Ramesh Ponnuru, responding to a reader.

[randomness]

From http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTE1NmM2MDU1MjNiM2FkZDhjNThiNDgwMTQ1OTk0YWE=:

The bailout was atrocious, and the responsible thing to do was to vote against it. Its defeat is a victory for liberty.

Anyway, the Republicans delivered plenty of votes. They're not in charge of running the House. The Democrats are. If you want to blame anybody, blame them.

Thanks for your note, which is representative of quite a few I have gotten. It seems to me, though, that your two points are in some tension with each other. You can say the bill was terrible and applaud conservatives for killing it, or say that it should have passed and that it's the Democrats' fault it didn't—but putting these two positions in a blender is odd.

Comments

Re: But, but it fits!

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Political calculations can be logically incoherent, sure. Moreover, I think it's pretty clear both leaderships screwed up on Monday--something which won't happen again, I predict--by playing political games instead of keeping their eye on the ball. I'm ascribing this to incompetence rather than malice.

Ponnuru's original point stands. Arguing both sides at once is inconsistent.