Party of Hoover: Senate GOP Kills Auto Bailout Bill

In short, the GOP demanded that the bailout be contingent upon busting unions, and, when their demand wasn't met, they tanked the deal.

Republican opposition killed a $14-billion auto industry bailout plan in the Senate on Thursday night, putting the future of U.S. automakers in doubt and threatening to deliver another blow to the economy.

The measure died after a last-ditch effort by Senate Democratic leaders to strike a compromise that would have lured enough support to save the legislation, which was crafted in consultation with the White House.

In case you missed that, the Senate Dems are working with the Lame Duck to try to solve this problem, while rogue Republicans are giving the finger to their own president.

Bush personally lobbied recalcitrant Senate Republicans after Vice President Dick Cheney failed to round up support Wednesday during a contentious two-hour meeting.

"If we don't do this, we will be known as the party of Herbert Hoover forever," Cheney told them, according to a Senate Republican aide, evoking the president whose inaction is widely blamed for helping trigger the Great Depression in the early 1930s.

And the Senate GOP is pretty much fine with that. Now the pressure is on the White House to tap into the Wall Street bailout to help Detroit, which Bush has been reluctant to do. But:

[W]ith the Senate's action, Detroit's supporters looked to the White House for help.

"Plan B is the president," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said action by Bush was the "only viable option."

"For God sakes, I hope the president acts," exclaimed Mayor Virg Bernero of Lansing, Mich.

Meanwhile, the world markets and the value of the dollar plunge in the wake of the clusterfucktastrope wrought by the GOP and their continuing unwillingness to be anything but obstinate fucking assholes.

See Maha and Steve for more.