I guess I was right all along.  I have been saying for some years that winning at politics was like being most popular in 8^th grade.  I didn’t want to be right.  I was mostly being a smartass.  Then I sat in horror as the Congress voted against the financial bailout plan.  The stock market had its biggest one day loss ever.  In one day we—our stocks, pensions, 401k’s, mutual funds--lost twice as much value in the stock market as the entire bailout would have cost.  And why did our leaders vote no?  Because they got their feelings hurt.

It went like this.  Just before they were ready for the bailout vote, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stood up and made a short speech, blaming Republicans and their anti-regulatory positions for putting the country in this terrible spot in the first place.  She then essentially told the Republicans their punishment: vote for this bitter pill.  Sure enough, when the vote was tallied, the vast majority of Republicans had voted against the measure, even though House Minority Leader John Boehner, the President, his Treasury Secretary and Fed Chief all said the bailout was critical.  Many Democrats voted against it, too, including Chris Carney of the 10^th.  More about him in a minute.

When the dust settled and the market was safely in freefall, people started to ask, “what happened?”  Leaders of both sides thought they had a deal.  But no, Boehner then came forward and said that Pelosi’s speech had poisoned the waters and killed the deal.  We lost a trillion dollars yesterday because they didn’t like how the other kids talked about them.

Nancy Pelosi was stupid.  She had her vote and she had the votes and then had to crow, maybe like the brown-noser who gets appointed captain of the cheerleaders.  But what about the Republicans?  They let some stupid remark push them against saving a trillion dollars in stock market value?  Because they were pissed?  And these people are our leaders? 

We deserve this, of course.  Millions of people called and wrote their elected leaders and complained about the bailout.  They complained for good reason.  It’s hard to argue with anyone who claims that snake oil salesmen got us into this mess, and now we’re going to give them even more money.  It’s a bad deal and the only good reason to vote for it is to stop something like what happened on Monday.  Well, too late for that!  That’s because millions of you called and wrote and said—what?

You’re against it.  Do you even know what it is you opposed?  I doubt it.  Well, either way you got your wish.  There is no one more insecure in the world than an 8^th grader.  No power, no money, no experience and no confidence.  What you do have is the beginnings of a personality.  You know just enough to know if you can get the other kids to like you, or at least get them hate your rivals, you win.  So when you wrote and called the popular kids, they protected themselves.  After all, every single member of the House stands for re-election in 5 weeks. 

Don’t worry, they listened to you.  They did something that you aren’t able to do—they voted for their own job security.  On NBC, political director Chuck Todd pointed out that virtually every member in a tight race voted against the bill.  By the way, that included Chris Carney, Congressman from the 10^th district.  As one of his constituents, I am deeply disappointed in his lack of resolve.  He especially pales by comparison.

You see, Paul Kanjorski of the 11th is in the fight of his life.  He’s trailing in most of the polls.  Yet Paul worked on the bailout through his committee and stood on the floor and said “it’s time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.”  It was a great paraphrase and he followed it up with something more important—his vote in favor of the bailout.

Paul Kanjorski is a real adult in Washington.  And you want to replace him with a one-issue bigot who wants to win by helping the white kids pick on the brown kids?  In a country of adults, the notion would be laughable.  But in a world run by 8^th graders, anything can happen.  If you don’t believe me, check the stock market.