Monday, September 29, 2008

Washington, District of CYOA*

The always-excellent Nate Silver highlights a very important piece of the bailout's defeat in the House:
Among 38 incumbent congressmen in races rated as "toss-up" or "lean" by Swing State Project, just 8 voted for the bailout as opposed to 30 against: a batting average of .211.

By comparison, the vote among congressmen who don't have as much to worry about was essentially even: 197 for, 198 against.
Now, I'm not particularly enamoured of this bailout proposal. If we're going to spend $700 billion of our own , I'd much rather we invest it in the American people than blow it on the irresponsible American banking industry.

That said, any Congressman who allowed their vote on this bill to be dictated by their poll numbers deserves to be dragged out into the streets and pilloried by their constituency.

God forbid our legislators ever stick their necks out, make a tough vote, and join their constituents in the unemployment lines because they wouldn't abandon their convictions.

* "Cover Your Own Ass" for the uninitiated

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