Most news agencies are reporting that an agreement has been reached between the Democrat Congressional leaders and the White House, to provide the $15 billion in Federal funding, bail out, bridge loan….pick your favorite euphemism. The agreement calls for the creation of a Car Czar who will

have powers to shape a restructuring of the companies, withholding further loans if progress toward a turnaround stalled.

While Nancy Pelosi may want to see House Republicans sign on to the bail out just to provide the appearance of her greater bipartisanship, there’s no doubt that the Democrats will pass the bill now that they don’t have to worry about the implications of impending elections.

On the Senate side, the outcome of a vote on the package is far from certain. There are reports of dissatisfaction within the Senate Republican ranks. The question will be whether, while they still have 49 seats, the Republicans can hold together 41 votes and keep the bill from a vote.

In just a few weeks Barack Obama will be sworn in as President. Despite what some are calling “centrist” cabinet selections, there is no doubt that Obama’s views are far to the left of the American public. Couple him with Nancy Pelosi and her faux bipartisanship in the House and you are 2/3rds of the way to passing nearly any legislation that Obama or Pelosi may dream up. The only place where Republicans have a chance to influence policy for the next two years will be in the Senate.

In January the Republicans will be pared down to 42 or possibly 41 Senate seats. Included in that number will be Senators Snowe, Collins, Specter and of course the ever enigmatic McCain. It has been much debated whether the Republicans will be able to hold together to create any amount of resistance to the Democrat agenda.

61% of Americans are unwilling to provide a bail out for the auto industry. That coupled with Republicans now lip syncing that they want to be the party of smaller government (again), seems like the perfect opportunity, while we still have the 49 vote training wheels on, to see if we can hold the caucus together and flex some minority muscle. If they can, well, maybe there is some hope. If they can’t, buckle up, it’s going to be a long couple of years.

I think you can consider the Senate vote on the auto bill a trial run for what we will see at least until 2010.

Barack Obama was on Meet The Press with Tom Brokaw this weekend. Obama provided the following perspective on the auto bail out during the interview:

MR. BROKAW: …should the current management be allowed to stay in their jobs?

PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Here’s what I’ll, I’ll say, that it may not be the same for all the, all the companies, but what I think we have to put an end to is the head-in-the-sand approach to the auto industry that has been prevalent for decades now. I think, in fairness, you have seen some progress made incrementally in many of these companies. You know, they have been building better cars now than they were 10 or 15 or 20 years ago. They are making some investments in the kind of green technologies and, and the new batteries that would allow us to create plug-in hybrids. What we haven’t seen is a sense of urgency and the willingness to make tough decisions. And what we still see are executive compensation packages for the auto industry that are out of line compared to their competitors, their Japanese competitors who are doing a lot better.

Now, it’s not unique to the auto industry. We have seen that across the board. Certainly, we saw it on Wall Street. And part of what I’m hoping to introduce as the next president is a new ethic of responsibility where we say that, if you’re laying off workers, the least you can do, when you’re making $25 million a year, is give up some of your compensation and some of your bonuses. Figure out ways in which workers maybe have to take a haircut, but they can still keep their jobs, they can still keep their health care and they can still stay in their homes. That kind of notion of shared benefits and burdens is something that I think has been lost for too long, and it’s something that I’d like to see restored. (Emphasis mine)

Today, Nancy Pelosi echoed the meme of “shared sacrifice:”

Pelosi said that everyone involved in the U.S. auto industry, including management, labor unions, parts suppliers, investors and dealers, would have to make a sacrifice to ensure the continuing viability of the industry.

“We call this a barber shop: everyone’s getting a hair cut,” said Pelosi, speaking at a press conference in the U.S. Capitol.

According to these Democrat leaders, the threshold for determining when a sharing of sacrifice should occur is when you are leader who has been fiscally irresponsible with your charge. You should share even more if your irresponsibility requires the American taxpayer to bail you out.

Hey wait!

Hasn’t Congress been irresponsible with their financial responsibilities?

• Leaving Fannie and Freddie unchecked and unsupervised.
• Ignoring the risk of leverage on exotic financial instruments and leaving them completely unregulated or over seen.
• Constricting energy exploration which resulted in a 24 month hyper price speculation.
• Giving Hank Paulson nearly completely unchecked ability to spend $700 billion entirely on his whim.
• Adding over $100 billion of pork to the TARP bill….just because.

And who is now bailing out Congress’ financial irresponsibility? That’s right, you and me, the American taxpayers.

If sharing the pain is what Pelosi and Obama think should happen to leaders who rely on the American taxpayers for a bailout, Democrat and Republican Congress people alike, ought to be answering the door and the American taxpayer ought to be knocking….

Shave and a haircut, two bits!

Dang, Jesse Ventura told Larry King he isn’t going to run for US Senate.

In explaining his decision, Jesse rambled about all kinds of issues. The one that seemed to clinch it for him was that he didn’t want to subject his family to the Minnesota press.

As with all of his complaints about Minnesota media, Jesse’s shot tonight should have been pointed back at himself. The media aggressively and rightly followed up on stories about Jesse’s son’s escapades. Shortly before he needed to attempt a reelection campaign Jesse’s son, Tyrel was accused of using the Governor’s mansion as a party house in a tell all book by the mansion director. By the time this book came out it was already apparent that any positive that Jesse may have had, had ebbed from the memories of most Minnesotans.

Jesse told Larry that unlike President Bush, God had not spoken to him in his 57 years. But, and this is the way Jesse handles nearly everything, he left the door open that if God talks to him before 5 PM CST tomorrow, he could yet get into the race.

I’m going to be praying from now until 5 PM tomorrow. I’ve got enough stuff to talk to God about that it should keep Him too busy to get to Jesse.

You can thank me later.