Democrat Leaders Played to Lose

[5711-Marine]

Washington Prowler
Democrat Leaders Played to Lose
By The Prowler
Published 9/30/2008 12:50:21 AM

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ordered her Majority Whip, Jim Clyburn, to essentially not do his job in the runup to the vote on Monday for the negotiated Wall Street bailout plan, according to House Democrat leadership aides.

"Clyburn was not whipping the votes you would have expected him to, in part because he was uncomfortable doing it, in part because we didn't want the push for votes to be successful," says one leadership aide. "All we needed was enough to potentially get us over the finish line, but we wanted the Republicans to be the ones to do it. This was not going to be a Democrat-passed bill if the Speaker had anything to say about it."

During the floor vote, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and House Democrat Conference chair Rahm Emanuel could be seen monitoring the vote on the floor, and gauging whether or not more Democrat votes were needed. Clyburn had expressed concerns, says the leadership aide, of being asked to press members of the Black and Hispanic caucuses on a bill he was certain those constituencies would not want passed.

"It worked out, because we didn't have a dog in this fight. We negotiated. We gave the White House a bill. It was up to the Republicans to get the 100 plus votes they needed and they couldn't do it," said another Democrat leadership aide.

Emanuel, who served as a board member for Freddie Mac, one of the agencies that precipitated the economic crisis the nation now finds itself in, had no misgivings about taking a leadership role in tanking the bill. "He was cheerleading us along, mothering the votes," says the aide. "We wanted enough to put the pressure on the Republicans and Congressman Emanuel was charged with making it close enough. He did a great job."

Pelosi and her aides have made it clear they were not going to "whip" or twist the arms of members who did not want to vote, but they also made no effort to rally any support for a bill they attempted to hijack over the weekend.

Further, according to House Oversight Committee staff, Emanuel has received assurances from Pelosi that she will not allow what he termed a "witch hunt" to take place during the next Congressional session over the role Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac played in the economic crisis.

Emanuel apparently is concerned the roles former Clinton Administration members may have played in the mortgage industry collapse could be politically -- or worse, if the Department of Justice had its way, legally -- treacherous for many.

[PocketProtector]

All F#@$%ING politics ....that's all these libs do. Not that this bill was right or wrong, but this is all about the election. These libs strategize everything around "what's best to get them elected". F@#$ America .....It's DISGUSTING !!!

[adymond]

All F#@$%ING politics ....that's all these libs do. Not that this bill was right or wrong, but this is all about the election. These libs strategize everything around "what's best to get them elected". F@#$ America .....It's DISGUSTING !!!

Unfortunately I don't think it is just the liberals who are doing this. They are ALL doing this. It is really pissing me off. This is no different than the Democrats in contested states being given permission to vote for drilling. The Democrats wanted to make this a bill passed with bipartisan support so that they could saddle the Republicans with part of the responsibility.

[PocketProtector]

Unfortunately I don't think it is just the liberals who are doing this. They are ALL doing this. It is really pissing me off. This is no different than the Democrats in contested states being given permission to vote for drilling. The Democrats wanted to make this a bill passed with bipartisan support so that they could saddle the Republicans with part of the responsibility.

That's EXACTLY what I'm saying. Plus this is not just a bailout. It is the BIGGEST transfer of assets from the private sector to the Government ever !! How do you spell Socialism???? Hmmm I guess the Government does such a good job with SS and Medicare and duh, and duh.....and that's why we want them running things. This whole bill was to give the Treasury secretary boundless power....Great Plan.

Plus the attempts by the LIBS to put in $20 Billion to go to their groups like ACORN .....FOR FREAKING WHAT ????
Paulson should be out, he has SEVERE conflicts of interest, and what was GWB thinking when he appointed a Democrat to this position ? I guess the same thing when he had Kennedy write the education bill. His cross the aisle politics have blown up in his face at every turn. The problem being he didn't learn from it. And I support him generally but these were HUGE mistakes.

[adymond]

That's EXACTLY what I'm saying

I know, but don't overlook the spinelessness of the Republicans saying Pelosi's speach was what caused them to vote against the bill. Have a freaking set of balls and say "We did not feel this was in the best interest of the country as it is structured" or something. Be honest with us. Don't bitch that Pelosi being a God damned c*_* caused you to vote a certain way. If that was the reason they didn't vote for the bill they are just as bad. If they are afraid to say why they didn't vote for the bill for fear of alienating voters they are just as bad. I am just getting so tired of the whole shitstorm. I hope it gets here soon so I can stop being pissed at the politicians and worry about survival.

[PocketProtector]

I know, but don't overlook the spinelessness of the Republicans saying Pelosi's speach was what caused them to vote against the bill. Have a freaking set of balls and say "We did not feel this was in the best interest of the country as it is structured" or something. Be honest with us. Don't bitch that Pelosi being a God damned c*_* caused you to vote a certain way. If that was the reason they didn't vote for the bill they are just as bad. If they are afraid to say why they didn't vote for the bill for fear of alienating voters they are just as bad. I am just getting so tired of the whole shitstorm. I hope it gets here soon so I can stop being pissed at the politicians and worry about survival.

