...Republican Minority leaders Mitch McConnell in the Senate and John Boehner in the House. These guys are dealing with a party platform that explicitly opposes any kind of bailout, a lame-duck president whose administration is wildly unpopular, and a presidential nominee whose actions are completely unpredictable. They can't please conservatives with any kind of bail out, they don't want to be tied to the Bush administration on any kind of bill that could go wrong, and who knows what kind of political machinations John McCain will insert into the debate about the financial crisis when he swoops into Washington. Incidentally, it's worth noting that McCain isn't on any of the relevant committees to this legislation and isn't in his party's congressional leadership; it's as if Sen. Patty Murray announced she were coming in to craft a compromise.
--Tim Fernholz
