Posted on Sep 29, 2008 in Across the US, Activism, Barack Obama, Campaign '08, Congress, Conservatism, Economy, Government, Liberalism, Party Politics, Spending

The Day the American People Bitch Slapped Washington

“Bitch Slap”: The act of unexpectedly slapping someone across the face. Usually done in front of several people in order to humiliate the slappee. – UrbanDictionary.com

Monday was definitely an interesting day in Washington.

The day started with an address from President George W. Bush, urging Members of Congress to pass what he thought was a strong piece of legislation that was designed with the best interest of the American people in mind. This address to the nation was so important that it was held at 7:35am EST (4:35am PST), ensuring that maybe 1% of the population would actually see it. That 1% however, was targeted very carefully to a demographic that is very important to Bush Administration: Wall Street and Politicians.

Following the President’s remarks, the media went into full spin mode, rallying behind the President and Congressional leadership, leading the American people to believe that this bill was expected to pass, and that both sides of the House thought that they had the votes needed to move this on to the Senate.

Of course this is exactly what the spin machines from within the Bush administration and the Congressional leadership wanted the American people to think.

Unfortunately for them, there was no amount of PR tricks, and no number of feuxservative think-tanks that the White House could sell on this Socialist plan that would lead the American people to trust something that obviously didn’t have the best interest of taxpayers in mind.

Did an Administration with an approval rating of 27% and a Congress with one of 17% really expect the American people to trust them with $700,000,000,000 bailout package? Unfortunately, when you drink too much of the Potomac Kool-Aid, it appears that hallucinations and bad judgment follow.

Luckily, through the efforts of some true free-market, limited government organizations like FreedomWorks, National Taxpayers Union, Campaign for Liberty, and even some groups on the left, coupled with good ole’ American common sense, taxpayers rose up and told Congress how they feel.

I’m happy to be able to say that with one strong backhand, the American people were able to forcefully reach back and bitch slap both the Bush Administration for pushing this bill, and Congressional leadership on both sides for trying to sugarcoat what was obviously a flawed piece of legislation.

Just on one petition alone, NoWallStreetBailout.com (created by FreedomWorks), nearly 30,000 people signed up within days of this bailout being announced.

Even as John McCain and Barack Obama jumped on board with something they obviously didn’t understand, the American people said they weren’t going to stand for it.

Throughout the day on Monday, Congressional switchboards were jammed by phone calls coming in from all corners of the United States, with the overwhelming majority having a similar message to their Members: Hell No.

I’m going to have a lot more on this as it all unfolds, because it obviously isn’t over it yet. But the very fact that a traditionally apathetic American public rallied against this legislation in overwhelming numbers, on both sides of the aisle, sends a strong message to Congress.

Their games are over.

Blogs also discussing the bailout: