Oh, good grief. Obama has asked for the remaining TARP funds to be disbursed and the President -always classy & helpful - has obliged. I have to ask: what is going to happen between now and next Tuesday that will require the immediate appropriation of $350 BILLION? In my mind, nothing. But, now the Obama presidency will not be tarred with a noisy fight over an immensely unpopular program. The Left has been singularly unhelpful and unkind to President Bush over the last 8 years. I hope Obama, at least, will remember Bush's "helpfulness" next time someone comes at him demanding a Truth & Reconciliation Commission. 

In the meantime, would it kill Republicans in the Senate and House to simply vote against this? Their votes are absolutely unnecessary for passage. We are now laboring under the Age of Obama's wide majorities, not the narrow ones from the Bush years. TARP, and all associated bailouts, remain unpopular, very unpopular. Why support it? I don't even need to see a filibuster, or any other faux-drama. Just give a speech and vote. Make it clear that you don't approve, and why, and (this might be difficult) do it succinctly and clearly. 

Let the Democrats vote to pass this. Let them officially become what they have been for the last 15 years: the party of Wall Street and Big Finance.