When did House Republicans grow a spine?

[DrEast]

Heh heh heh heh heh.

Heee hee hee hee he.

HARHARHARHARHARHARHARHARHAR!

That's right, ladies and gents, House Repubs, who are up for reelection along with just about everybody else, are not happy campers with their tin-pot dictator president right now. And House Dems, whose phones are ringing just as much off the hook, aren't gonna be putting any pressure on them, either.

It's a revolt of the house of commons against the lords, and it's panicking our benevolent overlords. The Repubs won't budge an iota, either. They can't, even if they wanted to! Voter pressure's just too strong. The GOP's splitting down the seams, as always happens when a two-party system collapses... and that fragment of paleoconservativism may just be coming at the right time and place to shortstop the financial coup that was a sure thing the day before yesterday.

Is the economy suffering? Yes, but when has throwing money at bad bankers solved that? So while every mainstream media source is looking to paint this as bad, bad House Republicans not going lock-step with your leader, it looks like they're not budging. And the voters are gonna reward them for that, too.

But it only works if the pressure's kept up, so if you're interested in not giving real wealth to bad bankers, go ahead and call up your Representative and keep that pressure up! If you do work in the financial sector (and aren't one of the greedy devils at the top of it), my sincerest condolences, but remember that the 700 billion was gonna be a drop in the ocean against the forces causing this deleveraging. See if any of your local bankruptcy attorneys need help with data entry or file clerking... they probably do... and guarantee your income for years to come!

[MichaelH]

I'm glad to see SOMEBODY in Washington objecting to the bailouts. If they go through, I don't see how we can support our government any further.

The source of the "bad loans" is people who can't afford their homes. Yes, some people signed for homes they obviously couldn't afford. Mortgage brokers pushed loans they reasonably expected would explode to get their pay cut. Banks underwrote loans despite an obvious lack of financial qualifications or documentation. There's plenty of blame to spread up the chain.

Fundamentally, taxpayers should not be bailing out businesses! We ALL foot the bill for this one, and then, instead of our money going to purchase real estate, food, or gas, it purchases "bad loans" for banks, who then continue to own/sell the property taxpayers paid for! I can't think of a better way to sink the economy for the next ten years then piling another huge load of debt on it. There will be an economic adjustment over the next few years, yes; credit spending has been out of control since 2000, and possibly sooner. Let the economy resize to where it should be and we can resume growth from there. The longer we delay it, the worse it's going to be.

Keep calling your congresspeople to let them know how you feel: To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

[Lights]

Ding Dong! The Republican Party is dead. Which old Republican Party? The Wicked Republican Party!
Ding Dong! The Republican Party is dead.

Sorry,, couldn't resist. But is it really such a bad thing to break free from a two party system? That is probably the only good thing that could come out of this financial fiasco.

[DrEast]

Ding Dong! The Republican Party is dead. Which old Republican Party? The Wicked Republican Party!
Ding Dong! The Republican Party is dead.

Sorry,, couldn't resist. But is it really such a bad thing to break free from a two party system? That is probably the only good thing that could come out of this financial fiasco.

Oh, a two party system's fine so long as they're not both the same party. The point is to prevent party excesses (such as nationalizing a 700 billion dollar debt) after all. The problem, of course, is that the parties realize that with a little mutual corruption they can achieve so much more.

So I'm hoping this does lead to a brand new, wall-street-free, reactionary-old-dog GOP. But then, I'm a libertarian at heart.

[acyckowski]

Ding Dong! The Republican Party is dead. Which old Republican Party? The Wicked Republican Party!
Ding Dong! The Republican Party is dead.

Sorry,, couldn't resist. But is it really such a bad thing to break free from a two party system? That is probably the only good thing that could come out of this financial fiasco.

Aren't you kind of presuming that the current administration has governed from the position of the Republican base? (Hint: despite what they say on TV and the internet, he hasn't.) W represents a mixed bag of political positions, but the only one that gets reported is his hawkishness on defense. He's not all that far off from Eisenhower, Nixon, or his father from his party, or Truman and Kennedy from the other side. Reagan was the only right-winger we've seen since...Hoover, maybe?

The two-party system isn't such a bad thing....unlimited terms for Congress is a deeper problem. You've got so much entrenchment in the two houses that it doesn't matter much what party has the Executive branch. Real reform of anything is impossible as it requires the acquiescence of 51 Senators and 218 Congressmen to forfeit all the power, goodies, and ego-stroking that comes with keeping their jobs. Look at how well that worked in 1994...with a majority, a mandate, and a President who had to go along in order to win reelection two years later, Gingrich was able to push through a lot of congressional reform, but when it came to term limits, he got stuffed.

Anyhow, bravo to the House Republicans...at least somebody was willing to stand on principle.

[reb]

no more elections...select by social security # random drawing. like 'getting called up', your job to be held for 2 years, your expenses paid to some limit, your family housed if they wish to move with you. only those under 25 and over 60 may refuse to serve, or those with documented health problems..spread the graft around!

cnn and fox are making the point that those repubs who are up for election are 'balking' and the rest are negotiating 'their best deal'. just like buying a car, for gosh sakes!
reb

[bucolic_]

Ding Dong! The Republican Party is dead. Which old Republican Party? The Wicked Republican Party!
Ding Dong! The Republican Party is dead.

Sorry,, couldn't resist. But is it really such a bad thing to break free from a two party system? That is probably the only good thing that could come out of this financial fiasco.

The two party system is pretty much here to stay, ever heard of Duverger's law?

[Colette]

Oh, a two party system's fine so long as they're not both the same party. The point is to prevent party excesses (such as nationalizing a 700 billion dollar debt) after all. The problem, of course, is that the parties realize that with a little mutual corruption they can achieve so much more.

So I'm hoping this does lead to a brand new, wall-street-free, reactionary-old-dog GOP. But then, I'm a libertarian at heart.

Here in New Zealand we've sort of gone full circle back to a fundamentally 2 party system, after 12 years of MMP (Mixed-member proportional representation). The electorate's delight (at the inception of MMP in 1996) with the novelty of reaching its hand into the newly opened 'candy jar' of minor parties on the political stage, has given way now (2008) to boredom and disillusionment at the failure of any of these parties to get any real traction in the political system, and make a concrete difference. Too often these parties have been seen to sell out their defining policies to the major parties (either in or outside coalition), as the price to pay for any of their proposals seeing the light of day in Parliament.

We're stuck with a 2-vote proportional system for good I suspect, but the minor parties are likely to become increasingly marginalised and lose their support base, as the electorate becomes increasingly reluctant to 'waste' its vote on parties that position themselves on the loony fringe, and make no real difference to the issues of concern to most people.

[dissident]

The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire...

[DrEast]

This just in: They killed it! They killed it! They threw the con-men out! Woo hoo! I'ma votin' Republican for my representative!

[Trivani]

Now we find out that the only reason the Republicans didn't vote for it the first time is because they wanted to add some more pork-belly projects to the bill. The size of the bill went from 300 pages to 3000 pages

[DrEast]

I think there was more stick than carrot on the final passage of the "Mental Health Act." (The irony... oh, the irony.) The 700 point drop in the Dow panicked the Repubs with no true laissez-faire impulses.

Of course, the bailout had zip effect on it, because the bailout WAS the Ultimate Parachute when the whole system collapsed. As is becoming blindingly obvious. (Hey, another Goldman Sachs CEO as the head of the Office of Financial Security! Who could have possibly seen this coming?)

[PHS Philip]

The progression of this thread amuses me.

Just my 2 cents, doesn't it take more spine to vote against your constituency if you think they're wrong than to vote with them?