How will Congress's Failure to Pass be Viewed?

In one of the biggest votes in Congress of my lifetime the House has voted "no" on the rescue plan. This is huge as the market is indicating.

It's not that I was thrilled with the plan - can't deny action is needed though. No, what is horrible is they put this to a vote without having secured the necessary support ahead of time. This failure further cements the feeling that the government is inept (both parties!).

Indeed the accusations that House Speaker Pelosi turned the vote into a partisan one in her speech is quite true. What was she thinking? Her job was to get this thing passed since she has stated her full support for the measure. I know politicians can't help but try to score points off the other side in every issue. But this wasn't the time. Flaming Bush could have waited a few hours and she still could have commanded a stage...

How much worse can they screw this up? We're about to find out...

This post by the chief editor of MarketWatch is a good one I think.