WaMu buyout and GOP balking NOT a sign for more bailout urgency

But, is McCain ginning GOP rebellion to justify debate-skipping?

Washington Mutual has been teetering on the precipice for months. And JPMorgan had the money to buy.

Besides WaMu actually having its death rattle, House GOP “upstarts” offering an alternative bailout plan is not cause for alarm, either.

(That said, the House GOP hypercapitalists’ plan would be pretty funny if it weren’t so stupid, per Hilzoy.

Among other things, it gives a nod or two to “investigation without regulation.”)

These two events have one benefit, at least.

Paulson and Bernanke will have to talk more about how much they knew and when they knew it, per White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto saying at least some elements of a bailout plan have been in the works for months.

Beyond that, though, unless some of the most liberal House Democrats and a couple of Senate Dems are rebelling, some sort of bipartisan mush should fly through the House and have enough Senate GOP support to avoid cloture problems.

Now, to do that may well require political gamesmanship on the part of House Democrats. Well, in that case, we’re at brinkmanship time again. It’s already worked once this week, at least the appearance of it has for public consumption; Paulson blinked on the CEO pay cap, at least on a symbolic version of it; he’s also accepted the bailout being done on the installment plan.

That’s why, even though McCain allegedly has not given direct support to the House GOP plan, it’s hard to see this as not being, at least in part, him attempting to justify skipping the first debate, by trying to make sure a bailout deal is not in place by midday Friday or so.