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Papers Frothing Over 'No' Vote

Editorials mostly disparage Congress, Administration

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 30, 2008 10:33 AM CDT

(Newser) – As Monday’s “no” vote resounded down Wall Street, editorial writers across the country fired up their typewriters. Here’s what the country’s top papers are saying:

Congress earned its 10% approval rating yesterday, the Wall Street Journal says, particularly Nancy Pelosi —“Tom Delay without the charm” —and the House Republicans she so tragically offended. “This crowd can't even make sausage.”
The New York Times lambastes Republicans for submitting a “no” vote “rooted less in analysis or principle than in political posturing and ideological rigidity.”

Ultimately, the LA Times writes, the bailout failed thanks to a “lackluster sales job” from the administration, which failed to convince America of the plan’s merits. But forget blame; if Paulson and Bernanke say the sky is falling, it is. Pass the plan.
But the Chicago Tribune defended the bailout. “Your government did the right thing,” the Tribune says. “It sent a message of tough love from American taxpayers.”

[Quotes (7)]

A man in London sells newspapers with front page picture and stories regarding Congress' failure to pass the billion plan, Sept. 30, 2008. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,D-Calif., is seen during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 29, 2008, after the House failed to pass the bailout package. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)

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Monday's crash and burn of the Paulson plan reveals a Washington elite that has earned every bit of the disdain that Americans
have for it.
- The Wall Street Journal

Maybe the Members who voted "no" figure at least they'd still have jobs. - The Wall Street Journal

Republicans were also upset that bailouts represent a rejection of free-market principles. They do. Free market in finance, unregulated and unsupervised, has failed. - The New York Times

No amount of amendments to the bailout package will change the administration’s disastrous economic record. - The New York Times

The sooner executives of other companies realize that taxpayers won't save them from their bad decisions,
the better. - Chicago Tribune

The administration's lackluster sales job has allowed opponents of the bailout to promote minimal or Darwinian responses. - The Los Angeles Times

Republicans chose to oppose something they think is in the national interest merely because of a partisan slight. Thank heaven these guys weren't at Valley Forge. - The Wall Street Journal

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Papers Frothing Over 'No' Vote

Editorials mostly disparage Congress, Administration