BOB LORD

Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, sounded pathetic today when he blamed the defeat of President Bush’s $700 billion bailout for Wall Street on a floor speech from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But Democrats like Bob Lord aren’t looking much better when they test where the winds are blowing and then pretend they are taking a strong stand on the hottest issue of the moment.

Lord, the challenger in the Fifth Congressional District, sent out a last-minute news release claiming the bailout has been wrong since it was first proposed a week ago. But Lord’s news release was delivered, at least to my e-mail box, at 10:53 a.m. Monday as the bailout package already was going down to defeat and the stock market plunging in response.

By contrast, Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., has been objecting for days to the Bush administration proposal and issued his own news release rejecting the new compromise version on Sunday afternoon, more than 12 hours before the vote took place.

Lord isn’t the only Democrat in making a political calculation about whether to support a plan that Wall Street desperately wants but has the public hopping mad. Every single House member from Arizona cast their final vote against the measure today. I can see Reps. Harry Mitchell and Gabrielle Giffords making a safe play, as they have serious Republican challengers this year. But I wonder how Reps. Ed Pastor and Raul Grijalva will justify voting against their own party’s leaders and with Reps. John Shadegg and Trent Franks?

Posted in: Congress • Election issues • $700 billion bailout • Bob Lord • Ed Pastor • Gabrielle Giffords • Harry Mitchell • Jeff Flake • John Boehner • John Shadegg • Nancy Pelosi • Raul Grijalva • Trent Franks |

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