Thomas Hartley

Banking bailout: the lipstick-on-a pig moment

Perhaps it was how it was framed; from a bailout of Wall Street to a rescue plan for Main Street. The $700 billion dollar measure (however you want to frame it) wins the political football-of-the-year award. The theatrics ranged from Saturday-night, smoke-filled backroom dealing to Monday’s television coverage of lawmakers holding their noses as they voted down the first attempt. Such are the ways of Washington that only political scientists dare dissect to understand.