Joe Lieberman: Yes!
Millions of working people and the precarious state of the American economy: Eh. Not so much.
Now, I wasn't all that bent out of shape about what they did with Traitor Joe, although I'm not sure how any Democrat in their right mind could ever trust him again, but hey, I don't have to work with the guy, and there were much more important issues on the table this week. Like, you know, stopping the slide into the deep, dark recession that we are headed for, that we might already be in. Seems you might want to alleviate that. You would think, anyway.
But when you take into account the news...
The Democrats' plan to carve out $25 billion from the $700 billion Wall Street rescue package was all but dead Tuesday, while the Senate's top Republican endorsed the White House call to rewrite the rules speeding up the Energy Department's retooling program.
... that some Senate Democrats weren't all that interested in saving 3 million American jobs...
Even Democratic allies of the auto industry like Sen. Claire McKaskill, D-Mo., declined to endorse the proposals to shift $25 billion from the Troubled Asset Recovery Program. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., also said he was undecided. "The Republicans seem to be pretty united against it," McKaskill said. She wants to support it but has asked to see the financial records of the Big Three first. "At a minimum I want to see cash flow. How quickly this money is going to go away and what it is going to be used for."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said there wasn't enough support to get over the 60 vote hurdle to end debate. She said she didn't support the bailout.
... and realizing that they essentially caved in to the White House and Republican demands on this issue...
"We'd prefer that Congress take the responsible, bipartisan route of using the existing $25 billion in the auto loan program to assist automakers while insisting that the firms make the difficult choices to make themselves viable instead of raiding the TARP program for an extra $25 billion," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.
... and couldn't muster the votes for get a $25B “raid” from the $350B that is just going to sit there anyway until Obama shows up...
The Bush administration told congressional aides it won't ask lawmakers to release $350 billion remaining as part of the $700 billion U.S. financial- rescue package, people familiar with the matter said.
The administration of President George W. Bush ends in less than 10 weeks, and a delay in submitting a request to lawmakers would leave it to President-elect Barack Obama to tap remaining funds in the bailout fund.
... you start to wonder whether the UAW should have campaigned for McCain as well.
Yes, I'm being snarky here - but apparently I'm really missing the end-game when it comes to strategy, because I just can't see how you throw the country overboard on the same day you save a Joe Lieberman.
So, take the re-tooling money for now, and hope that these guys can muster up the spine to get it back to the automakers once Obama takes office. The need for fuel-efficient "green" cars was on the top of his list, and I believe he will make it happen - provided we can get Senate approval for his agenda.
Sometimes I wonder.