Perhaps they were gambling that enough dems would vote for it (because of the scare tactics of reading out the dows stock starting to crash right before the vote) so that it would pass, and later when the bailout became the political failure it was destined to become they could point to dems as responsible. American voters have a very short memory, and few check facts. I'm sure that the fact that this is so closely connected to Bush could be forgotten with an excellent mudslinging campaign. Then the Repubs would be able to take seats in the next congressional round of elections.