Have you guys been following?

[Harlowe]

Looks like the bill failed!

The dow dropped 600 points.

[Embar Angylwrath]

I don't want to pass up this chance to watch history unfold. Wow! I wonder what the reaction will be now on the Hill. Wall Street certainly showed its reaction, a 600 point drop immediately (some of that has been made up though).

[Partha]

The longer I think about it, the less I like this bailout anyways.

Authorize 50 billion now to buy all the failing banks' assets at pennies on the dollar. If private companies have so much fear of making a profit off of a Bear Stearnsian fall, then we end up with a nationalized banking system, and we win later. If private companies see they've got a potential goldmine waiting there and invest, then problem solved.

[Lurker]

I wonder what the reaction will be now on the Hill.

Two questions need to be answered.
1) Is there agreement that the situation is dire and warrants a response?
2) If the answer to 1 is yes, what was the sticking point in the current proposal?

Authorize 50 billion now to buy all the failing banks' assets at pennies on the dollar.

The concern is that buying the assets at their current value (which sucks) would not inject enough money into the system.

[Embar Angylwrath]

For anyone interested, CNN has a live feed of this you can get via the web.

[Harlowe]

It actually fell 700, then recovered to a 400 drop.

I'm mixed on the bailout as well, because no one really knows if this is a "fix" or not and it's a assload of money to be sure.

[Partha]

Well, Lurker, they haven't REALLY been given a value yet, so I'm not willing to take failed companies' estimates of said value. Secondly, the stocks of these companies are overwhelmingly owned by the patrician class which gave us this mess, not the average American. So forgive me if I don't really care if these industrial mortgage machines don't have the money to make bad loans to each other anymore.

[Embar Angylwrath]

A re-vote? Did you see them try to pass this on a voice vote? Thanks god one of the members requested a tally...

[Embar Angylwrath]

Looks like it will pass now. I guess the first vote was symbolic, and allowed Republicans to go on the record as opposing the bill. Pretty gutless if you ask me, now they will hide behind a motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, which most Republicans are supporting.

[Harlowe]

Sometimes when I watch what goes on in the house and senate, I hear circus music in the background. Much like I will watching Biden & Palin go at it this week. It's going to be painful all-around for many reasons. Biden, because I think he can be a sanctimonious blowhard and Palin, well you know why, she's just a joke. It's going to be tweedle-dee (biden) & tweedle-dum (palin).

[Embar Angylwrath]

I guess I had that wrong. It appears the motion to suspend and pass was for another bill. It looks like the bill truely did fail.

[Harlowe]

I wonder how the DJIA is going to close today, it's down by over 500 right now - after it had recovered from a 700 fall to 400.

[Embar Angylwrath]

From looking at the vote tally, even many of the Dems didn't like the bill. And it didn't help that Pelosi had to make it partisan right before the vote. That drove many on-the-fence Republicans back to a Nay vote. I don't know what she was thinking when she did that.

[Fallakin Kuvari]

Nancy Pelosi definetly shot this thing in the foot.

http://www.breitbart.tv/html/184803.html

[Harlowe]

From looking at the vote tally, even many of the Dems didn't like the bill. And it didn't help that Pelosi had to make it partisan right before the vote. That drove many on-the-fence Republicans back to a Nay vote. I don't know what she was thinking when she did that.

I can not STAND Pelosi, I think she's an absolute fool and I've felt this way from the very first time I read a statement by her to the press. If anyone can screw anything bi-partisan over, it's her and her grandstanding, attention whorish bullshit along with utter lack of leadership skills. Hell she couldn't get more than a 60-40 split within her own damn party.

On the bailout failing, I'm mixed. I'm scared and relieved at the same time. I think it's a bad deal, but I'm not financially savy enough to know a good one. I just think this creates a really dangerous precedent.

[Lurker]

Republicans are actually going to claim they voted against the bill because of Pelosi's speech? Really?

[Harlowe]

Bottom line, she shouldn't have made that retarded speech. This situation required people behaving in a rationale and non-partisan manner. I think she tried to get the Dem's a pass on voting "yes" for this shit sandwich, by blaming Bush for the situation. We don't want to do this, but we have to on account of Bush. It was not the time nor place for proselytizing.

I am sure the votes she affected by her theatrics were the fence-sitters and those that were leaning towards "nay" - not people actually changing their mind about the deal. She just infused the right partisan bullshit to send them over the line.

The woman is an idiot.

[Trollbait]

Her grandstanding and partisan speech definitely threw a "poison pill" into the vote.

You can't claim a "bi-partisan" bill and lambast the other side at the same time.

[Lurker]

To Harlowe and Jecks...

Nobody is happy about having to do this. As Obama said, there are bad options and worse options at this point. Her speech was hardly beyond the pale compared to others delivered today. If Republicans want to claim they voted against the bill because their feelings were hurt, more power to them. I'm with Barney Frank, even I never would have attributed that level of pettiness to the Republicans.

[Embar Angylwrath]

If you were Pelosi, why in the hell would you even take the chance?