In his closed-door meeting with Senate Republicans on Wednesday, Vice President Dick Cheney urged them to get behind the auto rescue package. “If we don’t do this, we will be known as
the party of Herbert Hoover forever,” Cheney said. Ignoring the White House’s plea, Senate Republicans have declared their
interest in union-busting rather than aiding the auto industry workforce. CongressDaily
reports that Sen. George Voinovich, who supported the auto loans, is among those urging Bush to move quickly with an auto rescue that would entail
shifting funds from the $700 billion bailout package for Wall Street.
Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, who supported the loan, said: “I wouldn’t wait at all because the longer you wait, the worse it gets. One thing I’d sure not want to have on my record is I’m known as George Herbert Hoover Bush.“
The Neo-Hooverite caucus apparently
seems willing to wear the label with pride.
Hilzoy noted the developments overnight, but I have to admit, I'm still struggling to understand how the Senate GOP could have successfully pulled this off. Let me get this straight: the Bush White House reached a deal with congressional Democrats on a $14 billion rescue package, and the compromise passed the House with a bipartisan majority. Some Senate Republicans not only opposed the measure, but refused to let the chamber vote on the bailout unless a series of unreasonable changes were made.
Democrats, hoping to stave off disaster, went along, and
agreed to Republican demands to reduce the United Auto Workers' wages and benefits as soon as the UAW's current contract expired in 2011. The GOP, led in this case by Sens. Corker, Shelby, and DeMint, said that wasn't good enough -- autoworker wages had to be cut in 2009, or else. The deal fell apart, the Asian markets tumbled, U.S. futures tumbled, and at least one of the Big Three is poised to collapse.
This, for lack of a better word, is madness. But what I really don't understand is why the rest of the Republican caucus in the Senate went along with this. Corker, Shelby, and DeMint are three far-right lawmakers from the Deep South, but they were only able to pull this off last night because there weren't enough reasonable Republicans left.
link"George Torturer War Criminal Worst President Ever Bush" captures it all.