The work of fiction that Nancy Pelosi is to blame for yesterday's bailout vote is fading. On Nightline last night, Roy Blunt (R-MO) stepped back (via Political Punch):
Blunt was reluctant to attribute the loss of 12 Republican votes entirely to Pelosi's speech, but did say her speech was not helpful. "We clearly had some Members that were there but were precariously there and one or two of them may have been affected by the Speaker's speech," Blunt said. "In the weekend of negotiating this, the spirit in the room was very good, but the press conferences the Speaker and a few Democrats had outside the room were invariably partisan. None of that helped."
Blunt said that Republican leaders "had twelve people beyond, that we thought we had going into the float that we didn't have for various reasons and I haven't had time to go back and ask them all why it was that they didn't do what we thought they were gonna do ... That one speech was not helpful but I think you don't want to give too much blame to that speech."
I listened to Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-OH) this morning on WCPN's The Sound of Ideas say that anyone who's vote was changed by Nancy Pelosi's speech isn't seriously considering the situation and should find a new line of work. One of the few times I have actually found some respect for him.
Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) said "not a single vote" was changed by Pelosi's speech on MSNBC this morning with Joe Scarborogh (via TPM):
I told you yesterday, John Boehner is the one with egg on his face. He's the one who rallied behind the bill and then couldn't deliver the votes. Him...and OH YEAH! John McCain. Watch the spectacular tap dancing of Douglas Holtz-Eakin did on MSNBC yesterday:
Just as an aside, isn't it nice that at least most of the major networks, except for They Who Must Not Be Named, are no longer taking anything a McCain campaign spokesperson says at face value? It really is starting to restore my faith in journalism.
Even the McCain campaign has now stopped trying to pin this on Obama and the democrats directly. They have chosen a different tack. Blaming the Democrats and Barack Obama for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and this entire situation in their latest commercial:
According to Greg Sargent at TPM ElectionCentral, they released this ad just moments after John McCain said this in Iowa:
"I am disappointed at the lack of resolve and bipartisan good will among members of both parties to fix this problem," McCain said today in Des Moines, Iowa. "Bipartisanship is a tough thing; never more so when you're trying to take necessary but publicly unpopular action. But inaction is not an option."
"I call on everyone in Washington to come together in a bipartisan way to address this crisis," McCain later said.
Sadly, we have another month plus of this to go folks. I almost worry that if McCain just continues to be stupid people might start to like him for being a stubborn stupid. I hope that that is a ridiculous worry.
Finally, in what is admittedly a long post, even for me, the "good" people at FOX News (Oops! I named them!) fell over themselves trying to goad John McCain into fake suspending his campaign again:
As you can see, he will consider it.
The circus known as McCain-Palin 2008 must obviously go on.
Comments welcome,
Pat McGovern
It's got electoral votes. It's what politicians crave. Sphere: Related Content
