The American Spectator

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Political Hay

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President Bush and company should have seen this coming. GOP leaders of the House and Senate last week refused to go along with the myth that a workable agreement had been reached. Those leaders had been hearing from worried members whose staffs had been hearing from irate voters. Most Americans simply do not want to be on the hook for an elephantine Wall Street bailout.

Of course, most Democrats received similar calls from their constituents. Why the great disparity in how the members were willing to vote?

Republicans, after all, are seen as the party of big business. They want tax breaks for capital gains and an end to the inheritance tax and they've certainly proved willing to go along with more spending. Over the last eight years, the annual federal budget has ballooned to $2 and now $3 trillion. What's another trillion?

When it was put that way, conservatives in the party decided they didn't have much choice but to help vote it down. A yes to this bailout would have made it nearly impossible to say no to any cause clamoring for the government to step in. If the business of American government simply comes down to quibbling over price, then all principled protests become rather pointless.

topics:
Hank Paulson, Business, NATO