A few hours ago the U.S. House of Representatives defeated the $700 billion “emergency rescue” package designed to boost our nation’s financial systems and prevent an economic meltdown. More than two-thirds of Republicans and 40% of Democrats voted against this legislation.
AP Reporter Julie Hieschfeld Davis reported the following comments from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) after the measure’s failure to pass:
“The legislation may have failed; the crisis is still with us,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in a news conference after the defeat.
“What happened today cannot stand,” Pelosi said. “We must move forward, and I hope that the markets will take that message.”
Sounds like she was disappointed that the vote was insufficient to move the package out of the House, doesn’t it? Likewise Democrats were quick to blame Republicans for defeating this bill. However, that’s only part of the story. Some Republicans are saying they feel that Pelosi poisoned the atmosphere of bipartisanship when right before the vote she asked chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Barney Frank (D-MA) to yield 1 minute for some comments. Her 1 minute allotment turned into more than 5 minutes and included plenty of divisive partisan attacks on the “right-wing ideology of anything goes, no supervision, no discipline, no regulation” Republicans. Some way to win friends when you need them, isn’t it?
Davis reported the following comment by Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) following the vote:
“We could have gotten there today had it not been for the partisan speech that the speaker gave on the floor of the House,” Minority Leader John Boehner said. Pelosi’s words, the Ohio Republican said, “poisoned our conference, caused a number of members that we thought we could get, to go south.”
Watch the video below for yourself and see if you think Pelosi’s comments may have been a deliberate attempt to poison the bailout vote before it occurred. Remember, she needed Republicans to vote for the measure because she couldn’t get enough Democrats behind it.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey3ZlsmIkz4[/youtube]
From my perspective it looks like she wanted the vote to fail so Democrats could go on television and blame Republicans as “bad for America” and other similar nonsense. And for the icing on the cake, she pulled this stunt off when there’s plenty of evidence that Democrats actually created the financial crisis we find ourselves in today.
As I was watching her speak today, I was really surprised at her venom on what should have been a showing of unity.
And her blame Republicans line is so tiresome.
If this was such a solid, worthwhile bill, why did she have such weak support from her own party?