Politics
Out of context: Reply #880
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- ukit0
Interesting....
http://race42008.com/2008/09/24/…
The more I think about this, the more I feel that McCain was in a no win position on the bailout. Apparently only 4 House Republicans supported it as of this morning. So, when Mac says that the bailout’s passage was in doubt, he wasn’t joking. But, let’s say it did pass, with McCain’s quiet vote (he HAS to vote), but without stopping a large Republican revolt. Could McCain possibly survive that? Supporting a bill that talk radio and various Congressional Republicans have roused the conservative public to oppose? I know alot of those folks are pretty high on Palin, but I don’t think they’re going to silently swallow a McCain “Yes” vote unless this bill can somehow be made palatable to more Congressional Republicans. So where would that have left McCain? Bleeding conservative support, from a bill that he won’t get any credit for. That’s a terrible place to be. And what were the consequences had McCain decided to oppose the plan, and effectively kill it (assuming Harry Reid’s threat was operative)? Well, the economy is unlikely to improve significantly unless SOMETHING gets done (Bailout, Capital Gains tax Cuts, what have you). So McCain will have put himself in the position of stopping a plan Democrats (and Bush) assured us would revitalize the economy, as the economy continues to go South. Total disaster. Realistically, he needed to do something he has never managed in the past; actually control a significant number of Congressional Republicans. That probably really does require him to do some hard ground work, twist some arms, etc. I’m coming around to the idea that McCain DID NOT want to do this, and that it wasn’t intended as a gimmick jujitsu move, but was rather an attempt to make the best of a bad situation. It’s very possible that this narrative will never catch on; in fact, based on the coverage I’ve seen, I’m not so hopeful. But, it seems to me the most likely explanation.