So if you're online you probably know the House defeated the financial bailout bill by 23 votes. I just saw a floor trader on CNN predict a drop in the Dow of somewhere between 1000 and 1500 points.

There will presumably be some consideration of a second vote on the same bill in hopes that enough Members who hoped to vote "no" while the package passed will reconsider; a net flip of 12 would be necessary. If that doesn't work, then it's back to the drawing board, though it's hard to imagine a new compromise that would attract both Democratic and Republican votes.

One straw in the wind is talk about Democrats putting their own package together that could pass with little other than Democratic votes (95 Dems voted "no").

Any way you slice it, this is an astounding repudiation of George W. Bush and John McCain by their own party. Better than two-thirds of House Republicans voted against the bill.

UPDATE: Just heard CNN report that (a) there won't be a second vote in the House today (the Dow seems to have plunged another 100 points on this news), and (b) John McCain's campaign is blaming the defeat on Barack Obama, who "phoned it in" while the McCain bravely convinced 65 Republicans to vote for the bill! Truly, truly unbelievable. Wasn't the person who put this McCain statement out afraid that he or she would be struck by lightning?

UPDATE II: With Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) beginning at sundown today, it's unlikely anything can happen in Congress until Wednesday. House Democrats just held a press conference to rebut the silly idea that the defeat was attributable to hurt Republican feelings about a floor speech made by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Barney Frank commented that if House Republicans could produce twelve members who voted against the bill on these grounds, he'd personally go spend time with them and "tell them how great they are" if it would convince them to reverse their votes.

So there you have it: more than two-thirds of House Republicans voted against a bill their own leaders had signed off on, sponsored by their own president, and endorsed by their presidential candidate as a matter of urgent national importance, and even of patriotism. Yet it's the fault of Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi! Gaze in awe.