The Daily Bail

Video: Kevin Bacon - Animal House - Thank You Sir, May I Have Another!

Earlier this morning we took a look at 'TARP yes voters' who were sent home from Congress last week and in 2008. We supplement that story now with an election analysis of the 58 turncoats who ignored the overwhelming will of the American people, and switched their original 'NO' votes to:

"Yes Esteemed Paulson, we are your loyal subjects, you are the most kind of all Dictators, so righteous and clever with leverage and the SEC, the Taxpayer cupboard belongs to you, Great Hammer! Thank you czar, may we have another!"

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Huge thanks to Cheyenne who researched and submitted the following...

Examining the 58 TARP Flippers

When TARP came up for a vote the first time, the House shot it down 228-205. The Senate took the 3-page bill, added hundreds of pages of pork, passed it overwhelmingly, and then kicked it back to the House for another vote just four days later. Thus bloated with waste, TARP somehow passed by a wide margin of 263-171, meaning 58 congressional representatives switched their no vote to a yes.

57 of the 58 ran for reelection in 2008. Jim Ramstad (R-MN) had already announced he would retire in 2007. Out of this field of 57 cowardly dumbshits, 55 were reelected. Joe Knollenburg (R-MI) and John "Randy" Kuhl (R-NY) were the only two who lost.

Flash forward to 2010 and break down the 55 remaining TARP flippers:

Two announced their retirements in early 2010, John Shadegg (R-AZ) and Diane Watson (D-CA).

One was appointed Secretary of Labor by Obama, Hilda Solis (D-CA).

Four were clipped in the primaries (in one way or another) and thus didn't run, Gresham Barrett (R-SC), Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI), and Zach Wamp (R-TN).

So 48 TARP flippers were up for reelection a second time in 2010. Out of 48, just two lost their seats, Harry Mitchell (D-AZ) and Solomon Ortiz (D-TX), the latter of whom lost an extremely close race. Check out the margins for most of the 46 "winners" over their challengers...

Incumbent ("I") I (%) C (%)
Abercrombie, Neil D-HI  58 41
Alexander, Rodney R-LA  79 21
Baca, Joe D-CA  66 35
Berkley, Shelley D-NV  62 35
Biggert, Judy R-IL  64 36
Boustany, C. R-LA  100 0
Braley, Bruce L. D-IA  50 48
Buchanan, Vern R-FL  69 31
Carson, Andre D-IN  59 38
Cleaver, Emanuel D-MO 53 44
Coble, Howard R-NC  75 25
Conaway, K.M. R-TX  81 15
Cuellar, Henry D-TX  56 42
Cummings, E. D-MD  75 23
Dent, Charles W. R-PA  54 39
Edwards, D. D-MD  84 16
Fallin, Mary R-OK  60 40
Frelinghuysen, R. R-NJ  67 31
Gerlach, Jim R-PA  57 43
Giffords, Gabrielle D-AZ 49 47
Green, Al D-TX  76 23
Hirono, Mazie K. D-HI  72 25
Jackson, Jesse Jr. D-IL 81 14
Jackson-Lee, Sh. D-TX  70 27
Lee, Barbara D-CA  83 12
Lewis, John D-GA  74 26
Mitchell, Harry E. D-AZ  43 52
Myrick, Sue W. R-NC  69 31
Ortiz, Solomon P. D-TX  47.1 47.9
Pascrell, Bill Jr. D-NJ  63 36
Pastor, Ed D-AZ  66 28
Ros-Lehtinen, I. R-FL  69 31
Rush, Bobby L. D-IL  80 16
Schiff, Adam B. D-CA  65 32
Schmidt, Jean R-OH  59 35
Scott, David D-GA  70 29
Shuster, Bill R-PA  73 27
Sullivan, John R-OK  77 23
Sutton, Betty D-OH  55 44
Terry, Lee R-NE  61 39
Thompson, Mike D-CA  63 32
Thornberry, Mac R-TX  87 9
Tiberi, Patrick J. R-OH  56 41
Tierney, John F. D-MA  57 43
Welch, Peter D-VT  65 32
Woolsey, Lynn C. D-CA  65 30
Wu, David D-OR  55 42
Yarmuth, John A. D-KY 55 44

In four days you're telling me that 58 representatives just upped and changed their minds about the most massive single transfer of money in human history? It's an issue that deserves, well, further scrutiny.

A few things jump out. First, the bailout was clearly a bipartisan con job. Second, I figured the flip-floppers would've come from up-for-grab districts - the ones that could be bought with some well-timed pork.

Not the case at all. You can see from the voting margins that many of the flippers are locks, not in danger of going down in a general election. If they didn't need pork to stay in power, and didn't get any, it makes you wonder what exactly motivated them to change their votes.

Must have been a case of the fear mongers.

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DB here. Make sure to read this story from the NY Times on Henry Paulson's role in the SEC rule change (2004) that allowed leverage to expand from 12:1 to 100:1 for only the 5 largest investment banks.

It is the single most important piece to understanding the financial crisis. And it is also the event most ignored by CNBC and the rest of the mainstream news media.

From the New York Times: