This has the potential to really mess up my vacation

I'm visiting family, relaxing and generally checked out from the news but obviously the auto loan failure last night was sort of hard news to miss.

Anyone who reads this blog knows where I stand on the idea of the loan, on the UAW and on the sons-of-bitches that compromise the Southern GOP Senate caucus.

Josh Marshall has a take on what happened from a "knowledgeable source" at the Capitol,

I don't think it'll be hard to explain why Senate Republicans had the final say: that's what the Constitution and Senate rules require. How else would we have passed anything?

I do think it'll be hard for Senate Republicans to explain themselves.

They were invited, repeatedly, to participate in more than a week of negotiations with a Republican White House. They declined.

They were asked to provide an alternative bill. They refused.

Finally, one of their members - Senator Corker of Tennessee - participated in a day-long negotiation with Senate Democrats, the UAW, and bondholders. Everyone made major concessions. Democrats gave up efficiency and emissions standards. UAW accepted major benefit cuts and agreed to reduce workers' wages. Bondholders signed off on a serious haircut. But when Senator Corker took the deal back to the Republican Conference, they argued for two hours and ultimately rejected it.

Why? Because they wanted the federal government to forcibly reduce the wages of American workers within the next 12 months.

Heard this morning that President Bush may still use TARP money to rescue the automakers. He reportedly doesn't want to end up as the next Hoover.

I hope Josh's source is correct about Bush and the possible use of TARP but I'm not exactly holding my breath. Bush is an utter-fool who has shown little to no interest in doing anything these last few months save for passing out big piles of our money to his buddies on Wall Street. Waiting on President Bush to "do the right thing" is a fools errand, the man only occasionally stumbles over the right thing - he never just does it of his own volition.

But I digress. This isn't about George W. Bush this is about a group of ideologues in the U.S. Senate who see an opportunity to decimate a solid Democratic constituency while at the same time aiding their own provincial interests.

Where's General Sherman when you need him?