the bill before it loses in the House

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his top aides took credit for building a winning bailout coalition - hours before the vote failed and stocks tanked.

The rush to claim he had engineered a victory now looks like a strategic blunder that will prolong the McCain's campaign's difficulty in finding a winning message on the economy.

Shortly before the vote, McCain had bragged about his involvement and mocked Sen. Barack Obama for staying on the sidelines.

"I've never been afraid of stepping in to solve problems for the American people, and I'm not going to stop now," McCain told a rally in Columbus, Ohio. "Senator Obama took a very different approach to the crisis our country faced. At first he didn't want to get involved. Then he was monitoring the situation."

McCain, grinning, flashed a sarcastic thumbs-up.

So, this joker called Mccain is going to suspend his campaign once again, right?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Breaking news: Palin to suspend the campaign and the debate to return to Washington to clean up the cr*p created by McCain.

Chris Matthews blasts McCain:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VdwNhACoUs

How House GOPers and McCain had decided to put party over country:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf4PQMs-CRk

this bill represents socialism at it's best. banks made bad loans to people that can't afford them now the taxpayer has to bail them out. shame on bush and natzi pelosi. i commend the democrats and republicans that are keeping this bill from passing. a 700 billion dollar bill shouldn't be rushed into without looking at every angle. if you're a hard worker that pays you bills and taxes you're about to be foced to bend over and take one for crooked politicians, crooked banks, and those that got into a loan they can't pay.

the reason this bill isn't being passed is because of conservative republicans (like Ron Paul) and democrats and republicans that know how unpopular this bill is with the american taxpayers and they want to get re-elected. obama and mccain are both showing a lack of leadership and should get off the fence. of course this bill has a nice piece of pork for ACORN which obama is totally in bed with.

Daniel,

if the bill is so bad why did republican torch bearer McCain and Bush support it? Why did their cronies like Romney, Rudy, Graham support it?

So according to you Bush and McCain were found in bed together with pork for ACORN.

Arman
you've made the mistake of thinking i support mccain and bush. should i assume you worship at the altar of obama? they are all playing politics and not looking out for the taxpayer. obama is just the worst of the crew. they are all in bed together in some way or another.

maybe you were dumb enough to borrow money you can't pay but i'm not, and i shouldn't be punished for it.

Why did Obama support it, why did the banking community support it, lets see. If I,m standing in front of a firing squad and they run out of bullets gee, I guess I should give them more. The banking community drove them selves into this, wall street drove them selves into this, and got rich in the process. I do not believe that rewarding them by dumping money on them is the answer. I regular business if someone messes up they get canned, but the Liberals don't believe in "capital" punsihment do they. so it must be the fault of the republicans. No this is socialism, try and hide it any way you want, it is not a bail out it is a sale out.

Pelosi should be removed as Speaker. Her unprofessional conduct today was inexcusable. Democrats ought to meet tonight and dump her. I was watching it on CNBC waiting for the vote and they were astounded that a woman trying to cobble together votes in a close bill would spit in the faces of the people she was trying to convince. Amazing.

Chris Matthews slams McCain? Dog Chases Car.

What did she say that was unprofessional, fly?

What did she say? I'd like to know.

WHAT WAS IT that forced YOUR idiotic House members to cause the most damage to our economy in history, huh?

What was THAT bad? I'd like to know.

She said something partisan so you thought you'd let a TRILLION dollars go up in smoke? I heard the speech. This is a total sham. You are an apologist and you are as shameful as Boehner and the rest. Your Republican party is SHAMEFUL. You have BROKEN this country. A Trillion Dollars of Wealth today. Gone. What about the next week? As the country runs WITH NO CREDIT. None WHATSOEVER. Our COUNTRY is out of credit. All we have to do is restore credit. Or the whole thing GRINDS TO A HALT.

Listen people. This absurd behavior cannot be tolerated. The crazy thing is that THIS is EXACTLY what the Republicans, "Conservatives" want. People like Grover Norquist. Tom DeLay. All of em.

