"If Palin was really as unqualified as you say, Obama supporters would rejoice that the GOP has nominated such a dud, rather than complaining so much about her. Methinks the lefties doth protest too much. "

WHY would the "lefties" rejoice? Why would we want ANOTHER 8 years of a completely unqualified administration overseeing our country. Haven't we ALL learned that electing people you'd like to have a beer, or a moose burger with is just the wrong way to go? Unqualified does mean un electable... as George W.Bush has proven...twice.

I do not think of myself as a"lefty", but I am no fan of McCain/Bush... and I am worried... not rejoicing by any stretch of the imagination.

The only thing we agree on is that Tina Fey is funny.

Howard

I am confused by something I just heard on CNN. The Republican Caucus was speakign as to why they voted down the $700Billion, and it all came down to a speech that Nancy Pelosi gave before the vote. They accused her of playing partisan politics, and so--from the sound of it-- they voted against HER and not the bill. They made it very clear that they wanted to go forward with figuring a way to pass the bill. To ME it sounds like partisan politics are being played on both sides of the aisles by people who do not have to worry about their health care, salaries, or retirement benefits going away.

I HATE the idea of bailing out a system that was allowed to screw us all over, but I hate seeing what is happening to the market and the very little investments I have just as much.

Howard

"Tina Fey is also a babe.  I just wanted to put that on the record."

Stating the obvious there, Geoff. 

I hate to invoke another long-winded econ 101 session,but..

My understanding is that we're not so much just "bailing out" a few companies, but we're infusing money into companies to keep the stock market at a certain level, so that creditors will still be able to give credit - if the stock market reaches a certain low, it becomes unprofitable for creditors to continue to extend credit - and we're not just talking credit cards, but all credit - car loans, home loans, student loans, business loans, etc...

I found this out this weekend - I was puzzled why Paulson was visibly sweating on TV saying he needed X ammount by X time - like a guy who owes a bookie or something, so I dug around and found that out.

Having said that, the stock market dropped 700+ points as I type this, possibly more as I hit "post reply".  It went down 400+ point in 10 minutes.

So... so... I don't know what to make of this.  People on both sides of the isle are pointing fingers at the same things - "it was their fault because..." and "it's an attack on the taxpayers" and whatever.. like, both sides are using both arguements - no one is on the same page on this...

All I can tell for sure is that they're busy playing politics while things go sour.

 am confused by something I just heard on CNN. The Republican Caucus was speakign as to why they voted down the $700Billion, and it all came down to a speech that Nancy Pelosi gave before the vote. They accused her of playing partisan politics, and so--from the sound of it-- they voted against HER and not the bill. They made it very clear that they wanted to go forward with figuring a way to pass the bill. To ME it sounds like partisan politics are being played on both sides of the aisles by people who do not have to worry about their health care, salaries, or retirement benefits going away.

****************

Howard, those comments were made by Republicans who supported the bill, not those who voted against it. Some pro-bailout Republicans blamed Pelosi's speech for turning Republicans on the fence against the bailout. The Republicans who voted against the bailout either 1. opposed it on ideological grounds (i.e. it expanded the scope of government more than they liked) or 2. were responding to complaints from constituents. Forty percent of Democrats voted against it, too, so there was a lot of unhappiness on both sides of the aisle.

Don't forget - President Bush and John McCain came out of this with major egg on their faces, as both supported the bailout and then were unable to deliver the votes. So the idea that Republicans voted against the plan to spite Pelosi doesn't sound very logical to me.

I would vote to spite Pelosi.  I find her insufferable.

Edited to add: I don't care for John Boehner either.  I just giggle at his name.

Bruce,

I was just calling it as I saw it. They made it very clear that the votes were there until Pelosi gave her speech, and that they wanted to work to get the bill passed. I long ago gave up looking for LOGIC in politics.

Howard