Catching Flies With #%$&@!

Thanks, Nancy. You just turned my 401 (k) into a 201(z).

It’s hard enough swallowing cod liver oil by the teaspoon. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted that the Republicans swallow their dose by the bucket, or the 55-gallon drum. Her unnecessarily partisan speech when the bailout bill was brought to the floor may have driven away the necessary Republican votes to get it passed. And with the number of Democrats opposed to the bill, she needed all the help she threw away.

Congressman Barney Frank observed that Republicans shouldn’t have let their hurt feelings destroy the process of saving the country’s financial markets. But why hurt their feelings in the first place?

It will be very interesting to see whom the voters hold this all against. Suffice it to say that if there were a choice for “none of the above,” at least in House election contests, that chamber would turn into one big mausoleum in January.

As I’ve said before, if we were just screwing ourselves, we could let everything collapse in a heap and have only ourselves to blame. But there’s a real danger of our taking the world with us.

At what point does this turn into a real emergency – and what powers would that give the Executive Branch? Do we have to wait for people to take to the streets? This territory isn’t just uncharted – it’s getting to be downright frightening.

So please, Ms. Pelosi, go kiss a few GOP behinds if you have to, in order to get a bailout bill passed. And for those whose behinds get kissed, well, please remember to smile and say thank you – and get back to work.

There, now I’ve said it.