In case you missed it, I pretty much called my Congressman, Paul Ryan, out for his vote on the 90% TARP tax. I had the fortune of running into him tonight at the Racine County Lincoln Day dinner, and he explained the plan behind it. The short version: because the House Republicans realized they couldn’t stop it in the House, they let the Dems win this round. There still is the (theoretical) stoppage in the Senate, partly because there is a different plan in the Senate, and partly because there is the (theoretical) chance of actually filibustering it.
It is also a message to companies that might otherwise want to jump on or stay on the Bailout Train – don’t trust Congress.
Since I didn’t have a chance to mention it at the dinner, I apologize to Rep. Ryan for the blasting.
He voted for it because the Dems were going to win it? Huh? I think you wimped out because you ran into him personally.
So who was the bigger whimp on that one? Ryan for his whiney vote or you for an apology when you accepted his goofy answer?
He could have represented his desire to move forward in the party and voted against crushing the constitution. One less vote and it still would have passed.
He’s afraid he couldn’t handle the press spin, that’s all. Whimpy, whimpy, whimpy.