The "Tommy" Republicans

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_(rock_opera)

"That deaf, dumb, and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball",

I am starting to think that the Republicans in Congress ( I won't bother with the White House these days--they are pretty much MIA)  resemble the lead character in the Who's masterpiece Tommy

Yes, they are deaf, dumb and blind. 

The mortgage bailout bill resembles yet another congressional boondoggle like "comprehensive immigration reform", ethanol, and the Farm Bill,  It's huge, it's expensive, it's not part of the party's basic agenda, and it's being fast tracked through Congress before the public is fully aware of what's going on.

Yesterday the Senate moved the Chris Dodd mortgage bailout bill forward by a 83-9 vote   http://www.boston.com/business/personalfinance/articles/2008/06/25/foreclosure_rescue_plan_advances/

since evidently everyone wants to "do something" about the problem. Including Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republican "leadership"

Of course, "doing something" means taking 400,000 of the worst loans in the system off the private sector' s hands and letting the taxpayers try and fix them.

The rush now is up to the podium to decide which financial giant came up with Dodd's plan. Not wanting Bank of America to hog the credit, Credit Suisse (not exactly a Main Street lender)now says yep, they drew the plan up to offload bad mortgages to the federal ledger and they sold the committee on the idea.

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/06/24/ST2008062401804.html

I'm sure they'll get every franc's worth out of this bill. And what do we get, even if it the new mortgages aren't as toxic as we expect.... how about a $500 million annual subsidy to liberal community activist groups like ACORN in perpetutity?http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080618/20080618006023.html?.v=1

(who said Barack Obama opposed public financing of political campaigns?) 

So our "leaders" are "Tommy" Republicans . They are deaf to the demands of their party's political base (immigration looks like a trend, now, doesn;t it?) Look at the reaction of the party's institutional conservative media allies.    http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MmEwYzQ1NmY2NDc1ZGIzNTIzZDVkMTRhMzg4ZTA5ZGY=

http://www.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB121400275096293203.html

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Economy/wm1941.cfm

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_061608/content/01125114.guest.html

When the calls came to stop and make a reasoned decision whether to proceed with the mortgage bailout bill, our Republican senators were deaf. Once again, they just signed on.

And they are incredibly dumb too. What did they gain from Chris Dodd by letting him ram through this massive bailout bill?

Nothing. In fact, Dodd is busy trying to continue the filbuster of the FISA spy bill so he can keep this administration--and the next one--from protecting our lives.  http://rawstory.com/news08/2008/06/24/feingold-dodd-planning-filibuster-of-wiretap-bill/

 Dumb. Very dumb.

Now how about blind? What has going along with the the various Democratic boondoggles accomplished for us? NADA! I've seen Congressional job approval at 11%. The GOP is losing the generic Congressional vote by 10-15% http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/generic_congressional_vote-901.html#polls

Obviously cooperating with the Democrats is just going to make the House and Senate Republicans part of the problem. OK, the public "wants something done". (which is not akin to passing corporate welfare. by the way). http://rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/general_business/most_americans_oppose_federal_bailout_for_homeowners

When the horror stories of fraud come to light, (and they will) we will be blamed probably more than the Democrats on this one since the public associates the GOP with bailing out big business.

But let's say the public decides they like this bill. If they give anyone credit for doing this, it will inure to Reid and Pelosi's benefit. Notice that tucked in the innards of these bills are programs which are designed to lock in support for liberals.

The "Tommy" Republicans aren't pinball wizards, they are pinball machines. Once again they are being played. .