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Excerpt:
2008 Republican Party Platform Opposes Bailouts
The Republican Party platform adopted 3 weeks ago explicitly opposes government bailouts of private companies. Here is the exact quote (from the section “Rebuilding Homeownership”):

We do not support government bailouts of private institutions. Government interference in the markets exacerbates problems in the marketplace and causes the free market to take longer to correct itself. We believe in the free market as the best tool to sustained prosperity and opportunity for all.

This plank in the GOP platform is not controversial within the party. Republicans have always believed that when companies make bad business decisions the market will punish them and this is the deterrence for future companies to think through their decisions carefully. The problem now is the utter hypocrisy of throwing overboard a principle Republicans have held dear for a century. If (big) companies lose the fear of bankruptcy because they expect the government to bail them out, they will take unconscionable risks in the future. Maybe somebody should send Henry Paulson a copy of the Republican platform.

Some (conservative) Republicans apparently have read their party’s platform and are balking. Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), for example, said: “I must tell you, there are those in the public debate who have said that we must act now. The last time I heard that, I was on a used-car lot.” Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) said “Just because God created the world in seven days doesn’t mean we have to pass this bill in seven days.” More on the bipartisan outrage at MSNBC.