Pelosi's Excuses Are Garbage
Pelosi, moments ago: "The Democrats more than lived up to their side of the bargain."
Horsepuckey. Pelosi has 235 members. She needed 218. She could spare 17 members and still pass the bill.
The GOP spotted her 65 members, for a bill that made most Republicans' skin crawl in both broad outline and in terms of detail.
That meant Pelosi could afford to lose 82 Democrats.
She lost 95.
Bush and Paulson were never going to pass this bill with House Republican votes. It had to be palatable to the Democrats, and Pelosi and Frank said that it was.
Think about it - the majority party is insisting that the minority party is responsible for the bill not passing with a majority. Do you see the incongruency there? Why is anyone taking that argument seriously?
UPDATE: Hoyer says "we got every gettable Democrat." If so, that's stunning.
Chuck Todd on MSNBC right now: "Every member in a tough race voted 'no'."
ANOTHER UPDATE: I'm not buying this "Pelosi's speech turned Republicans against it" argument. Either you think the bill is worthwhile (or that the cost of inaction is greater than the cost of action) and you vote for it, or you don't. Somebody else's speech is a lousy reason to change a vote on an issue as big as this...
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