Did Nancy Pelosi's Speech Blow Up the Bailout Bill?
House Speaker Makes Partisan Speech During Debate
The British Newspaper Guardian excerpted some portions of the five minute floor speech by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. A short reading of the excerpts and a listen to the Youtube video would seem to suggest that Nancy Pelosi was not speaking in the spirit of bipartisanship.
"When was the last time someone asked you for $700 billion?" Pelosi asked, rolling every syllable of the phrase "$700 billion" as if it were candy. "It is a number that is staggering, but tells us only the costs of the Bush administration's failed economic policies - policies built on budgetary recklessness, on an anything-goes mentality, with no regulation, no supervision, and no discipline in the system." Calling Republicans "unpatriotic" the previous day likely didn't help either.
Those are hardly the words of a politician who was serious about passing an important and controversial bailout bill on a bipartisan vote. Those words must have been especially galling to Republican ears, considering the fact of Democratic complicity in the liquidity crisis. Not only did the crisis have its origin in the Carter era Community Reinvestment Act as revised during the Clinton era, but Democrats resisted efforts to head off the crisis before it exploded. Democrats were saying four years ago that there was nothing wrong with Fannie Mae or Freddie Mack.
Why did Speaker Nancy Pelosi do what she did? Possibly she had concluded that the bailout bill was going to fail anyway and decided that there was no downside to unloading. Possibly she thought she had no Democratic votes than she did (in which case she needs to have some harsh words with the House Democrat whip organization.) Possibly-like too many politicians-she is too much in love with the sound of her own voice and could not help herself.
Now it is true that being torqued off by Nancy Pelosi is not a good reason to vote against a bailout bill one would otherwise be in favor of. But the problem was that many Republicans really believed, as one GOP House leader said, that they were being asked to eat a "crap sandwich." Being tongue lashed by the likes of Nancy Pelosi was just the last straw.
It is likely that the bailout bill will be salvaged somehow. Too many political reputations and perhaps the economic health of the nation are riding on it. But perhaps when the measure comes up for debate again, Speaker Nancy Pelosi could well be advised to do herself, her party, and the country a service by keeping her mouth shut.
Sources: Excerpts from House speaker Pelosi's speech, Elana Schor, The Guardian, September 29th, 2008
Pelosi Bailout Debate Floor Speech, Youtube
Video: House GOP blames Pelosi's "partisan" speech for bailout failure, Allahpundit, Hotair.Com, September 29th, 2009
The Community Reinvestment Act and the Credit Crunch, Mark R. Whittington, Associated Content, September 28th, 2008
House Defeats $700 Billion Bailout Bill, Mark R. Whittington, Associated Content, September 29th, 2008
Democrats Insist "Nothing is Wrong", Youtube
Published by Mark Whittington
Mark R. Whittington is a writer residing in Houston, Texas. He is the author of The Last Moonwalker, Children of Apollo, Dark Sanction, and Nocturne. He has written numerous articles, some for the Washington... View profile
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13 Comments
Post a CommentNice Mark. Who knew that any commentator would chime in and blame Bush, Republicans, etc? Surely not I! Not to parse words here, but what about the videos I saw yesterday of Barney Frank and others stating in '04 that Fannie & Freddie were in tip top shape? I saw video from '04 where at least 3 Dems are preening for the cameras and attacking any effort to regulate Fannie & Freddie. So, are their memories that short? Could be. . . or it could just be an out-right lie. Course, to hear a Lefty tell it, no Democrat misplayed this - only Conservatives. I'm going to switch to being a Lefty. I am tired of being wrong no matter which choice I make, whereas the Lefties, no matter the choice are always right! Yepper! I wanna be one of them super smart peeps. Move over ya Commies -I'm joining up! Down with evil Conservatives, COMRADES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What happened to non-partisanship and getting something done for the good of the country? That was the goal we've heard about for almost a week now. It's clear that mature communication and negotiation is too much for our representatives to handle. Everyone is to blame for the mess that we are in today. It is everyone's problem and it looks like we will be paying for those mistakes for years to come. Instead of standing up and making sure that our country gets back on the right path so that our citizens can survive, 'we' chose to take sides and play the blame game which only makes matters worse.
Another good one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU6fuFrdCJY&channel=TheMouthPeace
Check out this video on Rush's website. I saw this on CNN and Fox last night.
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_092908/content/01125107.guest.html
Atta boy Mark! Now you are one of my favorites.
Oh, and BTW: That may be the single most unflattering portrait of Pelosi I have ever seen. I imagine the reality behind the makeup is even more worthy of a Halloween mask than Sarah Palin.
Look, what Pelosi said was dead right. And any Republican who changed his vote because of it should obviously not get re-elected. At the same, I also believe Pelosi was an idiot for saying. All of a sudden, after nearly two years of saying nothing bad about Bush she decides to pick this moment to get aggressive? The only rightful solution in this case is for voters to turn out those Republicans AND Pelosi. She is, without question, the most incompetent Speaker ever. Then she can spend her days with her good buddy George W. Bush on the lecture circuit collecting hefty paychecks as they ignore the fact that between the two of them we have seen the worst American politics has to offer. And by the way, I'm against the bailout in its presence form; so I am actually glad the little weasels behind the big weasel Boehner voted no. I just think they voted no for childish reasons.
Republicans keep saying that while they were in the majority and in control of all committees, they WARNED about the problem but did not put forth any bill to correct the problem. Republicans refuse to admit that deregulation led by McCain is tthe root of the problem. and their less government policy was a ticket to fleece our national treasury
Nancy Pelosi was 100% Right on all points
Fact - Tax payers sent numerous emails and made phone calls to their reps that they didn't want this bill. The reps (repubs and dems) listened and voted accordingly. Nancy just wants a dem president and will pull any political stunt to get one.
Fact - In 2004 repubs told dems to take a look at Fannie and Freddie because the repubs knew what was coming, but the dems voted no saying Fannie and Freddie were fine (Look it up).
Fact - The dems RULE the house. They could have voted for this, but as stated earlier, many dems voted the way the people (who put them in office) wanted them to vote.
Nancy, "the house leader" really showed her patriotism and true leadership. She can't even bring her house together.