What a surreal day! Has there been a moment in modern memory when the President and the leaders of both parties were pushing a piece of legislation -- seen as pivotal for our economic well-being -- and it failed to pass because of rebellion in both parties?
Sending a shiver through the globe, the move:
... lowered a fog of uncertainty over economies around the globe. Its authors had described the measure as essential to preventing widespread economic calamity.
The markets began to plummet even before the 15-minute voting period expired on the House floor. For 25 minutes, uncertainty gripped the nation as television showed party leaders trying, and failing, to muster more support.
What's funny -- in a dark comedy way -- is that this moment of crisis comes when all of these U.S. reps are heading back for re-election in six weeks, and this legislation is associated with a very unpopular president. [Wait, haven't they gerrymandered enough so that they don't need to worry about re-election?] So, members were not only pissed that they had to, you know, do the job for which they were elected. They were also pissed that they might have to articulate the reasons for their vote to their constituents. Perish the thought!
In impassioned speeches on the House floor, Democrats and Republicans alike vented their frustration over the nation’s perilous economic condition and the uncomfortable position they were in, facing pressure to approve an unpopular bailout package during an election year, with no guarantee that it would work.
“This is a huge cow patty with a piece of marshmallow stuck in the middle of it and I am not going to eat that cow patty,” said Representative Paul Broun, Republican of Georgia.
“Nobody wants to do this,” said Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, who nonetheless voted for it. “Nobody wants to clean up the mess created by Wall Street recklessness.”
Furthering the irony, there seems to be consensus that some piece of legislation needs to be passed ... so those who voted against it likely thought they were scoring points back at home with their vote -- but without the risk of the measure actually failing. Whoops!
The outcome after a slightly more than 40-minute vote on the House floor left lawmakers almost speechless. Even the strongest opponents of the measure did not expect to prevail, and the leadership of both parties, while increasingly nervous, figured they would squeak out a victory despite a parade of Republicans and Democrats to microphones to assail the measure.
Not that they seem to be proposing a better plan (although one seems to be badly needed). My head spins imagining how this will be recorded in the history books of tomorrow.
As you may have noticed, the site has changed. Sampa, the free-site host, did a version 2 of some sort.
Despite an FAQ that made it sound like allowing one's site to go through v.2 surgery would be okay, there were several flexibilities that surprisingly disappeared with the click of a button. (e.g. I cannot believe sidebars like this one are even narrower than before.)
And I'm told -- miraculously! -- that the conversion cannot be undone. Truth be told, I'm actually quite pissed. But free is free. Sampa has otherwise been good to me.
So I need to sort through site "features" to see how I can make do. Except that I don't have the time at the moment, in the middle of graduate classes and Lighthousehockey.com. (btw, I've removed that Lighthouse RSS feed so that you're not clogged with random Islanders hockey gibberish).
But I promise to touch up the accessories when I get a chance, and return to irregularly scheduled blogging.
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February, 2008