Norquist: "I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub."

That is a direct quote.

The conservatives wanted this to happen. They have wanted this to happen for years and they finally got it.

Literally, enough is enough. Enough of the distractions while the country burns. We NEED to vote for Obama. We NEED to take this country back from these people right now. Right. Now. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, and Karl Rove, John McCain and all of the Neocon apologists have DONE this to us. We need to wake up and elect Adults. Democrats. Starting with Barack and going all the way down through the Sentate and House. No more of these Republicans who will risk our entire country over nothing. Enough is enough.

Ethan,

Much like everyone who is pushing this legislation and standing behind it, you're a reactionary... Credit is NOT going to dry up overnight, the economy is NOT going to grind to a halt, and cats are not going to chase dogs. But, since you've been conditioned, somehow, to believe that the Republicans are fault that is your only outlet for blame. You somehow think that the situation is going to improve because the liberals are given control? Where were your beloved Democrats today?

I suppose that your proposal, much like the President's and Democrat's, is to continue to throw good money after bad? This bill amounts to nationalizing over 5% of the US GDP (based upon 2006 GDP). When was the last time the federal government took something over and actually turned it into a success story? The companies that floated these loans need to be dealt with, and the best way to do that is to let the market take care of it. These loans will be absorbed by other credit firms, either domestic or foreign, that do have the appropriate liquidity. Letting these companies take the hit will also send a strong message to the lobbyists that they don't run Washington anymore.

And to say that the Republicans somehow wanted this is completely asinine. Nobody stands to benefit from this issue, and the Republicans certainly stand to lose the most (the White House, perhaps?)! Many of them are just resisting the temptation to "Do SOMEthing" to create the illusion to their constituents that they are in control of the situation...

You need to stop getting your political advice from Hollywood hacks...

You can use FactCheck and other sites to find out the truth of things. John McCain hss been for deregulation all the while. So with no one watching the fat cats got away with millions. But that doesn't alter the fact, without the bailout, you might not have a job tomorrow. The nation runs on debt. We even borrow to pay on the interest on our debt. So banks borrow from one another, businesses do short term borrowing for materials, machinery, payroll etc etc, so with credit drying up and banks going under because there is no more "liquidity" in the market, your company may lay off, or even shut down, you can't charge any more on your credit card, and your retirement account is certainly taking a hit. So what happened on Wall Street is going to hit us right in the face - it will be bad, but very, very bad without this bailout we all hate. And maybe we just better think about having some oversight (regulation) on our big businesses? This isn't the colonial days anymore, and maybe we had better start thinking in more global terms. After all, most of the things we buy certainly aren't made in the US.

The Facts: During his time in the senate, McCain has been a champion of government deregulation — some of which is being blamed for the Wall Street meltdown. Since the recent crisis, though, he has supported a plan for the government to take on the debt of failing financial institutions.

During a September 21 interview on CBS's "60 Minutes," McCain was asked if he regretted a 1999 vote for deregulating Wall Street. "No — I think the deregulation was probably helpful to the growth of our economy," McCain said.

You can use FactCheck and other sites to find out the truth of things. John McCain hss been for deregulation all the while. So with no one watching the fat cats got away with millions. But that doesn't alter the fact, without the bailout, you might not have a job tomorrow. The nation runs on debt. We even borrow to pay on the interest on our debt. So banks borrow from one another, businesses do short term borrowing for materials, machinery, payroll etc etc, so with credit drying up and banks going under because there is no more "liquidity" in the market, your company may lay off, or even shut down, you can't charge any more on your credit card, and your retirement account is certainly taking a hit. So what happened on Wall Street is going to hit us right in the face - it will be bad, but very, very bad without this bailout we all hate. And maybe we just better think about having some oversight (regulation) on our big businesses? This isn't the colonial days anymore, and maybe we had better start thinking in more global terms. After all, most of the things we buy certainly aren't made in the US.

