Does Friedman Know He is in the Boat Too?

Op-Ed Columnist - Rescue the Rescue - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com

I like Thomas Friedman. I've read a couple of his books. Yes, he is mostly a NYT limousine liberal, but he is smarter than the average of that genre and a decent writer. So what gives with this?

I’ve been frightened for my country only a few times in my life: In 1962, when, even as a boy of 9, I followed the tension of the Cuban missile crisis; in 1963, with the assassination of J.F.K.; on Sept. 11, 2001; and on Monday, when the House Republicans brought down the bipartisan rescue package.

Does being Democrat REALLY mean that you NEVER have to take responsibility? What is the use of giving them the majority of votes in the House if they can't get their party together and vote for something that they supposedly believe in? There have been a number of votes over the years where the Republicans have needed basically their whole caucus to get them through and the MSM and the Democrats have really enjoyed pointing across the isle and saying "you'll be sorry" in what I guess counts as "bi-partisanship" in their books.

Is there some holy writ that says that Democrats are deserving of "political cover" when they do something that might be unpopular with a bunch of voters but really needs to be done? Somehow, the whole idea of "political cover" seems rather foreign. If Tom and his Democrat buddies are convinced that the bailout is a really really good idea, why is it that the Democrat party that has a 36 seat majority in the House doesn't have the responsibility to line up behind it? They somehow  need over 1/3 of the Republicans as WELL, even though they can pass it with LESS than their whole caucus voting for it??

I tend to agree that not passing this is going to do way more damage to everyone than passing it would have, but it seems to me that the MSM and the Democrats have successfully convinced over 50% of the country (maybe even 80%) that you really can let the fat cats end of the rowboat sink without your end sinking. I think the 80% of the folks are nuts, but this IS a Democracy (yet, at least until BO and his fascist buddies get it in their clutches), so maybe we just need to see how the boat sinks? or maybe it doesn't--I'm not a Democrat, I'm fine if I'm wrong and it turns out to be a better deal for us all than I imagined. I don't need to snatch defeat from victory as in the surge in Iraq just to prove that I'm smarter than that stupid Bush.

How in the world can a supposedly smart person blame the OTHER party when your party holds a 36 seat advantage in a house that only requires a majority to pass something? I guess there is NEVER a reason to give Democrats power, because they simply will not accept RESPONSIBILITY!