Words to Remember

In his post last night to The Beat on the Web site for The Nation, John Nichols extracted a few remarks from the debate made by those who voted against the bailout. I feel it a good idea to reproduce those remarks; so we can remember them for what they said and who said them:

• Texas Democrat Lloyd Doggett: "Like the Iraq War and the Patriot Act, this bill is fueled by fear and haste."
• Texas Republican John Culberson: "This legislation is giving us a choice between bankrupting our children and bankrupting a few of these big financial institutions on Wall Street that made bad decisions."
• California Democrat Joe Baca, Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus: "There's nothing in here that guarantees new jobs, nothing that guarantees salary increases. And that's a huge problem."

There we have three members of the House, each representing different interests but each trying to serve those who voted him into office and will have to make that decision again in November. If President George W. Bush was not aware of what these three Congressmen said during debate before speaking to the nation this morning, then his staff was negligent if providing him with an account of why his "solution" was voted down yesterday. If he was aware, then it is clear from what he said this morning that he chose to ignore those remarks. I suppose he can. After all, he does not have to worry about keeping his seat in the House of Representatives! Perhaps he does not care how any of the positions up for election in November will be decided. That should be sufficient reason for the Congress to discard all input from the White House, summon their own economic experts, and start from scratch to build a new solution plan that will see to the needs of those most in need, so to speak. Meanwhile, the President can go back to his faith-based convictions that God will take care of those who believe in Him; perhaps he will find out just what God has in mind for him!