The Facts: During his time in the senate, McCain has been a champion of government deregulation — some of which is being blamed for the Wall Street meltdown. Since the recent crisis, though, he has supported a plan for the government to take on the debt of failing financial institutions.

During a September 21 interview on CBS's "60 Minutes," McCain was asked if he regretted a 1999 vote for deregulating Wall Street. "No — I think the deregulation was probably helpful to the growth of our economy," McCain said.

I have been a republican all my life, pretty much a die hard. Today was the first day ever that I sided with the Democrats with resepct to the $700 b rescue package. The republicans do not even understand the financial system and the implications for not passing this bill. They hide behind free markets and spending cuts but really don't believe or understand that either. The 4 republican spokespeople today on TV appeared like deer in the headlights robots, knowing full well they screwed up, causing more than a treillion dollar loss in the stock market (way more than the package itself). So its' going to be a trillion a day until something happens. McCain is now done - no chance of winning, and many republican house members are done as well. Today I changed my vote for Obama. I cannot even believe I am saying that. I hate him too but I am going to do it just to teach these bozo republican house members a lesson. Blaming it on Pelosi (whom I loathe) was ridiculous. Republicans suck.

Ethan, look up tact. When you are trying to get somebody to do something, you don't spit in their face. You will never be a Winner if you spit at people.

Congratulations gigigo. Not that you changed your party affiliation, that's up to you, but that you aren't trying to gloss over the mess the Republicans have made of this. I shouldn't say all Republicans, just the House Republicans and particularly their fearless leader. He had his nose out of joint last Friday at a press conference (looked like he had a hangover) and I was not that surprised that they failed to vote on it after seeing that. To think I was was going to vote for McCain. First it was Palin and it has been downhill ever since. We definitely need a change. I don't even know what bi-partisan means anymore. It certainly doesn't mean working for the good of the country. Just look at some of the comments from bloggers - they are as bad as our politicians.

To Jason,
How do you know credit is not going to dry up overnight? Are you an economist? Perhaps you should be on CNN with all your wisdom. Perhaps you would like to look up the Community Reinvestment Act and who pushed that through? Better be careful, you may be the first to feel the pinch if your predictions are wrong. In the meantime, have a civil disagreement instead of name calling - we have enough of that already.

Well, Prez.Bush will make a pitch for bailout again on Tue, 9/30 - It's sad that the top guy in the world does not understand the word "NO". We the people do not want Wall Street bailout. Just to give a scale of the bailout, $700B amounts to $2300 per each man, woman and child in this country. Or, for a family of four ($9200) - an equvalent of about FIVE STIMULUS CHECKS for 2008. And for Iraq war that takes some $10B per month - this is the cost of nearly SIX years of Iraq war. Oh, I get it now, we are six years into this war already and have to foot the bill.

To All!
Enough blaming. This was ALL! brought on by greed. People fail to see that:
1.) people bought too big of a house(Too expensive)
2.) banks lost all common sense to deny these people loans.
3.) investors bought the boundles of subprime mortgages.
4.) home owners intending to flip homes without living in them.
5.) finally we lost all common-sense by allowing all this to happen!

THIS WAS ALL DONE TO MAKE A BUCK.
Now 1.2 trillion dollars did not vanish (as seen on Larry King). The insiders, earliest sellers, and the stock traders made this money. The rich got richer,while the common americans lost more money. Wait till the energy sector bubble bursts.

To All!
Enough blaming. This was ALL! brought on by greed. People fail to see that:
1.) people bought too big of a house(Too expensive)
2.) banks lost all common sense to deny these people loans.
3.) investors bought the boundles of subprime mortgages.
4.) home owners intending to flip homes without living in them.
5.) finally we lost all common-sense by allowing all this to happen!

THIS WAS ALL DONE TO MAKE A BUCK.
Now 1.2 trillion dollars did not vanish (as seen on Larry King). The insiders, earliest sellers, and the stock traders made this money. The rich got richer,while the common americans lost more money. Wait till the energy sector bubble bursts.

