John McCain and the Party of Whiners

[babylonsister]

http://theeclecticquill.com/2008/09/29/john-mccain-and-the-party-of-whiners/

John McCain and the Party of Whiners

By kelly | September 29, 2008


Whatever your take on the bailout plan is, one has to take exception with the Republican response as to why they failed to deliver the votes necessary for its passage—that Nancy Pelosi gave a partisan speech. I thought I learned in Kindergarten that "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." Yet the preschool mindset of the GOP seems to be that if your political opponent offends you, you should put the economic future of the nation and the world at stake, and then whine on national TV about how your feelings got hurt. Of course Barney Frank put it best.

It’s hard to imagine which is more damaging to them—if the reasoning is true or if it’s not. On the one hand if it is true then probably a more petty decision, with more at stake has never before been made by the lower house of Congress. It’s mind boggling that a couple of admittedly pointed and partisan sentences uttered by the Speaker should put in jeopardy the economic future of the nation. Can you imagine the history books if the economy does contract as a result of this crisis? Can you imagine that your name is listed as one of "the 12" who were so offended by a couple of sentences that you let the world’s economy collapse? What a way to be remembered! It’s so appalling, so atrocious to me that anyone would even consider this an acceptable excuse.

The alternative explanation, that they simply didn’t have the votes and were trying to cover up that fact with a little subterfuge, is possibly equally or more damaging than the excuse. Senator McCain, in an effort to bolster his poll numbers had flown back to Washington to lead the charge and show that he was a leader capable of uniting the parties in a bipartisan effort. In the end he proved he can’t even deliver half the votes of his own party. That he was boasting and taking credit for getting the bill through just hours before it didn’t go through—and for the very reason that he didn’t do what he’d been saying he did—is best summed up by the idiom, "egg on your face." It’s humiliating to McCain that this didn’t happen, especially when his slogan is "Putting Country First."

Now you’re going to be told about how the Democrats didn’t need any Republican votes to pass this and how this is a failure of both parties. I absolutely disagree with that. The parties had reached an agreement that both parties would have half their members vote for it. Pelosi delivered, McCain and the Republicans did not. The thing about things being bipartisan is that it requires "bi" meaning two, "partisanship" meaning parties. If one party does it without the other it’s not bipartisan it’s unilateral, and then the Republicans would be whining about that! There may be some that suggest that as long as the Republican leadership went along with it then the Republicans couldn’t use it against the Democrats. I disagree. The leadership of the Republicans has a lot less to risk because the fact is that there is a lot less of a chance they are going to lose their seat in the upcoming election. This argument is trying to change the rules after the game ends. The Republicans agreed to get half their members to vote for it, and either because they didn’t do a good enough job of selling it, or because they were just too busy pouting and crying they failed.

I’d also like to point out another thing that is getting too much credence in the press, that this is a problem made by both parties. That’s just a plain ridiculous statement. The main rationalization of this is that when the Financial Modernization Act, authored by Phil Gramm was passed, Clinton was the President and the Dems in congress voted for it. While both of these things are true it ignores a couple of essential mitigating factors. First, the Act would have been even worse had Clinton not gotten certain restrictions on how much deregulation was done by threatening to veto it. Second, there was a Republican Congress and a Republican Senate. In order to get congress to work with him it was essential for Clinton to work with them. While the bill that was passed was a compromise, it was the brainchild of Phil Gramm, not Bill Clinton. Additionally, it was not the only piece of legislation that caused the present crisis. The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, also written by Phil Gramm, and the legislation which allowed for the abuses at Enron as well as the bundling of the mortgages which goes to the heart of the present Credit Crisis, was snuck through at the last possible minute without fanfare into the budget. To veto would have meant to shut down the federal government. If you want to argue that the Dems still deserve a share of the blame, then fine they deserve a share of the blame, but hardly an equal share. The blame the Dems have is for not doing more to stop the Republicans from causing this disaster. The Republicans though bear the brunt of the blame for 28 years of deregulation that brought this down on our heads.

Let’s skim past all the "blame both parties equally nonsense and put things squarely where they belong. The Republicans caused the crisis in the first place, in part with the aid of John McCain, and even more, with the impetus of his chief author of his economic policy, Phil Gramm. The Democratic leadership in Congress was working with Bush (BUSH!!) to come up with a bipartisan solution when McCain injected himself into the process. McCain blew up the process and brought everything to a halt. Then, he flew down to Mississippi and tried to take credit for getting everyone together. Once he stepped out leaders from BOTH parties resumed working together, and helped to chisel out a plan that was truly bipartisan. When they finished, McCain took credit for what he had nothing to do with. While the deal was being hammered out, the McCains were double dating with the Liebermans. Then he failed to deliver the votes he took credit for. When the Republicans refused to do what they said they would do they blamed the Democrats. What happened to all that talk about responsibility? Whatever they want to claim the bottom line here is that Republicans caused the problem and they prevented its solution. Whether that’s because they can’t put "country first" or because they want to sob about having their feelings hurt I don’t know, but I think they are disgraceful. The world is looking to see what the US is going to do, instead what they are seeing is a party of whiners