133 Republicans don't "put country first"

So, while the Republicans and McCain's campaign accused Obama and Democrats of putting "politics ahead of country," 133 Republicans voted against the bail-out. Why did these "Country First" Republicans voted against the bail-out? Well, according to House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), these "Country Firsters" Republicans who planned on an AYE vote for the sake of the country had no choice but to change their vote because Nancy Pelosi forced them to:

"I do believe that the vote could have succeeded," Boehner said in a news conference. "But the speaker had to give a partisan speech ... that poisoned our caucus."

When was the last time anyone ever asked you for $700 billion?

It’s a staggering figure and many questions have arisen from that request. And we have been hearing a very informed debate on all sides of this issue here today. I’m proud of the debate.

$700 billion. A staggering number, but only a part of the cost of the failed Bush economic policies to our country. Policies that were built on budget recklessness when Pres. Bush took office, he inherited Pres. Clinton’s surpluses - four years in a row budget surpluses on a trajectory of $5.6 trillion in surplus. And with his reckless economic policies, within two years, he had turned it around. And now 8 years later, the foundation of that fiscal irresponsibility, combined with an “anything goes” economic policy, has taken us to where we are today.

They claim to be free-market advocates, when it’s really an anything goes mentality. No regulation, no supervision, no discipline. And if you fail, you will have a golden parachute and the taxpayer will bail you out.

Those days are over. The party is over in that respect.

Democrats believe in a free market. We know that it can create jobs, it can create wealth, many good things in our economy. But in this case, in this unbridled form, as encouraged and supported by the Republicans — some Republicans, not all — it has created not jobs, not capital, it has created chaos. And it is that chaos that the Secretary of the Treasury and the Chairman of the Fed came to see us, just about a week and a half ago. It seems like an eternity, doesn’t it? So much has happened. The news was so bad. They described a very dismal situation.

Pelosi, for the record, voted AYE, as did 139 other Democrats and 65 Republicans. In other words, according to Boehner, Eric Cantor (R-VA) and the McCain campaign, Republicans by and large are so petty that they'd rather completely destroy the economy and hurt this country and its citizens rather than vote the same way as Nancy Pelosi. So which country is it that Republicans are putting first?

Tags: McShame politics conservatism economy

Sphere: Related Content