Wrong, wrong, WRONG.

From McClatchy, unbelievably.

I take serious issue with both the headline and the assumption that our 'system worked.' If the system did not represent the people - in a 'government of the people' - then the system DID NOT WORK.

Congress looked ugly on bailout bill, but system worked
David Lightman | McClatchy Newspapers

last updated: October 04, 2008 05:38:19 PM

WASHNGTON _ Everything America hates about Congress was on vivid display these last few weeks as members struggled to pass the $700 billion financial rescue plan.

Yet experts argue that in the end the system worked, as members acted rapidly to try to ease what may be the most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression.

“Democracy is messy,” explained Carl Pinkele, professor of politics and government at Ohio Wesleyan University.

But has it become too messy? How did a three-page Bush administration request balloon into a 450-page goodie bag brimming with tax breaks for NASCAR racetracks and children’s wooden arrow makers, among others? Why did 58 House members who voted against the bill Monday vote yes Friday, after those sweeteners were added?

Congress clearly has an image problem, one that drove its already tiny approval rating down to 15 percent in a CBS News poll taken Sept. 27-30, in the midst of the bailout battle.

Will the bailout bill chaos prod the system to function more smoothly?

Probably not, said Jack Pitney, professor of American politics at Claremont McKenna College in California.

Congress simply has an 'image problem?'

Surely you jest.

Congress has betrayed us. Repeatedly. They haven't done anything we sent them there to accomplish. They haven't ended the war in Iraq or held the Bush Administration accountable for any of its crimes. They didn't defend our Constitution (which they swore to uphold and defend,) or us from illegal wiretapping. They never opposed Bush at all - the most unpopular president in history. They couldn't even get Rove to appear when subpoenaed!

House Democrats even overturned a 25 year old moratorium on offshore drilling, simply because our oil man president and his oil man vice jacked up the price of oil at the pump, and Gingrich started a catchy little 'drill here, drill now' jingle.

Now there is some backbone on display.

It takes much more than an 'image problem' to warrant a %15 approval rating - don't you think? That is lower than George W. Bush's presidential approval rating; and his is the lowest of any president in history (lower than Nixon's after Watergate, back in the days when crimes had consequences.)

I see you quote the professor when he admits that the bailout 'won't even prod the system to work more smoothly.'

So why the rush? Why the rush? Why aren't you asking that question?

Why wasn't there anything in the bill for the struggling citizens of this nation - the taxpayers who will shoulder this debt? Why were only Paulson's buddies bailed out -- and after they caused this disaster in the first place?

This is hogwash. And here I thought McClatchy was free of White House talking papers.

“This is how Congress usually works, and whenever people have the opportunity to watch it, they think less of the institution,” he said.

I watch Congress all the time; its broken, and anyone who watches knows that it has been broken ever since lobbyists invaded Washington D.C. to the tune of a 3000-1 ratio (lobbyists to representatives.)

Adding to the ugliness was a Republican schism that’s been building for years.

This writer is seriously confused, and obviously doesn't grasp what is really going on, either in our government or in the Republican party.

This 'Republican schism' is our best hope for continued Democracy. These Republicans are rebelling against the fascist Neocon stranglehold on their party. How can this be 'ugly?'

These Republicans actually represented us. The Democrats, for the most part, rolled over. Again. And that... was ugly.

Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, also said he was “uncomfortable with the degree of government intrusion,” but he voted yes partly because of the improved Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. protection on consumer bank deposits.

“A former minister in home church used to say that. ‘Sometimes you have to put aside your principles and do what’s right,'" Thornberry said. “I believe at this extraordinary time passing this flawed bill is the right thing to do.”

What??

"Sometimes you have to put aside your principles and do what's right?" That makes absolutely no sense at all -- no wonder these boneheads couldn't craft a better bill. The only way putting aside one's principles to do what is right makes any sense, is in a context where someone has no principles in the first place. In that case voting for what is right would definitely be against one's principles. (Logic. So hard to find these days.)

And this in no way addresses the fact that this bill was NOT RIGHT if the taxpayers were against it. Period. Congress was elected by us, to represent us... not fat cat bankers and lobbyists.

“Everyone knew something had to be done, but they didn’t want to be hit if everything blew up,” said Dennis Goldford, professor of politics at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. “They all knew how terribly unpopular this was.”

And it never occurred to these elected boneheads - these failed representatives - that it was their job to stay in Washington and craft a bill that represented their constituents?

If the bill is terribly unpopular among your voting constituents - the people who sent you to Washington - then you vote against it! THAT is how the system is supposed to work.

So enacting a historic bailout bill in a matter of weeks is almost a demonstration that an unruly system can be tamed. The drama probably won’t boost Congress’ approval numbers, but that’s democracy, Capitol Hill-style.

It was enacted in one week - literally shoved down the throat of Congress and the taxpayers who voiced loud opposition in an election year - and the voters were ignored in favor of lobbyists and bankers. Tell me again how the system 'worked?' What a bunch of conceited, ignorant BS.

McClatchy - please - don't sink to this level. You can do better than this.