"A political establishment held in higher regard may have been able to hold together some kind of coalition of the willing," wrote Joel Achenbach in the Washington Post. "But distrust of the nation's leaders, from the leaders of Congress to the president, foreclosed that possibility."

This was not mere rhetoric. Congress's public approval rating was down to 18% before the crisis hit. By some estimates, it is now 10% and falling. Washington has seen a "throw the bums out" mood before, notably Newt Gingrich's 1994 anti-government "Republican revolution". But this is something else. Like some others, Gingrich is calling for the resignation of Hank Paulson, the treasury secretary, for presiding over a train wreck and then failing to persuade people why $700bn was needed to get back on the rails.

An unhappy Boehner said before the vote that the bail-out was a "crap sandwich" that he and colleagues were obliged to eat. As it turned out, 133 Republicans and 95 Democrats found it too much to swallow.
Many members of Congress found themselves caught between party leadership and angry constituents and sought to explain themselves.
"We are now in the golden age of thieves. And where I
come from we put thieves in jail, we don't bail them out," said Pete Visclosky, an Indiana Democrat who voted 'no'.
The signal failure, as critics see it, of President George Bush to show a lead out of the morass has provoked a new crop of political obituaries."No longer a lame duck, he's a dead duck," said Democratic strategist Paul Begala.