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In my column Friday on the main site, I compared the bailout package to the Senate's immigration amnesty. Both were supported by the establishment of the two major parties, by the Bush administration, and by McCain and Obama. But this has been an even bigger collapse. Unlike in the case of amnesty, the House Republican leadership had already folded by today's vote. So had relatively conservative Republicans like Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan, and John Shadegg, though Shadegg did vote against the bill today. And there was a greater sense of urgency in favor of fixing the financial markets than there was pushing for an amnesty.

And yet... The bailout plan somehow failed, with 60 percent of Republicans and 40 percent of Democrats voting no. Like the last version of McCain-Kennedy, what started as a bill backed by a left-right coalition ended up being defeated by one. Dennis Kucinich, Neil Abercrombie, and Jesse Jackson, Jr. voted with Mike Pence, Jeb Hensarling, and Ron Paul. Everybody said it had to pass and we Couldn't Just Do Nothing. But it didn't pass.

This will prove to be like amnesty in one other way, however: This won't be the last time the White House and the congressional leadership try to push this through.

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Immigration