Republicans really should have broken with Bush back in 2004 at the very latest:
A bailout-weary Congress killed a $14 billion package to aid struggling U.S. automakers Thursday night after a partisan dispute over union wage cuts derailed a last-ditch effort to revive the emergency aid before year’s end.
Republicans, breaking sharply with President George W. Bush as his term draws to a close, refused to back federal aid for Detroit’s beleaguered Big Three without a guarantee that the United Auto Workers would agree by the end of next year to wage cuts to bring their pay into line with Japanese carmakers.
None of the bailouts make sense or will do what they are nominally intended to do, so every failed bailout is a positive step. The longer the pain is postponed, the worse it will be. Trying to bailout boats with gaping holes in them simply isn’t going to work.