Shadegg: GOP Leaders Made "stupid Claim" By Blaming Pelosi Speech

Republican Rep. John Shadegg said Tuesday that House Minority Leader John Boehner and other Republican leaders made a “stupid claim” by alleging that Nancy Pelosi’s speech changed any minds on the bailout.

“I do believe that we could have gotten there today had it not been for this partisan speech that the speaker gave on the floor of the House,” said Boehner after the failed vote on the bailout package. His leadership colleagues endorsed the opinion. Rep. Eric Cantor waved a copy of Pelosi's speech and said the bailout went down because of Pelosi.

Shadegg said that he doesn't know of a single GOP vote that shifted because of the speech.

On Monday evening, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), a lead opponent of the bailout, told the Crypt that the notion was "nonsense" and mocked the possibility that a Republican would be shocked or offended by the partisan nature of a Democratic speech.

However, Shadegg was optimistic that Congress would soon pass some version of the bailout.

“The Jewish holiday intervened or we would pass this bill today,” he said.

UPDATE: Via Roll Call, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) also douses the GOP leadership rationale. Her rebuttal makes three members so far rejecting their own leadership on the record -- though it's not quite as sharp a rejection as the vote itself.

Democrats are having fun with it, too. Witness Rep. Barney Frank's (D-Mass.) response. Told of the Pelosi-speech explanation, he challenged Republicans to tell him who the 12 offended members of their party are and he will "talk uncharacteristically nicely to them and tell them what wonderful people they are" -- in exchange for them switching their votes back.