[Huck]

Well, I'm in the mood to make excuses for Newt, so here goes. It's not fair to say he supported the bailout. It's fair to say that in the end, once the final bill was coming up for a vote, he said he believed he'd probably vote for it because doing nothing was not an option. He did vehemently criticize the bill, and he did offer alternatives. I'm fairly sure had he been president, a different type of plan would have been presented.

That said, you are right, in the end, he said he would vote for it were he in Congress.

[Captain Kirk]

“Doing nothing” e.g. letting the the banks fail WAS an option that is if we still value the free market. Over a hundred Republicans were willing to exercise this option. Now....because we did not choose that option, the likely result is bank nationalization or another massive bailout. The evidence is now obvious, that “doing something” was a tragic mistake. A “different type of plan” (at least of the type Gingrinch apparently preferred) would have probably been based on the same flawed bailout principle.