House Republicans are the only ones playing this smart.

[RB TexLa]

House members are much easier to pick off in the election. They have a very unpopular republican president and have to be scared to death of how McCain is going to do and scared of stunt after stunt. They know he is grasping and if he falls they don't want to fall with him. They have an unpopular bailout plan in front of them and they are the only ones who have taken the ball. They now can say "we stood up to the President, the Democrats, Senator McCain and Senator Obama." They will paint themselves as the only ones who stood up for the American taxpayer and try to ask voters, "OK, which of them do you not like? That's who I stood up against," come November.

[sharesunited]

1. Interesting. I see them boxed into a corner.

If they join in the rescue, they have caved on their ideology and gone against their constituents. If they stonewall and the bottom falls out of the economy, it was their fault for failing to join in the rescue.

Listening to Limbaugh today, he sounds beside himself with dread and frustration.

[prayin4rain]

8. Man you have a strong stomach

I always mean to tune in to hear what crazy sh*t Rush is saying and I can never bring myself to do it. It's like a phobia. Just hearing his voice makes me want to drive my car into on coming traffic.

[sharesunited]

9. I swear a lot when I listen. But when you hear it from Rush, you are prepared for the echo chamber.

[SmokingJacket]

2. That's certainly their plan.

I see it going two ways:

Their way -- the Dems push through something without bipartisan support, stock market rallies for a time, but Reps milk the $700 billion price tag until November.

OR -- Dems insist on bipartisan support, Reps dig in their heels, stocks plummet, panic ensues, they give in.

Honestly it's not going to hurt them much either way.

[Joe Chi Minh]

5. I agree with sharesunited 100%. They're being finessed by the Democrats

at every twist and turn.

The Dems are committing themselves, or rather, at least, appear be committing themselves, to a much, much smaller amount. So whatever happens. The American public are never going to let them off the hook, on the grounds of whatever minimal rescue packages the Democrats tout being the wrong decision. It's a different ball-game from the 1 trillion dollars plus of Bush's original play. Don't laugh, but I think the Dems are hedging their bets beautifully!

Only Bush could have come up with something as foolishly extreme as asking the Dems to hand over the keys to the treasury to the very people who have been looting it, without any supervision, control or accountability now or in the future!!!!

But the real beauty is that I think Bush is pushing hard for it, while the Republicans hate it as much as the Democrats, though for entirely selfish reasons. I don't think the Democrats' plan suits Bush's absolutist mindset one bit, but supposing he got the Republicans to accept it, if it failed, they would still get the blame for it, while if it succeeded, they would still not get any credit for it. The public knows who's responsible for this financial Armaggedon and aren't going to forget it any time soon. What's more many know that there is a far, far worse nightmare just round the corner.

Incidentally, I have this image of McCain turning up at that meeting of very high-power politicians and financial experts and saying, "OK! I'm in charge..." Dan Quayle on steroids.

[SmokingJacket]

7. I hope you're right!

It's very hard to see how this is going to turn out...

[Bluebear]

3. Is that so.

They're still gonna get creamed in November.

[DefenseLawyer]

4. If it passes

no one is going to really care who "stood up to it", they will just know it came out of Washington. "Hey I stood up to it!" says the politician. "You failed." says the voter. If it fails to get done and the market tanks, they will get the blame. The bailout may be unpopular, but not as unpopular as a Depression. They are definitely playing it. It remains to be seen if they are playing it smart.

[nolabels]

6. The Dem's have to negotiate even if they know they must never strike a deal

They have the republicans jumping ship by the use of a poison pill or two. Beside the other onerous parts that hurts republican interests, the one about being able to having judges ruling.

Loan plan draws critics

Bill would let judges alter mortgage terms

By JENNIFER ROBISON
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Housing prices are falling in Las Vegas, but a proposed federal law could keep the savings from filtering down to consumers, a banking trade group says.

The average housing payment would rise more than $200 a month in Clark County if the law passes Congress, the Mortgage Bankers Association said last week.
Share & Save

The bill would let judges tweak the mortgages of bankrupt homeowners, which would yield uncertainty regarding future asset values and translate into higher risks for bankers, the association said. Covering greater risks would, in turn, require higher down payments, closing costs and interest rates. The association estimates the law would push up interest rates on future mortgages by 1.5 percentage points. That would mean $2,602 more per year, or $217 more per month, on the average Clark County home loan of $217,541.
(snip)
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:I5HBkHEktKwJ:www.lvrj.com/business/13967202.html+bail+out+plan+would+let+homeowners+renegotiate+their+mortgage&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=25&gl=us&client=firefox-a


The government needs to stay out of the whole mess, but i really don't think there was ever a plan to get involved anyway. It's just a ploy on both sides