Also there was the argument that opposing the bailout was an opportunity to educate the public about alternatives. Given that it was unstoppable (by the left), the best thing leftists could do was use it as a teachable moment. Yes it did get delayed, but as far as I can see that was a combination of organized rightist, and spontaneous revolt. The downside is that the right added 150 billion of goodies to it. Of course some that was things like the renewable energy tax credit, and fixing the Alternative Minimum Tax that were either good, or inevitable anyway. But still it is a good argument against this approach.
One thing that the left and right seemed to agree on is this "Mark to Market" thing. Doug, or someone who knows - is this as counterproductive a quack nostrum as it seems? Or is there a net benefit for someone besides wall street in letting banks inflate their estimates of asset value again? Isn't this kind of thing part of how we got into this mess to begin with.