Correction: not FIVE, but EIGHT Stimulus checks ($1200 per family sent out in 2008)

I have gotten to the point that I loath all of the Washington politicians. Democrats and Republicans alike. We need to throw all of them out of office, not just the president, and start from scratch. They all have had a part in ruining this country and I'm tired of finger pointing back and forth. They are ALL to BLAME! They are GREEDY POWER MONGERS looking out for good ole number one. They don't care about their constituents and anyone who believes they do has a screw loose.

People who claim that Pelosi's few lines blaming Bush for the problem caused some republicans to vote against the bill are just to stupid or brain washed by the American righwing talban.

McCain, Bush have crapped in their pants and they need to clean up their own pants. It has nothing to do with Pelosi.
McCainBush team has detroyed America's future, America' finances and America's reputation.

Jennifer,

I think it was irresponsible for the republicans to blame Pelosi for the run away votes of the 12 congressmen who were hurt by her partisan comments of how the Bush and republicans administration have caused the eradication of the surplus and created so many economic problems because of too much deregulations.

Democrat is right that if we will bail out wall street, we should also help the homeowners who want to stay in their house, that way the value of their property (turn debt)that the government will rescue won't slide its value tremendously that in the end all the taxpayers who are footing the bill will not be hurt twice. Its got to be a win-win solution.

Fidel

Jennifer,

I think it was irresponsible for the republicans to blame Pelosi for the run away votes of the 12 congressmen who were hurt by her partisan comments of how the Bush and republicans administration have caused the eradication of the surplus and created so many economic problems because of too much deregulations.

Democrat is right that if we will bail out wall street, we should also help the homeowners who want to stay in their house, that way the value of their property (turn debt)that the government will rescue won't slide its value tremendously that in the end all the taxpayers who are footing the bill will not be hurt twice. Its got to be a win-win solution.

Fidel

The idea that Nancy Pelosi is responsible for the Repubs allowing this to sink is ridiculous. Raw politics. Do they really want us to believe that they give more weight to Pelosi than to Pres. Bush and other Repubs calling for passage? Please. What mattered was angry constituents who don't want to bail out the greedy Wall Street firms - even though their pension funds and jobs are at stake.

I COMPLETELY DISAGREE WITH ANYONE who says we need to trust the Republicrats or Democan('t)s... If you're still holding your party's line & actually believe it, you're as big an idiot as they are.

CALL THIS A 'MODERN MODEST PROPOSAL'...

WE NEED TO PICK, AT RANDOM, SEVERAL THOUSAND HOMELESS OFF THE STREET, GIVE THEM ROOM AND BOARD & A MODEST WEEKLY STIPEND, AND INSTALL THEM IN GOVT. OFFICES & WALL STREET FIRMS & WATCH THEM DO A BETTER JOB THAN THE COMPLETE & TOTAL IDIOTS THAT ARE RUNNING THIS COUNTRY & WALL STREET NOW. THEY SURE AS HELL COULDN'T DO MUCH WORSE....OH YEAH, FREE LOBOTOMIES FOR ALL INCUMBENTS TOO!!!!

IF YOU THINK EITHER PARTY HAS YOUR BEST INTEREST AT HEART, YOU'RE A FOOL....

95 Dems voted no here! This is not a Democrat vs. Republican issue anyway. We need to prosecute and send the greedy executives of the companies who caused this mess to prison... for a LONG TIME!