I'm with you brother, but the shitstorm won't stop til after the election. The LIBS want this front and center until then and with their co-conspirators in the media will try to blame this shit on the GOP. The GOP is complicit only for their lack of leadership and forceful action but completely out of the loop as far as far as the Fannie/Freddie corruption whereas the Libs are up to their eyeballs !! If the GOP had any liability here there would be screams for special Prosecutors, Hearings, commissions, jail terms yada yada yada, but since it's the Libs, the media is criminally silent !!! In simple terms the whole thing is a nonviolent Coup. Led by the media. They want power at ANY cost.

[Morel42]

All F#@$%ING politics ....that's all these libs do. Not that this bill was right or wrong, but this is all about the election. These libs strategize everything around "what's best to get them elected". F@#$ America .....It's DISGUSTING !!!

Wow.. You really really hate them don't you?

Open your eyes man... Friggin open your eyes and realize that it's both sides..

And I'm sorry. I have to ask this.. How the heck can anyone actually sit at home thinking to themselves "Those Liberals are to blame!!" when it's been the Republicans and Bush in Charge for the Majority of the past 8 years?

I honestly don't understand that one sided blindness..

Hell, http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortu...4040/index.htm from 2005!

[adymond]

Wow.. You really really hate them don't you?

Open your eyes man... Friggin open your eyes and realize that it's both sides..

And I'm sorry. I have to ask this.. How the heck can anyone actually sit at home thinking to themselves "Those Liberals are to blame!!" when it's been the Republicans and Bush in Charge for the Majority of the past 8 years?

I honestly don't understand that one sided blindness..

Hell, http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortu...4040/index.htm from 2005!

Couple things I have to address with this. I think he was bitching about the left and how they positioned this bill and how this is an example of how everything is being used to further their power grab. I don't think he was saying the right never does it. I also don't think he was saying none of the blame should fall on the right (sorry if I am wrong).

I think though that to say this has only happened in the last 8 years shows you are guilty of the same sort of blindness that you are accusing others of suffering. This can be traced back to the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of the 70's (I think it was 1972 if I remember). Since then the lending institutions have been pressured to accept riskier and riskier loans and then selling them to Fannie and Freddy. This was in an effort to boost minority and low income home ownership. Lenders were able to take on more and more risk and then off load that risk to a GSE (Government Sponsored Entity). The GSEs were able to socialize the risk while privatizing the profits. Those loans the GSE bought would then be resold to many other investors. Now most of these loans were "bad" loans, or in other words loans to people who had no means of paying back those loans. Previously people had to work and save enough to afford a home. If they had too low of an income they would have had to save a sizable amount for down payment and closing costs.

Now I don't know all of the voting around the CRA and the GSE regulation. I know that both sides have used the voting around these issues for political purposes, but the trend is that this is more of a liberal push for easier loans for minorities and low income people and a conservative trend of deregulation. The idea that more people need to own homes is good, but we should not make it so that anyone can get a loan regardless of their ability to repay it (personal responsibility). Deregulation is a great free market idea, but we must closely regulate any entity that puts taxpayer money at risk (GSEs), since they are not a product of free markets they do not deserve the same deregulations. Both sides are at fault.

Also when you look back to 2001 Bush was pusing for legislation to reign in the two GSEs. Several of the members of the oversight committee are on record saying there was no problem and that we needed to make it even easier for them to offer loans to low income families. McCain pushed for legislation in 2005 to change the regulation. Ron Paul has been calling for an overhaul. The only consistant opposition to this legislation has been from the liberal establishment. For the last two years it was a Democratic congress. They could have changed the "failed policies of the Bush administration" at any time since they have had the majority. When Clinton was in office the Republicans had the majority and they could have made changes. Neither did and both are to blame.

Politicians do not want to fix any problems. They want to minimize the damage so that each election cycle they can show what they have done and what still needs to be done. If the Democrats had solved the housing problem back in the 70's there would have been many election cycles they could not have capitalized on the class war between low income people who can't afford a home and those wealthy bastards. If the Republicans had solved it they would not have been able to talk about the need to deregulate the financial institutions. If immigration is solved it takes away an issue. If energy is solved it takes away an issue. Every politician is playing us for idiots and we are just taking it.

[5711-Marine]

Wow.. You really really hate them don't you?

Open your eyes man... Friggin open your eyes and realize that it's both sides..

And I'm sorry. I have to ask this.. How the heck can anyone actually sit at home thinking to themselves "Those Liberals are to blame!!" when it's been the Republicans and Bush in Charge for the Majority of the past 8 years?

I honestly don't understand that one sided blindness..

Hell, http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortu...4040/index.htm from 2005!

the bill failed by 23 votes. some republicans voted for it, but 95 democrats voted against it in a House of Representatives where the democrats have a majority that could have passed the bill. Even if the vote went straight party line the President indicated he would sign it. the Majority whip was not doing his job to get the votes needed to pass the bill. He was told not to by the speaker of the house, so they could hang some of the blame on the republicans. I will post links to the news articles that I read showing this behavior.

[5711-Marine]

This can be traced back to the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of the 70's (I think it was 1972 if I remember).

1977 during the carter administration.