Repubs Confuse Talk Radio With Reality

Props to New York Times columnist David Brooks for the divine turn of phrase in the headline above. Props to House Republicans for not only confusing talk radio with reality, but being so maliciously partisan that they preferred to set up Democrats for being blamed for a Wall Street bailout gone awry than to reach across the aisle to help hammer out a deal, no matter how flawed, that might forestall a deepening financial crisis.

The proof that these Republicans were much more interested in acting in bad faith five weeks before the most important presidential election in decades is that they have voted with President Bush on every issue of consequence over the last eight years.

These range from tax cuts for the rich to war funding to the use of torture, but when it came to the most important piece of legislation -- again, albeit admittedly flawed -- they yarbled that they could not betray the party's "principles."

Those "principles" revolve around misty memories of Ronald Reagan. In fact, Reagan's name seemed to be cited more than President Bush's in the wake of the defeat of the $700 billion bailout package on Monday at the hands of the Republican back benchers.

But the Reagan Revolution is dead because its most vociferous adherents, including those selfsame Republican nihilists, put a stake through its heart by forcing the very government intervention that the Gipper eschewed because of years of a less-celebrated revolution: The Deregulatory Revolution. And while those talk-radio listeners and many other Americans are deeply cynical about a Wall Street bailout, they ultimately will hold accountable the politicians who failed to rescue them from the crisis.

This does not excuse the grandstanding of Nancy Pelosi and John McCain, let alone Treasury Secretary Paulson's mismanagement of the crisis. In fact, McCain's quest for the White House may have taken a fatal hit because he was cut off at the knees by those Republicans amidst his own grandstanding. At least his running mate Mitt Romney still has the credibility to address economic . . . Oh, wait a minute.

There eventually will be a bailout deal because there has to be.

And you can bet your last nickel that when the Senate takes up the issue tonight even its most conservative Republican members will be a good deal less doctrinaire -- and I daresay more courageous -- after the destructive behavior of their peers in the House.

Who will be given a second chance to save themselves from themselves when the whole mess is dumped back into their laps for final passage.

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Meanwhile, the Dow was up 485 points yesterday after plummeting a record 777 points on Monday after those Republicans crapped on the bailout plan.

The reason that there was "a major correction," as the talking heads termed the turnaround?

It certainly didn't have anything to do with the financial crisis in Europe, which with every passing day is looking as grave as the homegrown crisis.

It certainly didn't have anything to do with Wall Street's faith in Congress gift wrapping those hundreds of billions sooner rather than later.

What it had everything to do with was the usual institutional game playing, in this case money market managers buying up shares at the end of the day to enhance their performance figures for the quarter that ended at the close of business yesterday.

This would have been business as usual under other circumstances. You know, the stuff that these guys do all the time with our 401k plan monies, but the last-minute buying frenzy was notable for all the battered financial stocks that were bought up.

I don't know about you, but the feeling of having my pocket picked is palpable.