Maybe even Republicans like government today--or they should

But they might want to stop the irresponsible and destructive political dialogue of bashing everything government does. And they should stop listening to people like Phil Gramm. About anything.

Bush Urges Congress to Enact Rescue Package - washingtonpost.com: "

In remarkably grim language for a president known for his economic optimism, Bush defended the federal government's 'targeted measures' in recent weeks to shore up collapsing credit markets, but said there is now an 'urgent need' for even broader government intervention."

But when McCain economic advisor (and rumored Treasury Sec) was in the Senate, he did everything he could to gut regulations on lenders, all in the name of free enterprise. But when that unfettered chaos leads to massive internal bleeding in our economy, now we are forced to step in. "Moral hazzard" has very little meaning when the hazzard is complete economic collapse.

I like what Bush has done here. I really do. I don't understand why he bailed out Bears Stearns and not Lehman, but I think part of that was not having a plan in place. But they have reacted positively to stop the bleeding and shore up these institutions. What bugs the crap out of me is that this could have been avoided with oversight, but the same Republican mantra of "cut taxes" went along with "deregulation." McCain bragged about deregulating business, though now he wants to reform Wall Street. His VP candidate wants to reform, well, everything, but wants to reform Wall Street so we can "get government out of our economy." As if that isn't what started this all.

And before conservatives jump me for blaming Republicans completely for this mess, I do think they should take a huge hit on this, but I also think that toward the end of the Clinton admin, Rubin led the way on deregulating a lot of this. He deserves some of this blame.

Today is a good reminder that government isn't our enemy, and Republicans should stop saying that. It can't solve everything, but we better hope it can do something here or all of the "my wealth is my wealth" won't mean anything.

Speaking of that, the Daily Show was pretty amazing last night. If you didn't see it, I suggest you watch the interview with Tony Blair, though I thought it was one of the more uncomfortable interviews I have seen in a while. Stewart really went after him, and Blair looked uneasy, at least to me. He reminds me that for Bush and Blair, the war has to have been right. It just has to.

But I also enjoyed the rest of the show, especially this take on Sean Hannity's "interview" of Sarah Palin. We learn that admitting that the economy is bad, according to Hannity, is unpatriotic and undermines our national security.



But my favorite was Palin's talking points on Obama's "unfair attack on the verbiage"--you know when McCain claimed that the "fundamentals" of the economy referred to the workers. Of course. That is how everyone refers to the workers. Because we are idiots. See how Jon mimics the Alaska governor

I think on this election, sean, the candidates, what they say, their verbiage, I think that should be off limits. you know that what we say, or you should know, sean, we don't mean it.

Palin is not impressive. Not even close. And the fact that John McCain decided to put the country in the hands of a candidate who says that Alaska provides 20% of America's energy and continually lies about her record--suggests that John McCain really did sell his soul to the devil.