Nothing says "Country First" like a fervent dedication to do the right thing by it, unless of course someone hurts your feelings. That's Minority Leader John Boehner's explanation for his failure to deliver Republican votes on the bailout bill this afternoon:
Republicans said Pelosi may have lost votes with a floor speech they considered too partisan. "We could have gotten it if it were not for this partisan speech that Speaker Pelosi gave,” Boehner said.Added Rep. Chris Shays, a Connecticut Republican who also voted for the bill: “Nancy blew it.”
These are some real tough guys. Of course, Boehner has a reputation for crying on the floor of the House, so Pelosi really should have taken his sensitivity into account. This was Pelosi's response:
"That is an absurd accusation at a time when our country is in deep economic distress," a Pelosi spokesman fired back.Clearly, Boehner couldn't deliver the votes and he's trying to blame someone else for being ineffectual. But his excuse doesn't make the House GOP look better, it makes them look worse. Boehner is saying that his Party isn't even standing on principle, they merely wanted to scuttle the deal out of spite. That's an alibi? "I was going to help lift the country out of a financial crisis but someone said something that made me mad?" Maybe they should have had nap time before putting the bill to a vote. Still, I can't even try to say it as well as Barney Frank (via Eve Fairbanks):"You don't vote on a speech, you vote on a bill."
"We have come together on a bill and because somebody hurt their feelings, they come together to hurt the country. I would not have imputed that degree of pettiness to the Republicans! Think about this: somebody hurt my feelings, so I will punish the country!"
The best part is that they completely embarrassed their own party's nominee just to get back at Speaker Pelosi, after McCain and his surrogates spent all weekend priming the media to give him credit for the bill's passage. Now he'll have to suffer the consequences of its failure.
--A. Serwer
