For days, it has been obvious what the GOP dream scenario was- have the bailout pass, but with predominantly Democratic support, dub it the the Bush/Pelosi/Reid/Obama bailout, and then run against it. This is the plan that Gingrich and Ruffini and the other next generation Republicans have been salivating over. This was their big chance. Oops:

The Republican National Committee’s new advertisement critical of the the Wall Street “bailout” was produced and sent to television stations in key states before the package failed, officials at two stations said. “Wall Street Squanders our money. And Washington is forced to bail them out with — you guessed it — our money. Can it get any worse?” asks the ad’s narrator, as the words “BAILOUT WITH OUR MONEY” cross the screen. (The answer: Obama’s plans would make it worse.) The ad, however, seems to assume that it can safely attack a successful plan. And the reason may be the timing: Though it started airing this morning, the spot was released to stations yesterday morning, ad executives at stations in Michigan and Pennsylvania said. Kae Buck of WLNS in Lansing said her station received the at at 7:55 a.m. Monday. Luanne Russell of Pittsburgh’s WTAE said her station received it at 10:49 Monday morning.

Got it? While the Republican Leadership was shaking hands and allegedly rallying their troops to vote for the plan, they were already cutting ads to bash the Democrats. This is why only Republicans in safe seats and leadership positions voted for it. Yesterday, they went out and blamed Pelosi for injecting partisanship into the process, causing the bill to fail, when actually they wanted it to pass so they could… use it against the Democrats. And they were not even hiding it- this was what many online (again, go read the Next Right morons) had openly said they should do, and the commercials were ready to bash the Democrats for passing the plan.

Except the plan failed. And the Republicans are caught red-handed, and will pay the price should things melt down. Not that half the GOP base or the Republican Study Group care- half of them probably think an economic disaster is an alternate route to the Rapture. Not to mention, think of the side benefits- I mean, after all, if everyone is broke, no one can afford contraception or Demon Rum.

The only thing you can count on in politics these days is the sure-fire bet that when the chips are down, the Republicans always, always always put themselves first. These guys need a solid two decades in the minority.