If you want the consensus of the Beltway elite, Page 3 of today's Washington Post is a good
place to start:
After the shocking vote of 228 to 205, party leaders
did their usual rounds of partisan finger-pointing, but it really
wasn't a partisan issue at all. The center had collapsed in favor
of a coalition of far-right and far-left zealots. What was once the
lunatic fringe was now a majority: 40 percent of House Democrats,
going by yesterday's vote, and fully two-thirds of Republicans. . .
.
The new majority isn't worried about ephemeral things such as
700-point drops in the Dow. "No, I'm not," Rep. Virginia Foxx
(R-N.C.) declared after the vote. "The market may be down, but the
Constitution is up!"
So, Nancy Pelosi can deliver only 60 percent of her caucus, and
the problem is . . . Republicans. Be assured that, if the
bailout had passed, Dana Milbank would have found a way to use the
passage as an occasion to attack . . . Republicans. If the
Republicans are going to be blamed either way, I'd prefer them to
blamed for doing maximum damage to Milbank's 401K. Congratulations,
"lunatic fringe"!
topics:
Nancy Pelosi, Constitution
