GOP In Disarray, Won’t Follow McCain

Posted by Jane Hamsher, Firedoglake at 10:25 AM on September 30, 2008.

No matter what you want to say about the bailout, the Democratic leadership managed to actually lead.  The Republicans agreed to a bill and then couldn't deliver the votes they promised.  Now every Republican congressman you've never heard of is engaging in triumphalism before the cameras, claiming success in bringing the bill down.

This morning John Shadegg (R-AZ) was just on Morning Joe saying Boehner's excuse for the bill not passing -- GOP House members having their tender feelings hurt by Nancy Pelosi's speech -- was a crock of shit. He said he couldn't name one member of the House who pulled their vote because of it.  That lack of total discipline never would've been imaginable in the GOP just a short while ago.

Then McCain came on and Scarborough asked him about Shadegg's assertion that this was a smackdown of Hank Paulsen.  McCain gave that creepy wheezing laugh of his that he always does when he's uncomfortable and started blathering worse than Sarah Palin about how he has a comprehensive energy plan and he won't pass earmarks and a bunch of other irrelevant boilerplate "maverick" horseshit.  

Bottom line --  McCain came to Washington to lead, and nobody followed.  How can you claim you will work in a "bipartisan" fashion, my friends,  when your own party has no respect for you and has no interest in anything you have to say?

Tagged as: gop, mccain, leadership, washington

Jane Hamsher is the founder of FireDogLake. Her work has also appeared on the Huffington Post, Alternet and The American Prospect.