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It failed because it wasn’t sold properly.

Washington – A sweeping rescue plan for US financial markets foundered in the US House Monday on a combination of doubts about the plan, reelection concerns, disdain for bailing out Wall Street bankers, and a deep philosophical distaste for massive government intervention in the private sector among conservatives.

The Dow Jones stock index plunged a record 777.68 points on the day - a reaction that Democrats say could pave the way for a new vote, as early as Thursday.

Despite opinion polls showing that the public was warming to the idea of a rescue plan – and efforts by congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle to round up support – the measure failed 205 to 228, with 95 Democrats and 133 Republicans voting to scuttle the proposed $700 billion bailout. Most lawmakers had been deluged with calls and e-mail from voters angry that, as they see it, taxpayer dollars would be used to bail out Wall Street fat cats.

It was clear from lawmakers’ post-vote comments, especially among conservative Republicans, that the bill represented nothing short of a repudiation of values – such as faith in small government and market mechanisms – that they have cherished since the days of Ronald Reagan.

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They didn’t properly spell out the consequences of a series of failing banks - i.e. lost jobs, a prolonged recession, and basically bad times. Banks with bad loans (subprime loans they can’t properly value) can’t lend more money for businesses to grow and create new jobs. So we’re basically left with stagnation. And if these House Republicans think that regulation is bad, what do they call the lack of regulation that got us into another fine mess?

Stephen Colbert disagrees (but his talking points agree!). Check out the video - preceeded by a simply awesome review of some fair-and-balanced Florida Jewish voters watching the debate:

Original Video - More videos at TinyPic
Shalom.

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Holy Frijoles. Dave Letterman was apparently RED HOT about John McCain suspending his campaign to race back to Washington to deal with the “cratering” economy and cancelling his scheduled appearance on the show last night. Dave spent literally THE ENTIRE SHOW just railing on McCain. It was BRU-TAL.

In addition to repeatedly mocking McCain for skipping out on his scheduled appearance Wednesday, Letterman also devoted, fittingly, his nightly top 10 list to the subject of “Questions People Are Asking The McCain Campaign.” Number Five: “Are You Doing All This Just To Get Out Of Going On Letterman?”

Brutal ESPECIALLY after they found out he was indeed not racing back to Washington, but taping an interview with Katie Couric - a fellow CBS employee!!

“In the middle of the taping Dave got word that McCain was, in fact just down the street being interviewed by Katie Couric. Dave even cut over to the live video of the interview, and said, “Hey Senator, can I give you a ride home?”

Earlier in the show, Dave kept saying, “You don’t suspend your campaign. This doesn’t smell right. This isn’t the way a tested hero behaves.” And he joked: “I think someone’s putting something in his metamucil.”

“He can’t run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second string quarterback, Sarah Palin. Where is she?”

“What are you going to do if you’re elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We’ve got a guy like that now!”

It was EPIC. Video below

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