I must be suffering from Post-Election Withdrawal Syndrome (PEWS); George W. Bush isn’t even out of office yet, and I’m already beginning to feel some nostalgia towards his Presidency of the past 8 years.

Not because I think he was a good President; far from it, in fact, but the Bush Administration has given me a lot of fodder for ridicule, and inspiration to action over the past several years, and most especially in the run-up to this particular election.

And now it’s over, or very nearly so.

At least President Bush recognizes some of the blunders he has made over the past several years … if only that recognition weren’t limited to things he had said.

Bush: ‘I regret saying some things I shouldn’t have said’ - CNN.com

NEW YORK (CNN) — As his presidency nears its end, a reflective President Bush suggested Tuesday that he regrets some of his more blunt statements on the war on terrorism over the last eight years and said he wishes he had not spoken in front of a “Mission Accomplished” banner only a month after U.S. troops in Iraq were deployed.

President Bush says his wife told him that as president, he should watch his words carefully.

“I regret saying some things I shouldn’t have said,” Bush told CNN’s Heidi Collins when asked to reflect on his regrets over his two terms as president. “Like ‘dead or alive’ and ‘bring ‘em on.’ My wife reminded me that, hey, as president of the United States, be careful what you say.”

This nation’s economy is fucked … Republicans created this mess, Republicans came up with a solution to this mess, and yet Republicans are refusing to fix this mess, even though almost every thing the members of the House that revolted asked for was included in the bill being presented and voted.

What are they thinking?

Every single representative that voted against this bill, on BOTH sides of the aisle, needs to be thrown out of office in 5 weeks time.

Bailout plan rejected - Sep. 29, 2008

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The fate of the Bush administration’s $700 billion financial bailout plan was abruptly thrown in doubt Monday as a House vote turned against the controversial measure.

The next steps were not immediately clear but supporters were scrambling to put it up for another vote.

What was supposed to be a 15-minute vote stretched past the half-hour mark as leadership scrambled for support.

Investors who had been counting on the rescue plan sent the Dow Jones industrial average down as much as 700 points while watching the measure come up short of the necessary support, before rebounding slightly. The key stock reading was down more than 500 points.

The measure needs 218 votes for passage, but it came up 13 votes short of that target, as the final vote was 228 to 205 against. About 60% of Democrats voted for the measure, but less than a third of Republicans backed it.

President Bush is “very disappointed” by the House vote, his spokesman Tony Fratto said.

And now the finger-pointing begins.

Lawmakers quickly point fingers after bailout fails - CNN.com

The Republican House leadership blamed Speaker Nancy Pelosi for giving a partisan speech before the voting that alienated House Republicans.

While thanking Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson for negotiating on the bill, Pelosi said that the Democrats had insisted that the bill “protect the American people and Main Street from the meltdown on Wall Street.”

“Pelosi’s hyperpartisan floor speech infuriated a lot of our members and it has torpedoed this bill,” one Republican aide said.

But Democrats dismissed the Republican complaints, saying the Republican leadership failed to convince their members to support the bill.

“We delivered our votes. They did not deliver theirs,” one Democratic aide said.

Before the vote, many House Republicans expressed opposition to the bill, saying it departed from free market principles. Republican congressional aides also said calls from constituents were running 10 to 1 against the legislation.

Wah wah wah … because some Republicans feelings were hurt, they’ve decided to punish the American citizen by not acting; by blocking a necessary relief package to stimulate the economy.

Listen, you idiot Republican representatives. This is NO time to listen to constituents, 90% of whom do not understand the consequences that not passing such legislation will have … sometimes, you have to put both party and polls aside and do what’s right for the nation. This plan, as unpopular as it is, is still absolutely necessary to protect the American (and global economy).

And this is really no time to bitch and whine and cry and moan because Nancy Pelosi said something that hurts your feelings.

By voting against this bill, you have jeopardized the national security of the United States.

From the New York Times:

Bailout Plan Stalls After Day of Talks; Paulson Heads Back to Capitol Hill - NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON — The status of a rescue plan for the nation’s financial system was in doubt on Thursday, at least for the moment, as lawmakers emerged from a meeting with President Bush to say that negotiations had a ways to go.

One critical snag seems to be opposition to the $700 billion plan by conservative House Republicans.

