Oct. 2--After the Senate passed a slightly altered bailout plan Wednesday, the bill heads back to the House, where partisan politics were in full swing earlier this week. We're hoping for a more mature display from House leaders this time.

The bill now includes $110 billion in tax breaks for businesses and the middle class, as well as a raised cap on federal deposit insurance from $100,000 to $250,000.

On Monday, the U.S. House rejected the $700 billion bailout of financial markets, a startling development that threw the market further into the chaotic abyss that the bailout plan was created to halt.

At the center of the partisan finger-pointing was the speech by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Ironically, her speech was supposed to urge lawmakers to adopt the bailout bill. Instead, it came off as a bitter and polarizing address.

In her speech, Pelosi accused President George W. Bush of squandering the budget surpluses enjoyed during the Clinton administration.

"They claim to be free-market advocates, when it's really an anything-goes mentality," she said. True or not, this really isn't the time.

Later, Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va held up a copy of Pelosi's speech. "Right here is the reason I believe whey this vote failed," he said. He added that the speech "struck the tone of partisanship that frankly was inappropriate in this discussion."

Barney Frank, D-Mass., retorted that Republicans were just covering up the embarrassment of not having the votes.

"Because somebody hurt their feelings, they decide to punish the country? I wouldn't have imputed that degree of pettiness and hypersensitivity," he said.

As the sniping continued, the failure of the initial bailout plan prompted the Dow Jones Industrial average to plunge 777 points.

The plan was defeated by a 228 to 205 vote. Among the no votes were 133 Republicans and 95 Democrats.

"People's re-elections played into this to a much greater degree than I would have imagined," said Rep. Deborah Pryce of Ohio, a former member of the Republican leadership who is retiring this year. She voted for the plan.

This crisis is so enormous that the eyes of the world are upon Washington. What those eyes have seen so far is petty divisiveness that is thwarting progress on a solution.

If our leaders can't function together during a national crisis, without taking political potshots at one another, we can never expect bipartisan progress on any matter.

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