Earlier this afternoon, this is what the White House was saying:
White House says has votes to pass bailout bill
Mon Sep 29, 2008 1:24pm EDTWASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Bush administration believes it has enough votes in Congress to pass the $700 billion package aimed at rescuing the U.S. financial system despite some opposition by lawmakers, a White House spokesman said on Monday.
“I think we’re going to have a sufficient vote to pass this, we’re certainly confident that we are,” said White House spokesman Tony Fratto. “We’re not taking it for granted, these are very legitimate concerns and questions that members have.”
Ooops.
As we now know, 132 Republicans and 94 Democrats voted the wrong way. So what happened? How could The President’s arm twisters persuasion specialists on Capitol Hill at the White House been so mistaken? Well, as we all should have suspected, it was that evil dragon lady Nancy Pelosi who killed the deal with her liberal “hate” speech against the greatest Republican evah (or at least since Ronald Raygun):
In a press conference shortly after the measure failed, House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio said that House Republicans had no choice but to continue to work with Democrats to find a way to save the economy.
But Boehner and other House Republican leaders blamed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for derailing the vote with a speech near the close of the debate in which she blamed “the Bush administration’s failed economic policies” for the current economic mess. Boehner accused Pelosi of speaking with a “partisan voice that poisoned” the proceedings. Added Republican Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, “There’s a reason that this vote failed — and that is Speaker Pelosi’s speech.”
Damn evil, liberal, hippy, commie bastids did it to us again! It sure can’t be President Bush’s fault. He had the votes, he had ’em I tell ya! If Nancy Pelosi could have just kept her poisonous maw shut until after the vote, those good Patriotic Americans (i.e., House Republicans) would have passed the bailout bill and all would have been right with the world. But once she besmirched the “honor” of Our Dear Leader, what choice did they have? I mean really? It’s enough to make an Wall Street investment banker or stock broker cry (and I’m sure a few did).
Update [2008-9-29 16:6:29 by Steven D]: The Fed’s Plan B is now in effect. Printing mo money!
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve and foreign central banks agreed to pump billions of dollars into the global financial system Monday to unlock tight lending that threatens to unhinge the U.S. economy.
The Fed said the action is intended to “expand significantly” the cash available to financial institutions in an effort to relieve to the worst credit crisis since the Great Depression. In taking the action, the Fed cited “continued strains” in the demand for short-term funding.