Impasse

MANIFESTO

The Republicans have demonstrated that it's not unsecured loans that are toxic; it's the Bushies. In yesterday afternoon's attempt to create an agreement regarding the $700 billion financial bailout,

the smooth-talking House Republican leader, John A. Boehner of Ohio, surprised many ... by declaring that his caucus could not support the plan to allow the government to buy distressed mortgage assets from ailing financial companies.

Mr. Boehner pressed an alternative that involved a smaller role for the government, and Mr. McCain, whose support of the deal is critical if fellow Republicans are to sign on, declined to take a stand.

The talks broke up in angry recriminations, according to accounts provided by a participant and others who were briefed on the session, and were followed by dueling news conferences and interviews rife with partisan finger-pointing.

In the Roosevelt Room after the session, the Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., literally bent down on one knee as he pleaded with Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, not to "blow it up" by withdrawing her party’s support for the package over what Ms. Pelosi derided as a Republican betrayal.

"I didn’t know you were Catholic," Ms. Pelosi said, a wry reference to Mr. Paulson’s kneeling, according to someone who observed the exchange. She went on: "It’s not me blowing this up, it’s the Republicans."

Mr. Paulson sighed. "I know. I know."

It seems to me that self-interest has won out here. The Republicans seem to have finally realized that taxpayers may not want to throw good money after what may well be irrecoverable and that, most important of all, this is an election year. Those spa treatments and free haircuts might be in jeopardy if they, you know, actually do something. And, of course, you-know-who isn't going to take a stand on anything that might indicate he's actually got an idea in his head.

Sam Stein has more regarding the absolute worthlessness of Senator Septuagenarian in all of this.