Paulson’s Wall Street Bailout 2.0 Passes Senate

The Senate has easily approved Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s Wall Street bailout package, but only after it was buried under a mountain of legislative goodies. The House, which rejected the earlier version of the package Monday, is expected to take up Bailout 2.0 on Thursday.

Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, ignored the role that misguided government policies such as the Community Reinvestment Act, which he has long supported, played in the current turmoil on Wall Street. Dodd, who voted for the legislation, said it was tempting to oppose a bailout and “stick a finger in the eye of the bankers and the tycoons whose greed brought us to this crisis, but after the rush of righteousness fades, what then? We can take a cut at Wall Street, but Wall Street won’t feel the brunt of the pain.”

Of course, it takes no courage to attack Wall Street and no one will ever accuse Senator Dodd of being courageous.

The easy vote was “aye.” Only 25 senators (listed here) had the courage to vote “no.” Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) put it best, “As the blood of our young men and women fall on foreign soil in the defense of freedom, our own government appears to be leading our country into the pit of socialism.”

While he was meeting lawmakers behind doors last month to promote his so-called rescue package, Paulson said of the financial legislation, “If it doesn’t pass, then heaven help us all.”

Paulson’s wrong. It’s the other way around.

Now that this vile Fascistic bandaid measure appears likely to become law, heaven help us all.