Then again.....

I have a lot of sympathy with the views expressed in this anonymous e-mail from a Republican on the Hill. I guess I would still say that (1) I'm sure free-market conservatives have plenty of better ideas for solving the credit crisis, but they're short on time given the growing panic and stuck playing the political hand they're dealt; i.e., dealing with the decomposing corpse of the Bush Administration and the Democratic Congress, not to mention a likely Obama Administration in three months; (2) I'd feel better if I really believed that most House Republicans voted no for the seemingly-sensible, principled reasons in that e-mail, as opposed to mindless partisanship, fear for their re-election or simple ignorance of the issues; and (3) regardless of who is right or wrong in this particular case, it is still shocking to me the disrepute into which America's "establishment" has now fallen.  I'm not sure this is a country capable of being "led" in any meaningful sense anymore.  Certainly, the nation won't be led by either of our current presidential contenders, both of whom seem totally oblivious to what's going on.  One of them keeps braying about "earmarks" and the other keeps braying about alleged Republican "deregulation", without actually citing any particular regulations he would have enacted that would have stopped this fiasco (or, without mentioning that he was bought and paid for by Fannie and Freddie).