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Conservative Pundits Rail Against Bailout

Even right wing doesn't like administration's rescue plan

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 22, 2008 1:28 PM CDT

(Newser) – The Bush administration’s $700 billion financial bailout plan seems destined to make it through Congress, but even conservative pundits are bashing the desperate move:

  • If a Democratic administration were proposing this plan, a Republican Congress would shoot it down, writes Newt Gingrich in the National Review. "Congress was designed by the Founding Fathers to move slowly, precisely to avoid the sudden panic of a one-week solution that becomes a 20-year mess."

  • William Kristol, in the New York Times, says the experts he’s consulted don’t believe Hank Paulson “has even the basics right.”
  • The rush to bailout bears striking similarities to the rush into the Iraq war, writes Dennis Dale in the American Conservative. Now as then, vast expansions of power are being rushed through, and “questioning the consensus is all but forbidden.”

Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks at a news conference during a visit to Alegent Health facilities in Omaha, Neb., Wednesday, June 11, 2008.
Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks at a news conference during a visit to Alegent Health facilities in Omaha, Neb., Wednesday, June 11, 2008.   (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich delivers a keynote speech at the Nevada Policy Research Institute's 16th anniversary dinner in Las Vegas, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2007.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich delivers a keynote speech at the Nevada Policy Research Institute's 16th anniversary dinner in Las Vegas, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2007.   (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this photo provided by CBS, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson appears on CBS's Face the Nation in Washington, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008.
In this photo provided by CBS, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson appears on CBS's "Face the Nation" in Washington, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008.   (AP Photo)
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And I’ve been shocked by the number of (mostly conservative) experts I’ve spoken with who aren’t at all confident that the Bush administration has even the basics right. - William Kristol

If this were a Democratic administration the Republicans in the House and Senate would be demanding answers and would be organizing for a “no” vote. - Newt Gingrich

This is a very important week for the integrity of the Congress. If Washington wants our money, then it owes us some answers. - Newt Gingrich

Drastic measures will be accomplished through the mixture of cowardice and corruption that is sometimes called bipartisanship. - Dennis Dale

Back then it was classified information that couldn’t be freely circulated; I could tell you but then I’d have to kill you. Now it’s I could tell you but it’d probably kill you. - Dennis Dale, on the similarities between the Iraq War run up and the financial crisis

Our short-sightedness as a nation is the aggregate of our desperate decadence as individuals; no one seems to care anymore what will become of the world they leave behind. - Dennis Dale

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