I remember, back in the halcyon days of last week, when a certain (very) senior Senator from Arizona swooped in to save the bailout plan. Well, today, with 60% of Democrats voting for it and 67% of Republicans voting against it, I'd say he did everything he could.
But 778 points? Ouch. Good work, Johnny Boy.
In a moment of historic import in the Capitol and on Wall Street, the House of Representatives voted on Monday to reject a $700 billion rescue of the financial industry. The vote came in stunning defiance of President Bush and Congressional leaders of both parties, who said the bailout was needed to prevent a widespread financial collapse.
The vote against the measure was 228 to 205, with 133 Republicans joining 95 Democrats in opposition. The bill was backed by 140 Democrats and 65 Republicans.
Then Krugman: We are a banana republic with nukes:
So what we now have is non-functional government in the face of a major crisis, because Congress includes a quorum of crazies and nobody trusts the White House an inch.
Interesting times. Kind of like 1931.
Update (via James Fallows): The Obama-Biden campaign released a statement:
This is a moment of national crisis, and today’s inaction in Congress as well as the angry and hyper-partisan statement released by the McCain campaign are exactly why the American people are disgusted with Washington. Now is the time for Democrats and Republicans to join together and act in a way that prevents an economic catastrophe. Every American should be outraged that an era of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street and Washington has led us to this point, but now that we are here, the stability of our entire economy depends on us taking immediate action to ease this crisis.