“My hope is that we can get a deal,” said Senator Christopher J. Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, hours after House and Senate negotiators had announced that an accord was at hand. President Bush had hoped that an agreement could be announced after the late-afternoon meeting.

Mr. Dodd, looking tired and annoyed, complained that the late complications were making the episode sound more like “a rescue plan for John McCain,” the Republican presidential candidate, than one for the financial system.

It does no good, Mr. Dodd said, “to be distracted for two or three hours by political theater.”

The senator was apparently alluding to a growing revolt by conservative Republicans, and the fact that Mr. McCain had not yet endorsed the plan, whose concept runs contrary to the policy positions he has taken.

From CNN:

Lawmakers split over bailout - Sep. 25, 2008

House Republicans are not on board, according to Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio.

“House Republicans have not agreed to any plan at this point,” Boehner said.

Instead, they issued a statement of economic rescue principles that calls for Wall Street to fund the recovery by injecting private capital - not taxpayer dollars - into the financial markets. Easing tax laws would prompt investors to put in their own dollars, they said.

And from the Wall Street Journal:

Leaders Wrangle Over Bailout - WSJ.com

Earlier Thursday, congressional leaders had hammered together the outline of a compromise that involved allotting the bailout money in installments. However, after a meeting at the White House — attended by President George W. Bush, congressional leaders and the two presidential candidates — the gathering broke without announcing a deal, despite widespread expectations that one was imminent.

One cause of the delay: opposition from House Republicans who have tried to fashion an alternative “free market” plan that, instead of relying heavily on taxpayer money, could let banks buy insurance for the troubled assets weighing down their books.

Let me see if I’ve got this straight. Republican deregulation policies got us into this mess. Republicans proposed a solution, that while not ideal is the best shot we’ve got to get out of it. And, Republicans are the ones fighting against the solution that the Republicans proposed.

I’m trying to figure out where the House Republicans think that banks are going to get the spare capital to buy the insurance to protect their troubled assets, when so many banks are failing because … wait for it … THEY’RE LACKING SUFFICIENT CAPITAL!!!

Awesome. I love it. Fuckwits on parade.

Bush to address nation to push bailout - CNN.com

NEW YORK (CNN) — President Bush will deliver a prime-time televised speech Wednesday night to pressure Congress to pass a $700 billion plan to bail out Wall Street, the White House announced.

Bush’s speech is set to begin at 9:01 p.m. ET and will take just less than 15 minutes.

Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke warned Wednesday that the Wall Street crisis is the worst the nation has faced since the end of World War II and urged Congress to take action on a proposed bailout package.

Congress is considering whether to allow Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to use federal funds to buy up to $700 billion in mortgage-related securities and other assets that have caused turbulence on Wall Street and have undermined credit markets worldwide.

But Paulson and Bernanke faced deeply skeptical lawmakers, including members of Bush’s own party, when they pitched the plan before congressional committees Tuesday and Wednesday.

This will be interesting … it’s time that someone attempted to explain the plan to the average American citizen.

I’m hardly an expert, but I’ve been reading everything I can get my hands on over the past few days to try to find out what’s going on, even going so far as to contact one of my company’s economists to try to get a better explanation.

I believe the effect will be short-term pain and eventual recovery, versus what I think will be the long-term pain if we don’t do anything.

The economy is not healthy. It’s not going to heal itself, no matter how much Art and Julie want it to.

I also question Barack Obama’s decision not to step back from the campaign, at least for a few days, as did John McCain. I think that Obama needs to do the same thing ASAP; for appearances sake, if nothing else.

This is not a time for campaign bickering, but for the parties to come together and hammer out some sort of agreeable plan. The economy is sick, and unfortunately some intervention is necessary. It needs more controls than in the original proposal, but those compromises should be fairly easy to come by if both sides stop thinking in a partisan manner, and start thinking about Americans.

Regardless of McCain’s motivations, if Obama doesn’t step back as well, I know the Republicans will use his decision for political fodder … “see, we put ‘Country First’, while Obama put Obama first” …

We don’t need that.

The most important thing is to put some sort of review/oversight over Paulson’s actions once the bill is hammered out and passed.

The former Section 8 (the “32 dirty little words”), which is now section 12 in the 9/21 draft proposal (and now “39 dirty little words”) needs to be addressed. There is no way that Paulson’s decisions under the act should not be subject to review …

The speech just started. More thoughts later.

