Why they didn’t face these realities and let Voinovich et. al. put this bill forard two weeks ago is anybody’s guess.

Worst. Congress. Ever.

If we had effective leadership, maybe the votes could have been found.

My question is, who has benefitted from a two week delay in getting legislation?

Why does congress not have the courage to subpoena paulson and bernanke? This is the congress that is going to help change come about in our country? So far the congress hasn’t gotten anything right since about September. I have no fear that reid and pelosi will cave again and give paulson the remaining $350 billion, or whatever it is, so that he can give it to his buddies in the middle of the night on a weekend again so they can have bonuses and spa treatments, etc. w and his buddies are going to continue looting the treasury until the last minute. The US can now see exactly how the treasury in a 3rd world country is looted. We are one now.

“repurposing” Would LOL if it weren’t so freakin’ grim.

No shit.

To the best of my ability, I will never buy anything manufactured in, or contribute to the economy of, Tennessee or Alabama again. I wish there were a method of naming the congressional act of sabotage of U.S. industry for Shelby, Corker, and Sessions. I once heard that the wolverine was the only animal which would wontonly destroy meat it could not eat, by spraying it. Of course wolverines just do what they do, these weasels have motives.

OT
Tancredo retiring.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/…..-retiring/
Article doesn’t say when retirement is effective. I assume it’s at the end of the next congress.

Jane, thanks for the update.

I am going to state something crazy here. If I were Obama, I would be appointing Voinovich to a position. And. Announce. The. Appointment. Today.

It would create an interesting dynamic irt what is going on right now behind the scenes…

When I started commenting about Quayle, irt Cerberus and Corker during EW’s live blogging of the auto hearings last week, I found it interesting that conservative Christian, Quayle, would be a key player in a firm with such a name meaning “Demon of the pit.”

Guess when you think of yourself as “guarding the gates of hell,” controlling who goes in and out of Hell, it gives you leverage so when a company “goes to hell,” you never give them a chance to get out of it. Then you get that grand opportunity to walk away with all the profits of misery. Sounds very anti-Christ-like.

So, who will be Hercules here and bring Cerberus out of the underworld into the light and then return the beast? We must not forget that Hercules wore a crown of aspen leaves when he accomplished this task and after all, they, aspens, are connected at the roots.

Homer must be so proud to be central to so many references in politics and power.

The US can now see exactly how the treasury in a 3rd world country is looted. We are one now.

Excellent analogy. Right On. I hadn’t considered it til you mentioned it. The Mafia-Bust-Out dissertation by Driftglass is also quite apt.

Dan Quayle as Mr. Potatoe Head.

not completely OT – house agriculture hearing today at 1pm on credit derivatives (details at oxdown). for why this may not be off-topic, see bernhard’s latest post on CDSs, The Real Danger Of A Big Three Default.

Best move is probably to do whatever it takes to slip a little raw meat under the door to keep the beasts alive for another month until Obama takes office and there is no need to compromise with the worst president in american history.

Please, God, if you’re listening, let Ford survive this so I can buy a Mustang with no worries. An electric car is a misnomer, it’s not the same without a defining exhaust note, don’t let me be resigned to that fate…

Why does congress not have the courage to subpoena paulson and bernanke?

my working hypothesis is that they are in on the con. see the wiki entry for the Spanish Prisoner con. or watch the movie (for mamet fans, great dialogue).

h/t to michael j. smith for the analogy.

This really isn’t news since he attempted to run for President then declined to run for re-election.

DINO speak: Bipartisan = Pragmatic = “roll over and give the Republicans what they want.” Obama is Mr Pragmatic.

Thanks, Jane and emptywheel, for shedding light on the machinations of this stuff.

Cerberus, hmmmm, that must be Greek for washed-up politicos, eh?

I agree about what you say re: Bush’s definition of “bipartisan.” But don’t you think that in this case he was in a far stronger positionb where he didn’t really have to give or compromise much. Why? Because he and the R’s don’t give a shit if the automakers go bankrupt and Pelosi and the Democrats do. If there’s a stalemate, that suits him just fine. From tehir viewpoint, there’s really no need to do anything so i think pelosi’s barbaining power in this instance is circumscribed somewhat.

Yes, that is true. They are under a time gun and do have to get his approval. Which was why Barney Frank going on Maddow

Late to the game again – but Bush 1 and 2 are linked to Cerberus, as most know. Whatever outcome of Chrysler will benefit Bush the most WILL be the outcome for Chrysler.

Right. Gotta do things next year when this WH crowd is gone. I hope pelosi and Reid are at least capable of doing better witha D in the WH. I hope.

Hey Wolf, I think you should get paid the same as the news readers in Mexico or India.

Repub’s stock readers over at cnbc want ge’s welch to head gm. Is this really what they are arguing abt behind closed doors. Put a Dem in charge, not a R.

And no, Bush you can’t have the authority to judge whether or not GM is suceeding so you can pull their purse strings since you have no clue what success is.