Here’s the thing: Most if not all of the House Republicans who voted against that bill did it out of a sense of principle. There’s no reason serious conservatives like Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan (who voted for) and Marsha Blackburn and Jeb Hensarling (who voted no) can’t get together and fight for a better bill. That’s what a whole lot of the principals from John Boehner on down wanted.
Yesterday was an ugly day on the Hill. But it wasn’t the Republicans who get me furious. It’s Nancy Pelosi’s rant. It’s the fact that Chris Dodd and Barney Frank were key faces of this deal without any palpable outrage.
Pelosi showed herself completely ineffectual or disingenuous yesterday. Republicans in the House should be able to approach the White House — representatives from those who voted for like Ryan and Cantor and against like Hensarling and Blackburn — and say, “you’ve got our votes, if you help us get this.” Why the White House doesn’t appear to work with our guys a little more, insist on more from the Dems, now, when they should be in the position to, especially, as Pelosi has overplayed her hand in a uberpartisan way when we’re purportedly in an emergency.
Or so I dream.