Take a listen to Nancy Pelosi’s speech–yes, that one, the one that the tough guys from the GOP are now saying made them reach for their scented handkerchiefs. The idea that this was an over-the-top partisan speech are just absurd, and say something very interesting about the House Republicans.

More specifically:

1) Not once did Pelosi criticize House Republicans. In fact, she went out of her way to compliment some of them–in particular the Republican ranking member of Financial Services, Boehner, and Blunt.

2) Yes, she did criticize what she called “Bush’s failed economic policies.” But why is it somehow ridiculous for her to try to assign blame for this? The Republicans seemingly wanted her to say, “support the bill but I’m not going to tell you why”–essentially asking her to take all the political heat for it. Unsurprisingly, she said no.

3) Yes, she decried the (shameful) lack of new bankruptcy authority in the bill. But if anything, that was to try to get her own caucus on board. And to some extent, it worked: the Dems promised 110 votes, and Pelosi delivered 140.

Thus:

The only way in which the House Republicans can argue that Pelosi criticized them is because they criticized Bush and the Paulson. But they are now loudly saying that they are upset at them, too. So what, exactly, are they complaining about? Either they are with Bush, in which case they could say that the speech was partisan, or they aren’t (and they say they aren’t), in which case they don’t have a leg to stand on.

I realize that it may be somewhat pointless to argue logically with the House Republican Caucus, but the record should be set straight.