Republicano Delenda est *

by Ken Houghton

Brad DeLong lays out the breakdown.

When 2/3 of your party believes that taking the Dow down 600 750+ points is a Good Idea, claims such as “the party of fiscal responsibility”—or even the “party of Wall Street”—fail the free market test Big Time.

If I weren’t worried about the coming harvest, I would fully endorse the DeLong proposal.

UPDATE: John Boehner lies with impunity though Julie Hirschfield Davis of the AP wakes up later:

Republican leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he and other Republicans were pained to vote for such measure, but he agreed that in light of the potential consequences for the economy and all Americans, “I think that we need to renew our efforts to find a solution that Congress can support.”

Why is this a lie? As a correspondent who would probably prefer me not to link to his blog said, “Pelosi delivered about 60% of her caucus for the bill; Boehner
delivered about 30%. Is the House [Republican leadership] incompetent[?]”

Davis returns to reporting a moment later, identifying the party that deflected first:

In the House, “no” votes came from both the Democratic and Republican sides of the aisle. More than two-thirds of Republicans and 40 percent of Democrats opposed the bill. Several Democrats in close election fights waited until the last moment, then went against the bill as it became clear the vast majority of Republicans were opposing it.

So instead of maybe overpaying about $700 billion for assets over the next year, in the hope that banks will loan again now, the Republicans in the House—with John “we need to renew our efforts to find a solution” Boehner pretending to be the Voice of Reason—decided to knock $1,200,000,000,000 out of the stock market in a single day.

Talk about your multiplier effect.

Davis continues by quoting the Minority Leader and the Minority Whip both whining about how evil Nancy Pelosi is—and reporting the truth of the matter:

Republicans blamed Pelosi’s scathing speech near the close of the debate…for the defeat. It was not much different from her usual tough words against the president and his party.

“We could have gotten there today had it not been for the partisan speech that the speaker gave on the floor of the House,” Boehner said.

Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., the whip, estimated that Pelosi’s speech changed the minds of a dozen Republicans who might otherwise have supported the plan.

So the Minority Whip might have been able to deliver almost 40% (78-120) of his party for this bipartisan effort—assuming we believe him—if not for the fact that Nancy Pelosi has a sense of history. Gosh, I’m really impressed now. As is Barney Frank, who notes that “country first” does not appear to be the motto of the Republican House members:

That amounted to an appalling accusation by Republicans against Republicans, said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the Financial Services Committee: “Because somebody hurt their feelings, they decide to punish the country.”

Presumably, because that worked so well for Newt Gingrich in 1995.

*Title change hat tip mregan in comments. (I’ve seen it both ways, and guessed wrong.)