Here is how to fix the banking crisis:
1. Temporarily change the "mark to market" accounting law (put in place to avoid the likes of another Enron accounting scandal) for sub-prime mortgage instruments. This will solve 60% of the problem. The proximate cause is a bank's inability to sell and trade these bonds because by law banks have to "mark down" bonds to reflect current market value and nobody is buying them (because they suck) thus "freezing" the market. Foreclosures are not the reason for this meltdown. Merrill Lynch held $30 billion of these bonds and basically gave them away for 22 cents on the dollar. It was not because 80% of homeowners foreclosed on their loans! It was because ML couldn't sell or trade the bonds that they deeply discounted the bonds to receive $6 billion of their $30 billion invested back. It was better than nothing. Temporarily removing the "mark to market" restriction for sub-primes will free up the market and banks can begin to trade the bonds again.
2. Extend the FHA insurance program to sub-prime mortgages. This will cost less than $40 billion dollars (90% savings).
3. Fire any senators or congressmen (republican or democrat) that vote for the $700 billion bailout.

The House took 40 minutes to complete a 15-minute vote....these are the imbeciles we're looking to for a resolution?
Need I say more?

The House took 40 minutes to complete a 15-minute vote....these are the imbeciles we're looking to for a resolution?
Need I say more?

Considering that NBC network is now the official mouthpiece of the Democratic Party I do not expect to see my comment in any public domain controlled by NBC or its affiliates. Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that, while we are all concerned about the economy, Putin is auctioning off Russia’s nuclear technology to the highest buyer. With Iran’s nuclear program almost completed, Hugo Chaves, Venezuelan lunatic who resides in our backyard, is Putin’s latest customer. Times like this requires leadership that comes from experience, wisdom and, toughness. These are qualities that John McCain has exhibited throughout his life, over and over. It is hard to imagine Obama being able to stand up to this evil.

Considering that NBC network is now the official mouthpiece of the Democratic Party I do not expect to see my comment in any public domain controlled by NBC or its affiliates. Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that, while we are all concerned about the economy, Putin is auctioning off Russia’s nuclear technology to the highest buyer. With Iran’s nuclear program almost completed, Hugo Chaves, Venezuelan lunatic who resides in our backyard, is Putin’s latest customer. Times like this requires leadership that comes from experience, wisdom and, toughness. These are qualities that John McCain has exhibited throughout his life, over and over. It is hard to imagine Obama being able to stand up to this evil.

Considering that NBC network is now the official mouthpiece of the Democratic Party I do not expect to see my comment in any public domain controlled by NBC or its affiliates. Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that, while we are all concerned about the economy, Putin is auctioning off Russia’s nuclear technology to the highest buyer. With Iran’s nuclear program almost completed, Hugo Chaves, Venezuelan lunatic who resides in our backyard, is Putin’s latest customer. Times like this requires leadership that comes from experience, wisdom and, toughness. These are qualities that John McCain has exhibited throughout his life, over and over. It is hard to imagine Obama being able to stand up to this evil.

Considering that NBC network is now the official mouthpiece of the Democratic Party I do not expect to see my comment in any public domain controlled by NBC or its affiliates. Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that, while we are all concerned about the economy, Putin is auctioning off Russia’s nuclear technology to the highest buyer. With Iran’s nuclear program almost completed, Hugo Chaves, Venezuelan lunatic who resides in our backyard, is Putin’s latest customer. Times like this requires leadership that comes from experience, wisdom and, toughness. These are qualities that John McCain has exhibited throughout his life, over and over. It is hard to imagine Obama being able to stand up to this evil.

I feel so sorry for the Reps. All I could do is laugh when I heard McCain blamed Obama for the failure. LOL You have got to be kidding me. That is so childish. The Dems voted 60% the Reps voted 30's to pass the proposal and whose fault was it. I refuse to believe that the rest of the Reps are as childish as the McCain camps, I'm sorry I just not going to believe it. We all have to understand that its election time and the Reps are nervous, so they are listening to the Tax payers so they can be re-elected. Now I totally understand that. All of the Reps that I know are very smart people. Although I'm a Dem. til I die, I have a faith that the Reps will one day gain back what was lost because of Bush. If I was a Rep. I would have second thought myself about this proposal. Pelosi was right, remember when Bush sucker the reps into giving him the vote I promising there were WMD in Iraq. Ponder