In yet another signal that John McCain is looking for change in Washington, the Republican presidential candidate urged lawmakers to adopt five improvements, originally suggested by the Democratic Party, to the government’s $700-billion proposed bailout of the US financial system.

Of course, McCain says these are his ideas. But we know the truth.

McCain lays out 5 fixes to financial recovery plan - CNN.com

CNN) — In his first press conference in nearly six weeks, Sen. John McCain urged lawmakers Tuesday to adopt five of his proposed improvements to the government’s proposed financial rescue plan.

President Bush has asked Congress to act quickly on the $700 billion bailout he proposed following news of failing financial institutions and frozen credit markets.

McCain, speaking in Freeland, Michigan, said the proposed plan has to allow for greater accountability, including a bipartisan board to “provide oversight to the rescue.”

“That oversight is absolutely essential,” McCain said, also arguing against the unprecedented power granted to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in managing the plan.

As called for by Nancy Pelosi and other key Congressional Democrats over the past few days.

He said the plan must also help taxpayers recover the $700 billion planned for the bailout.

“That money simply can’t go into a black hole of bad debt with no means of recovering the funds.”

Lawmakers wanted to know why the government couldn’t get stakes in the companies participating in the program or any other concessions. “It’s essential that the taxpayers of this country are compensated for their assistance,” said Sen. Jack Reed (D., R.I.).

The Arizona senator also called for complete transparency in regard to crafting and implementation of any legislation.

“This can’t be cobbled together behind closed doors. The American people have the right to know which businesses will be helped, and what selection will be based on, and how much that help will cost,” he said.

“This is eerily similar to the rush to war in Iraq,” said Rep. Mike McNulty (D., N.Y.), voicing deep skepticism. “We have been told repeatedly by this administration that the economy is fundamentally sound, and then all of the sudden they say the economy is going to collapse. That is unacceptable.”

McCain also called for a cap on executive pay for companies getting federal help. Senior leaders of any firm bailed out by the federal government “should not be making more than the highest paid government official,” he said.

Also called for by the Democrats; this time most prominently by Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi. “The party is over for this compensation for C.E.O.’s who take golden parachutes as they drive their companies into the ground,” Ms. Pelosi said.

Finally, McCain said it would be “unacceptable” for Congress to add earmarks and so-called pork barrel legislation to this plan.

This is about the only thing I’ve seen that I hadn’t already read from a Democrat … but I don’t think that even the Democrats would be silly enough to attempt to attach any earmarks or pork-barrel spending to this proposal, except perhaps adding provisions to ensure that American homeowners have some sort of recourse to refinance their mortgages in an attempt to keep their houses.

Time will tell … but it seems like McCain is with the Democrats on this one … so perhaps we can convince him to support Obama for President as well.

Bush, Cheney signal support for Georgia - CNN.com

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush condemned the escalated violence between Russia and U.S.-backed Georgia on Sunday, while Vice President Dick Cheney said aggression against Georgia “must not go unanswered.”

“My administration has been engaged with both sides of this trying to get a ceasefire,” Bush told NBC’s Bob Costas in an interview in Beijing, China, where the president has attended Olympic events.

Bush was filmed speaking to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during Friday’s opening ceremonies and said Sunday that he “was firm with Vladimir Putin” and that “this violence is unacceptable.”

Violence has continued to rage between Russia and the western ally since Thursday, when Georgia launched an operation to crack down on separatists in South Ossetia territory. Russia said it wanted to protect its peacekeepers already in South Ossetia following ceasefires in years past. But Georgia called it a full-on invasion.

Not that the conflict is causing oil prices to rise again (because pretty much any bad news will cause oil prices to rise), but that when even our dipshit President is saying that violence is unacceptable, our warmongering Veep is pushing for a response …

One of the really interesting things about this conflict is that the Russians consider South Ossetia to be a part of Russia; and have issued Russian passports to many South Ossetians … yet Putin is complaining about the “flood of refugees” crossing into Russia.

Of course, like most conflicts these days, this one is all about oil … a key pipeline which carries oil from Asia to the Black Sea runs through South Ossetia … and the Russians want control of that pipeline; and since it is in Georgian territory, obviously the Georgians want to maintain control.