A Failure of Leadership (With an Able Assist)

While the events surrounding yesterday's fiasco on the economic bailout bill was a clearly a massive failure of leadership on the part of Nancy Pelosi, it's only fair to point out that she had an able assist from her own party

Democrats can pass any bill they want without even a single Republican vote. So who is right? The time line of the negotiations favors the Republican version of events.

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) openly called on the White House to guarantee the support of Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, calling it crucial to final passage of a bill. Reid later changed his mind after Sen. McCain dramatically announced that he was suspending his campaign to come to Washington for the negotiations, saying McCain's presence, "would not be helpful."

Democrats control the House. Unlike in the Senate, the minority has almost no say in determining how legislation is drafted and presented, or whether it passes. For Democrats to now try and blame Republicans for not bringing enough votes to pass the bailout is the political equivalent of the Fire Department blaming the neighbors for not bringing enough buckets to put out the fire after the house has burned down.

What we've seen in the past 24 hours is Democrats scrambling like rats, leaving their presumptive captain to go down with the ship.

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