It seems clear to me that if the holiday were not present today, work toward getting an agreement more than likely would have gone forward today (Tuesday) and Wednesday. Given the gravity of the financial sitation we are in, how it affects all Americans, and how it impacts financial markets around the world, instead of taking time off for the holiday, as a person who is proud of my reform Jewish heritage, whether it would have made a difference in the overall outcome or not, if I were a member of the House, I would have gathered all of my Jewish counterparts on both sides of the aisle (and there are a few on both sides of the aisle), and say, much as we would like to join our family for the holiday, we are not leaving - I would have said let's fly in a military rabbi for brief evening and morning New Years services, so we could get back to the task of working on Tuesday and Wednesday with our counterparts in an attempt in finding a solution to the financial crisis. What better New Year's gift than concensus on a bill that could benefit all of us?

What lost September 29’s vote was the current speaker (Nancy Pelosi)! What possessed her to lambast the republicans prior to this critical vote is totally beyond me, BUT SHE IS NO LEADER! Through her partisan speech today, she set up some members who may lose on November 4 -- not against them as much as there will be a vote against HER!!

A BIG PROBLEM WITH THIS PLAN IS THAT IT DOLES OUT MONEY: HOLDS NO ONE ACCOUNTABLE; AND DOES NOT GO AFTER THE GUILTY ONES WHO GOT US IN THIS MESS! JUST MORE OF THE SAME OLD WASHINGTON, DC!

There is enough blame to go around on this fiasco. The Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, started the ball rolling. And while there is a lot of blame to be placed on the Administration for not ram rodding more regulation through, there is a lot of culpability in Franklin Raines (former Clinton OMB Chief and CEO of Fannie Mae who was ousted for ‘improper accounting’), Jim Johnson (Obama’s initial VEEP selection committee chair), and Jamie Gorelick (held numerous positions in the Clinton Administration including DOD and Justice – to name two), and they had their cheer leaders in Congress as well! Candidly, it is probably time for a new chair of the banking committee. Barney Franks provided a lot of cheerleading to keep lose credit going, as did Chris Dodd in the Senate, who had some sweetheart arrangements with Countrywide! Oh it smells bad!!!

Point being, it is time for new leadership in the House and Senate. We cannot afford the current speaker any longer. In the largest vote of her career -- she lost! 40% of the Democrats DID NOT VOTE FOR THE BILL!! Historians will ask the rhetorical question: WHAT WAS SHE THINKING?????

How's this flyover:

You spit on America and the American economy (which is what the House Republicans did yesterday), I spit on you.

Deal?

Btw, YOU want to talk about tact?! After 8 years of George Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove...? You have got to be kidding me. Once again, fly. You are plainly intellectually dishonest. In other words, you are a liar.

Your arguments are consistently disingenuous. Your Republican Party has forced this upon you. It's time you break free from the party that spins and lies on every issue. It's time you see the real world for once. It's a much better way to live without having to carry around the weight of extreme cognitive dissonance you must feel on a daily basis. Stop the spin. Stop the lies. Look at the FACTS for once and stop trying to explain them through the lens of extreme partisanship.

I asked you to show me exactly what Nancy Pelosi said that made it ok to let $1.2 TRILLION go up in smoke yesterday.

I explicitly asked you to refer me to a quote of hers that "forced" your idiot House members not to vote for the emergency legislation.

You used the word "UNPROFESSIONAL".

WHAT was unprofessional? WHAT?

You ignored that.

Just like you ignored the quotation from Grover which you KNOW is accurate. Once again, you run and hide from your true self like a coward. Why are you hiding from this fact of life that conservatives want to "drain the government"? Why are you hiding from Grover Norquist? Why are you hiding from your own extremist conservative views? Why don't you tell the people here what you think about Grover Norquist and the Republican mantra of SHRINKING THE SIZE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT -- which as we all know means to DE-FUND the government.

Why did you ignore that?

Tell us.