Dem, GOP reps alike defeat financial rescue package

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the end, the financial markets didn’t stand a chance against voter antipathy, partisanship and election-year politics.

The defeat of the extraordinary $700 billion financial rescue package represented a perfect collision of the forces of modern politics — a fast-moving Internet campaign, vulnerable incumbents, a weakened and unpopular president, and a roiling presidential campaign — all working against the so-called Titans of the Universe.

Polls showed widespread public opposition to the plan — the biggest federal intervention in financial markets since the Depression — and many Republicans saw such an enormous set-aside of taxpayer money as an unnecessary intrusion into free markets. Of the 19 most-endangered House incumbents, 13 voted no.

“This is one of those scenarios where nobody really wanted to do it,” said House Republican Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri, who played a leading role in the final negotiations.

Such a roaring confluence of opposition could have been overcome only with strong party discipline and presidential power. But a weakened and unpopular President Bush and lawmakers forced to weigh the vote against their political careers conspired against success.

Outside Congress, however, furious pressure built up against the bill in e-mail campaigns and on Internet Web sites. The Club for Growth, a conservative free-market oriented group, warned lawmakers that it would count a vote in favor of the legislation against lawmakers seeking the group’s support. Club for Growth is viewed with apprehension by many Republicans because it has been known to support challengers running against GOP incumbents.

Longtime conservative activist Richard Viguerie warned that lawmakers who voted for the rescue package would be targeted for defeat. “Republicans and Democrats alike who support this monstrosity will face the wrath of the voters if they stand side-by-side with predatory politicians and bureaucrats and their greedy friends who got us in this mess,” he said.

The opposition on the House floor came from an unlikely coalition of conservatives and liberals. The progressive grass-roots group MoveOn.org aired an ad blaming the financial crisis on John McCain and his allies.

All those forces worked against powerful special interests.