The American Spectator

17% ) are even lower. And unlike the term-limited president, most members of Congress are running for re-election. p>So extreme is the government's credibility shortage that even dire warnings of economic collapse failed to stir popular support for a taxpayer rescue of the financial industry. One poll last week found only 25 percent of voters favored the bailout plan. p>Members of Congress didn't need to consult the polls to know how unpopular the bailout was — their phones were ringing off the hook with calls from citizens angrily opposed to the plan. California Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman AS HREF=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laland/2008/09/valley-congress.html TARGET=BLANK>said /A> calls were running 300-to-2 against the bailout. Ohio Republican Rep. Steve Chabot's office reported 350 e-mails opposing the bill, and only 10 in support. p>Many of those denouncing the bailout did so in libertarian terms that would have warmed Ayn Rand's heart. “Privatizing profits and socializing losses on a scale we have never seen before in our lifetimes,” Michelle Malkin said in reaction to the Sept. 19 press conference where Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced the plan. “The fundamentals of capitalism have been sabotaged.” p>House conservatives in the Republican Study Committee offered their own market-oriented plan