Michelle Malkin and Daily Kos agree with Newt Gingrich

Newt Gingrich doesn't mince words in the Wall Street Journal article on the $700 billion bailout.  There's a lesson in Gingrich's statements for Sen. John McCain and I hope McCain is listening:

“Only in this city and on Wall Street does this bailout have any hope, and they may be able to ram it through, but it’s very clear to the country at large that this is a dead loser and it’s going to be a dead loser in October, and it’s going to be a dead loser on Election Day,” Gingrich said at a briefing to discuss a poll conducted for his outfit, American Solutions for Winning the Future, “And [elected officials] are going to go home and say, ‘I didn’t have any choice’ and people are going to say, ‘Ok, I need to get somebody new who has a choice.’ Because this is really a bad idea.”  [snip]

Gingrich said he believes lawmakers who vote for the bailout will face backlash at the ballot box in November and down the road. “I think that this bailout plan is going to break against anybody who votes for it, and I think it’s going to break against them more next time [2010] than this time [2008] and if it passes–because I think it is going to be a nightmare to implement–I think it is going to be filled with corruption, inefficiencies, and bureaucracies,” he said.

He said the interesting break to watch will be whether or not Republican presidential candidate John McCain votes for the bill. “And either McCain will reluctantly go along, and I think [Barack] Obama is clearly going to go along, or you’re going to see McCain decide much the way he did with picking [Alaska Gov. Sarah] Palin that in fact he’s a genuine maverick and he genuinely defends the taxpayer and this is a terrible bill,” he said.

“If the latter happens, I think you will see, overnight, the emergence of a McCain-reform wing of the Republican Party and you’ll see House and Senate members siding with McCain by overwhelming margins. And then you’ll be in a very different political environment. I mean, all of a sudden you’ll have Bush-Obama ads on the one side, and taking on the ‘Bush-Obama establishment’ on the other side and that will be, frankly, one of the more amazing elections in our history.”  (read it all)

Mark it on your calendar, Michelle Malkin and Daily Kos actually agree with Newt Gingrich that this $700 billion bailout is a bad idea, that politicians and Americans will regret the day it passes.  McCain needs to step up rather than go along.

Malkin:

Both parties in Washington are about to screw us over on an unprecedented scale. They are threatening us with fiscal apocalypse if we don’t fork over $700 billion to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and allow him to dole it out to whomever he chooses in whatever amount he chooses — without public input or recourse. They are rushing like mad to cram this Mother of All Bailouts down our throats in the next 72-96 hours. And right there in the text of the proposal is this naked power grab: “Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.”

[history of Paulson's record, statements, etc. here]

And now, Washington is on the verge of handing this man unchecked power to grab $700 billion-plus in taxpayer money to stabilize a market he said was “healthy” in order to fix a crisis he said had been “contained” more than a year ago?

Daily Kos:

In their own words, this isn't about bailing out troubled firms. It's about gifting "very successful banks and investment houses that have done very well."

This ridiculous bailout plan needs to be immediately snuffed out. Anyone who votes for this thing won't face just trouble this November, but in 2010 when primary season comes around. You want a bipartisan popular revolt on both sides of the ideological divide? This will do the trick.

ABC:

Speaking to NPR today Newt Gingrich lashed out against the proposed bail out of Wall Street.  Here is an excerpt of what he said:

"I think you have a Goldman Sachs chief of staff to the President and the Goldman Sachs secretary of the Treasury.  And they convinced the President that the American people ought to send $700 billion to Wall Street, which I think is a very, very bad idea and I would argue is a very un-Republican idea.  I don’t understand what they think they're doing." 

McCain needs to step up rather than go along.  Haste makes waste.

Comments

[Skunkfeathers]

The more I learn about this bailout, the more I am confirmed in my decades-long belief that anything government takes over, goes phffffft. Since I've hitched my vote to McCain-Palin, I damned sure hope he makes the right vote on this terrible idea.

[Buffoon]

Nice write up, I lose track seven times a day with this current hijacking...

[Faultline USA]

Batman makes good sense to me. Also, a McCain-reform wing of the Republican Party would be very interesting.

[2Cents]

It's a sure sign of a tremendously bad bill when both the Left and the Right are against it. The last bill I can recall with this much bipartisan opposition was the shamnesty debacle. Hopefully this one follows in its tracks!

[Debbie]

Batman, and Denise-Mary, thanks for those comments. More and more folks are speaking out against this bailout. We should know something by the end of the week,since the presidential debates start Friday.

[Angel]

a govt bail out..just what we need..not!

[Denise-Mary]

Couldn't possibly say it better than "batman," above. I will simply add that as a NON-homeowner - because I knew I couldn't comfortably afford one on my single income - I have just about zero sympathy for anyone else who got locked into a mortgage yet couldn't pay for it. Why should I and my grandchildren be taxed for someone else's poor judgment and/or wanting to cash in on a speculative real estate market?

[batman]

We're talking about a trillion dollars here. That's real money. A major slice of the annual GDP of this nation. The whole idea of holding the hardworking taxpayer, and his descendants, liable for this mess is completely communist. Essentially, the value of the dollar would be again halved. It is completely contrary to the ideology set forth by those who laid the foundation of this country This pillaging of the taxpayer to bail out these malignancies is blatantly unconstitutional. The first "hello" is that Obama bin Biden is for it. I'm so sorry to agree with the Kos, that the 2nd "hello" would be that Bush is for it. Yea, we do have a predatory plutocracy in operation here. The same idiots that have systematically outsourced our economic engine, are now reaping what they have sown. The recklessness of these organizations was actually hidden by many of those in government should be tried for treason. There were some very hefty campaign contributions. Along with the FBI, there should also be a complete investigation with an independent prosecutor into the operation of Fannie and Freddie. These federal institutions, like Lehman Bros., and AIG, should also be biting the dust. Sure, the market will take a hit. But, if Uncle Sam would simply completely eliminate the capital gains tax, and allow Americans to employ American assets, its natural resources and human energy; Our financial system would rapidly rebound, stronger than ever.