the politics of bankruptcy

[Nathan Newman]

I have no disagreement that the Dems like to milk the credit card industry
for campaign dollars, so appearing to support the bill is good for the DNC
coffers.  I even think Daschle and Schumer and Biden themselves have some
desire for the bill to pass, given the financial jobs in their states, but
most Dems supported the abortion provisions because they knew it would kill
the bill.

And you were the one who sited the WSJ as gospel of what happened, and it
said the bill was going to pass until THE DEMOCRATS switched side.  Only
after the Dems killed the bill did a lot more conservatives defect and vote
against it.

-- Nathan Newman

----- Original Message -----
From: "Doug Henwood" <dhenwood at panix.com>
To: "lbo-talk" <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 16, 2002 1:22 PM
Subject: the politics of bankruptcy

Nathan, the more I think about your argument on the bk bill the less
sense it makes to me. If Daschle & Co. really wanted to block the
bill, why'd he bring it up for a vote? Why didn't he say, "This bill
won't pass while I'm running this body, and if you want to bring it
up again next year, we'll filibuster it"? Why did he piss & moan
about how the thumpers had spoiled his beautiful compromise with
Hyde? And why did all those heroic House Dems wait until it was clear
that that the fundies were going to block the bill to dispense with
their fake support and vote their real affinities?

Doug