The Respectfully Republican Conversation

And oh, doesn't John McCain look way younger than George Bush?

My Congressman was on the radio yesterday, and he said they didn't get a copy of the bill until 1AM in the morning the night before the vote.  It's 108 pages long. 

The young Repub turks weren't going to vote for it because they saw who was voting against it on the Dem side.  That's why the vote took so long to happen, over 40 mins.  Everyone was watching the other side.  If Pelosi really wanted this to pass she would have had the leaders in her party to vote for it. Instead, she gave them a pass to vote against it...as Rove was saying.  And that was a HUGE mistake.  She definately needs to be impeached before she does more harm.

It had more to do with who on the dem side was voting against it, then it had to do with hurt feelings on the Repub side after Pelosi again came to the mic to denounce Bush for the umpteenth time.  Now, that's one gal who knows how to soothe feathers right before an extremely important vote.

Since the heads of committees won't vote for it on the Democratic side, it's a wonder anyone else would.  Pelosi's inexperience or her need to place blame, or whatever it was that took away her senses yesterday, caused this debacle.  It's as simple as that.

One thought about our Repub. minority leader.  Before he gets to a mic with his $500 hair cut, and perfect suits, with proper placement of  color keyed hanky, he needs to know why his fellow Republicans didn't vote for it before opening them up to criticism by saying it was Pelosi's remarks.  He didn't have the numbers before the vote!  It should never have come for a vote in the first place.  Then they watched who was voting against it, and good bye.

LadySuz - On this one, I have to agree with you. I was shocked when I saw that picture. I was about to post when I was interrupted by a phone call (my mother-in-law who lives in another country is very ill and I had to do some internet searching - she was at home with my sister-in-law near death - found out she had dangerously low sodium - doctor over there told them to give her more salt with her food - problem is she was near comatose and could not eat - she is now in the hospital and doing a little better). Anyways spent half of yesterday on the phone trying to get in touch with my sister-in-law to find out how my mother-in-law was doing - of course dh worried about her - did not get a chance to post and thankfully the post with the pic was deleted. Thank you Paulette.

My dh is from Bangladesh. We have seen racism up close and personal. He has to drive the speed limit or for sure he will get pulled over. We had a new dryer delivered a few weeks ago and my dh was home at the time. As soon as the delivery driver looked at him he began talking to him like you would a 2 year old - as if he could not understand English. My dh has been living in this country for the past 35 years and has a PhD in Economics, a college professor for 29 years. My oldest daughter went through h*ll in grade school - she was the only student in her class who looked "different". I remember when she was in kindergarten and she would come home and say that kids on the playground would tell her "You're brown", "you have black hair" as if it were the worst thing in the world. She actually has skin color that people are literally killing themselves on the beach and in tanning salons for. So yeah, I am a little sensitive. 

I was also very upset by Joe Biden's remark that "You can't go into a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin Donuts without an Indian accent". I guess he is not aware that 25% of the doctors in this country are from the Indian subcontinent and 33% of engineers.

On this bailout - there is enough blame to go around. Just heard Obama's proposal to increase the FDIC insurance on deposits of $250,000. How does this help? I realize it would help if banks are failing but isn't that what this bill is supposed to prevent?  I think this bailout failed because many Americans are against it. Just heard on the radio that e-mails and phone calls into congressman's offices were 500-1 against the bailout. Since this is election time - they listened to the people who will be going to the polls in a few weeks. One reason I can think of is that it does nothing to address the problem that got us here in the first place. I realize everyone - Dems and Repubs hearts were in the right place - it stablizes neighborhoods when people own homes - so it is rather noble to want low-income people to be able to own homes. If it were just low income people that probably would not have caused this crisis. Low-income people were not buying the $500,000 mini-mansions. What started out as a good cause got carried away - extended to let anyone buy a home no matter the price or ability to pay. Housing prices were going up and as long as home prices went up and interest rates low - all was well and good. I just can't believe that they didn't see this coming. No one has heard of the saying "What goes up must come down"! Anyways - there has to be a provision in the bill that requires credit checks, ability to pay, etc. for those applying for mortgages or else we will be back where we started again. Lots of people were also talked into refinancing without realizing that their new payments would be too high for them to pay. Mortgage backed securities in and of themselves are not the culprit - the bad mortgages behind them are. I do not think Pelosi's rant helped in the least either although I don't think it changed anyones minds.

