Moments of Truth

These are historic times and Monday didn't let us down in that regard. Monday was a day of truths revealed. We saw that Boehner and the rubber stamp Republicans CAN lose control of their party. We saw 40% of the Democratic Party, led by progressives, actually DO have spines.

We saw the myth of bipartisanship fail.

A day later we saw that the. world. didn't. end.

But the biggest Moment of Truth is yet to come. Nancy Pelosi's Moment of Truth.




In that moment, we will learn once and for all whether Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer were the right choices to lead the House. Because Nancy Pelosi must make a choice. If there's going to be a new bill, then she has to win votes. The big question is who's votes? The 66% of the Republicans who voted against any compromise with the Dems? Or the 40% of the Democrats who voted against rolling over to the Repubs. Which side will she choose?

Up until this day, Nancy Pelosi has angered and alienated many Democratic supporters by her stalwart refusal to put impeachment on the table, by her lack of leadership in regards to FISA, by her lack of courage to stand up and end the war in Iraq.

And Monday she once again showed a complete lack of leadership when she backed a bill that we now know was a farce.

Despite their shit-eating grins, Democratic leaders nearly got rolled today, but a mixture of luck and bad faith from Republicans saved them. How do you know that the Wall Street types were trying to steal from us, other than the fact that they said that the refusal to hand over money was akin to a terrorist act?

Well, Treasury officials had a secret conference call with Wall Street executives. Unfortunately for them, some bloggers were on the call.

Matt Stoller's diary :: ::
The 'Treasury boys' on the call made it clear that "the tranching is a mere formality, and the Treasury boys as much as said so. They could take the $700 billion max as soon as the bill has passed." That was always obvious.

And they admitted that "the exec comp provisions sound like a joke, They DO NOT affect existing contracts, they affect only contracts entered into during the two years of the authority of this program and then affect only golden parachutes." Both of these provisions were 'concessions' sought by Democrats.

We already know Pelosi tried to roll over for the Repubs once. Now the progressives have put forward a plan. Will she go with it knowing it will cost the remaining 33% of the Repubs but gain 40% of the Dems? Or will she cry "bipartisanship" and roll over for the WH and the Repub minority again?

It's the Moment of Truth for Pelosi and many House Dems.