Cognitive dissonance watch

Today's head-exploder comes via Tim Grieve in Salon's War Room. Evidently it's not only the lefties at DU and DKos freaking out over yesterday's passage of the scurrilous bankruptcy bill by a 74-25 vote. This means, as everyone knows by now, that 18 Democrats crossed over and supported it.

But left-leaning bloggers aren't the only ones upset about the bankruptcy bill; the right is rumbling as well. At least some of the Freepers are up in arms that Their Republican Majority would be foisting this "unmitigated disaster" on American consumers. As one Freeper puts it: "I’m a dedicated conservative, law-and-order guy. If you borrow, you pay it back. But for financial institutions to change the rules midstream (especially on low-income families) is not only wrong, it’s evil." There's similar reaction over at RedState.org, where one poster says the bill -- which purports to cut down on fraudulent bankruptcy filings by making it much harder for consumers to have their debts relieved -- is like "using a 12-gauge shotgun to kill a pigeon in a flock of songbirds."

You don't get a lot of hunting analogies on the left-wing blogs. But then, you don't get a lot of issues on which the blogs from the left and the right see eye to eye. The Democratic bloggers think the bill is bad news for consumers; the Republican bloggers agree, and they're afraid that the Democrats -- at least, those who don't end up voting for it -- will make the Republicans pay. Glenn Reynolds, the conservative blogger behind Instapundit, seems to be throwing his weight behind a proposal for a "cross-blogosphere coalition" in opposition to the bankruptcy bil, but it's almost certainly too late. The credit card companies dumped a ton of money into this legislation, and they'll get their payoff any minute now.

Instapundit and Kos on the same side of an argument? The mind reels. On the one hand, any sign that at least some of the right is balking at any part of *'s agenda is good news. On the other hand, the bill is headed to the House, where the self-identified New Democrat Coalition has written a letter urging Hastert to fast track it. Sigh.