The crisis that was

Two weeks after persuading Congress to let it spend $700 billion to buy distressed securities tied to mortgages, the Bush administration has put that idea aside in favor of a new approach that would have the government inject capital directly into the nation’s banks — in effect, partially nationalizing the industry.

As recently as Sept. 23, senior officials had publicly derided proposals by Democrats to have the government take ownership stakes in banks.

[From White House Overhauling Rescue Plan - NYTimes.com]

Big, big rush a couple of weeks ago; now, not so much. Congressional Dems irrelevant yet again.