I found the answer to my own question about the increase in FDIC insurance - it helps small businesses - makes a little more sense - still don't see how it helps this bill to pass.

Agree with you Linda - is she up for re-election this year? I cringe everytime I see her. There are no other capable Dems in the House? Now that thought is scary.

My congressman also voted NO. There is a Yahoo poll up now asking if you are in favor or not and a few minutes ago it was running 69% against. I guess no one has shown us proof that it will work and there is nothing in the bill to prevent this from happening again once the economy recovers - will they go back to doing the same thing - making obscene profits and expect to be bailed out/rescued again. Oh and we should not be calling it a bailout for Wall Street it is a rescue for Main Street! All of us who pay our mortgages/credit cards on time, pay our taxes - we need to be rescued!

Good morning my Conservative friends.............if anyone is interested in reading the economic bill in full or for that matter reading any bill before Congress the website is http://thomas.loc.gov/and then in red at the top of the page is Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.......sorry if someone has already posted this but haven't had time to read back this morning.........so proud of the House Republicans.................Shokk

Paulette, You're probably much younger than I am and may not realize the full implications of that picture.  In the early days of movies, any time we saw someone shining shoes, it was an African American and frequently a boy.  It was usually the only way one did see an African American in film, and that image helped perpetuate the racism in this country: the notion that African Americans were good only for shining the shoes of white men.  Those of us who are film buffs and watch old films were shocked.  It immediately brought me back to a time in our country that I think of as abhorrent. It has nothing to do with thinking that people who today shine shoes are less important than those who don't--I add the hot dog guy in there as well.  The  man who sells hot dogs on our corner in Manhattan told my husband (foolishly, as he could have been with the IRS) that he brings home some $300 a day. Thank you for removing the picture.  

I agree sexism is just as bad as racism, and it still exists, as does racism, but it's more acceptable, even to those who claim to know better.  What was done to Hillary (and Palin) is certainly proof of that. I was disturbed by the sexist comments on the Obama thread concerning Palin--and on the earlier threads concerning Hillary, as well as the derogatory remarks about McCain's age.  Unfortunately, ageism is likely to continue long after we get rid of all vistages of sexism and racism, probably because we all age, and we all dread it.  It's something foreign, and freightening, when you're still young or middle-aged, and I think people try to ward off what they're afraid of by making fun of it.  My thoughts on the subject anyway.

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Anneshirley--Again, I have to agree with you.---As a movie buff, a few weeks ago I happened to see Vincent Minnelli's classic-The Band Wagon with Fred Astaire --

One of his most famous classic songs and dances is "Shine on your Shoes".   Seeing Leroy Daniels at his feet was very hard to stomach.........Add to that the considered racist term-- the word "shine"........................

Ladysuz...I do not in any way shape or form feel as though I have been attacked. I realize we all have very different views of what constitutes racism and believe me when I say I do appreciate the "thank yous' for taking down the picture. I am very interested in racism and what people think constitutes it and it appears to me it is more about color than it is actual race. Like I said I am really into reading about the origin of the human species and it has been a real eye opener for me how the breakdown of the races is determined.

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Rosemary--exactly what my husband said last night.  If interest rates go up to some realistic rate and are not constantly repressed by the Fed, for whatever reason, the banks would attract more cash than they could possibly want.  There's billions (trillons) of oil money overseas and that money would get parked here very quickly if the Fed changed the interest rate to say 5%.  My husband was a banker when he was young, here and in South America, and on this stuff, particularly because of his experience in SA (we're almost as erratic as SA was some 20 years ago) he does know what he's talking about. On economics, I don't!

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