On Tuesday the Times blamed the failure [1]of the $700 billion bailout that failed to pass the House of Representativeson the intransigence of conservative House Republicans. On Wednesday, RandalArchibold looked at the other side of the political spectrum in "Black [2]and Hispanic Caucuses Resisted Pelosi on Bailout [2]." But where were the liberal labels?
Speaker Nancy Pelosi normally enjoys warm relations with members of the House's black and Hispanic caucuses, but a large number of them revolted Monday against legislation, which she supported, to rescue the financial industry.
Class differences were laid bare by the vote. Several members of the two all-Democratic caucuses, who are now working among themselves and with the House leadership to put forward a compromise, characterized the defeated bill as one that would have provided assistance to the rich at the expense of middle- and lower-income voters. And it is to those voters that the lawmakers must answer.
It's nice of the Times to finally notice it's not only ideological conservative House Republicansthat should get the "blame" for the defeat of the $700 billion bailout, but the liberal Congressional Black Caucus and Congressional Hispanic Caucus as well, the majority of whose members voted against the bailout. Yet while the Times was happy to label House Republicans conservative, reporter Archibold didn't label CBC and CHC members as liberals, although he quoted opponents saying liberal things, like Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. saying "We need to bail out the country, not the country club" and noting that Rep. Jose Serrano "presented his position as one of looking after the little guy."
In fact, the only member of either caucus given an ideological label was Rep. Dennis Cardoza, a Democrat of California and supporter of the bill, who was termed a "self-styled fiscal conservative."