Tuesday, September 30, 2008

News Media, Analysts Blame John McCain For Bush Bailout Failure























John McCain raced to Washington, D.C. in order to focus on the Congressional bailout plan for the staggering economy. Rather than helping, most accounts have McCain sabotaging the delicate negotiations between the failed Bush/Cheney administration, Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans, House Democrats, and House Republicans as he acted more as 'bull-in-the-China-shoppe' rather than as President.

Then, McCain, following his poor showing in the first Presidential debate against Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), flees back to Washington, D.C., supposedly to twist GOP House members' arms to achieve passage of legislation. Just how successful was McCain: Not so much. Republican House members defeated the legislation 67% to 33%.

Sure, Bush/Cheney/McCain should suffer for their mismanagement of the economy and deregulation. Sure, bankers should suffer for crashing their commercial and investment banks. And, for sure, McCain should suffer for damaging delicate negotiations in Congress and for attempting what is clearly not his forte: temperate, patient negotiations with warring factions. If McCain cannot tame Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans, House Democrats, and House Republicans, how can he calm the waters between Shia and Sunni, between Israel and the Palestinians, between Russia and Georgia?

News media across the country now blame John McCain for today's failure of the Congress to pass the Bush/Cheney/McCain bailout plan:

New Republic:

As for McCain, this is very, very bad news. He failed to convert the House GOP, and the stock market is in a tailspin.

Marc Ambinder, the Atlantic.com:

So if McCain wanted credit for passage, should he share some of the blame for its defeat?

Two thirds of half Republicans voted for its defeat...after a weekend of telephone call diplomacy from McCain.

Nancy Pelosi may have given a partisan speech, but she was able to get most of her Democrats on board...

Joe Klein, Time Magazine:

I do blame McCain for his puerile histrionics and for dragging this issue--which should have been above partisanship--into presidential politics. Let's make no mistake about it: his various gimmicks had absolutely nothing to do with the substance of the issue. He doesn't know all that much about the substance of the issue. The gimmicks were a failed attempt to make it seem as if he had powers, and knowledge, he didn't have. Clearly, he was in a more difficult position than Obama--the populist conservative wing of House Republicans was unwilling to take responsibility for the fruits of the deregulation that they promoted--and that might have required a more aggressive effort to move votes on his part, but the flailing about only confused Republicans (was he for, was he against?) and made matters worse.

Chris Matthews, MSNBC:

McCain said he was going to lead the Republican charge, he was going to make sure that this was a bipartisan success...he called charge, and the Republican retreated. That's what happened here.

Ed Rollins, Republican campaign strategist:

A prominent GOP strategist said on Monday that John McCain handled his role in the bailout process poorly and would ultimately be hurt politically by the failure of the House of Representatives to pass the measure.

"To a certain extent, I think John gets hurt by this," said Ed Rollins, a CNN contributor who worked on former Gov. Mike Huckabee's primary campaign earlier this cycle. "He obviously, at the end of the day, said he was for it. But more important than that, he said he was the one who would bring them to the table and to a certain extent he will be viewed now as not being able to do that."

McCain has shown himself to be intemperate, facile, and impertinent. McCain, as George F. Will so aptly stated is unfit to be President.

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