First let me say, that despite the 228 to 205 defeat of the Bailout Bill, a bill will go through by or before Monday, October 6th. The Senate bill will have some minor changes in it. This will allow some House members, especially Republicans who voted against the first bill, to claim they changed the bill, it’s a better bill, and now they can vote for it.

Let’s look at the politics of the bill and what happened. To begin with, it’s a Democratic victory, whether it is fair or not. The polls throughout the Country reflect this and McCain is getting buried. There is one person who deserves the credit for this result and that is the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). She did a masterful job in engineering the defeat of the Bailout Bill. I am a fisherman. One of the things you do fishing is chum for the fish. For instance, if you are fishing for yellowtail snapper what you do is grind up fish, chicken parts, etc. and throw it overboard. If you have come to the proper place, 30 to 70 yellowtail snapper weighing about 2 pounds will show up and ravenously eat the chum. You then put some bait on a hook and float it out among the chum and within a few seconds a fish bites and you’ve got the start of a wonderful dinner.

Nancy Pelosi and the Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) had put together a tenuous agreement which would allow the bill to pass by at least 10 votes. However, Pelosi took the floor before the final vote and made one of the most partisan speeches the House had seen in a long time. What should have happened is the Republican leader should have asked the gentle lady to yield for a minute, and said the following: “Madam Speaker, we have worked hard to bring this bipartisan bill to the Floor, yet your remarks are incredibly partisan. I am sad that you have put the partisan interest of your party above what is needed in this Country. I am sad that you have misstated facts blaming the Republicans for all the problems, when it just isn’t true. I am sad that you have violated our agreement and the spirit of compromise. However, despite your inappropriate actions I believe we need to put the interest of the Country first. Therefore, I am urging the members on this side of the aisle to disregard your partisan speech and vote for the bill because the Country needs it.” Of course this did not happen. Like the yellowtail snapper, the Republicans rose to the bait. Some members who had been under pressure and committed to vote for the bill used her speech as an excuse to change their position. The bill failed. The market fell 777 points and Main Street is bleeding.

In the last 48 hours I have had many people call me, or stop by my office and ask me why the Republicans in the House killed the bill. I explained that some of the provisions of the bill were objectionable. I also pointed out that many Democrats voted against the bill. However, no one wants to listen. The Frey rule of “if you have to explain you are in trouble” is in full force. This vote did not impact Wall Street, it impacted Main Street. We have over 300 people in our law firm who look to their 401Ks for retirement income, all are hurting. What has happened to the average American worker and their retirement dollars is unconscionable. Confidence has been lost in the United States markets impacting the markets abroad. The House needs to take the Senate bill, make its changes and get it to the President to sign as soon as possible. The Republicans have been had, and there is not much they can do. I believe because of this there will be additional losses in the House and in the Senate in the November elections.

It is hard to figure out what more can go wrong for John McCain. McCain had taken credit for moving the bill along and getting the House Republicans to agree. Passage of the bill would have given McCain a needed boost in the economic area. During the first presidential debate polls indicated that the candidate which offered the best proposal to solve the Country’s problems was Obama by a 54 to 35% margin. By the time this gets straightened out there will be roughly four weeks left until the election and early voting will be underway. McCain’s only hope is that the economy quickly improves and focus returns to leadership and the problems of Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Georgia, Afghanistan, etc., etc.

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Lou Frey represented Central Florida in the U. S. Congress from 1969 to 1979. In his last election, he received nearly 80% of the vote. He was elected one of five Republican leaders in the House of Representatives during the 93rd and 94th Congress. He served on...