The auto industry bailout is dead:

A proposal to bail out the U.S. auto industry and avert the threatened collapse of one or more auto companies failed in a procedural vote in the Senate on Thursday night.

The Democratic plan to extend $14 billion in loans to Detroit faltered when supporters failed to get enough support in a procedural vote.

John Hawkins called it, and has a source at the Senate who claims that the bailout is dead until next year. In advance of the vote, the source told Hawkins:

Corker tried to make a deal with Dems, UAW wouldn’t make concessions, so it will die on cloture vote with GOP opposing. Vitter held the line too, objecting to quick vote, forcing more debate. He was strong.

Via Ace.

Everyone seems to agree, however, that Bush will dig into TARP to keep the Big 3 afloat until The One takes the helm. Nevertheless, this could make things ugly on Wall Street tomorrow.

UPDATE: Shall we make predictions on how badly the market tanks in the morning? Dow down over 1000 points, anyone?

The New York Times reports:

President-elect Barack Obama pledged Thursday to disclose any interaction between his transition team and the office of besieged Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois, while declaring again that he and his staff had no involvement in deal-making over an appointment to his vacated Senate seat.

We also learn that the Obama camp is denying speculation that Obama’s favored candidate Valerie Jarrett withdrew her name because the Obama camp had learned that Blago wanted something in return for picking her:

David Axelrod, a senior adviser to Mr. Obama, said Thursday evening that Ms. Jarrett’s decision to remove her name had nothing to do with her knowing about Mr. Blagojevich’s alleged scheme.

And until Axelrod later tells us that he “misspoke,” that’s the way things stand. But more details should emerge over coming days. We’ll have to see if they make sense when they do.

Yeesh.

UPDATE: In comments, DRJ notes that the guy and his kin are Democrat donors. Who’da thunk it?

Eugene Volokh says no.

UPDATE: The L.A. Times quotes experts who say yes.

It’s a Battle of the Experts! Let the games begin!

Greg Packer’s latest victim is a Times Beacon Record reporter, to whom Packer waxed philosophical at a memorial for Jewish victims of terrorism in Mumbai:

Another audience member, Greg Packer, of Huntington, had a different take.

“This is not just a Jewish thing,” Packer said. “The terrorists didn’t just kill Jews in Mumbai. Many people were targeted and killed. Yes, the Jews have always been targets. We have to continue to be vigilant and watch our backs. But when something like this happens, we are all one people.”

Mickey Kaus once said: “Greg Packer will not be not quoted.” You know, if everyone else is going to quote this guy, I want to as well.

Greg, I know you must be reading this. E-mail me, babe. Let’s talk.

[Guest post by DRJ]

The Wall Street Journal reports that Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s November 10 conference call where he discussed the sale of Obama’s vacated Senate seat may have included Obama advisers:

“The call lasted about two hours. On the phone were Mr. Blagojevich, his wife, his general counsel, an unnamed adviser, and John Harris, the governor’s chief of staff and his co-defendant in this week’s case.

But what’s drawing the most interest is who was on the line from Washington, and the sequence of political events that followed that same night and in the ensuing days regarding Barack Obama’s close friend and adviser, Valerie Jarrett.
***
During the call, Mr. Blagojevich and those closest to him allegedly detailed virtually every one of their ideas for turning Mr. Obama’s open Senate seat into something valuable. Specifically, the governor asked “what he can get from the President-elect for the Senate seat,” the FBI alleged, adding later that callers talked about how to “monetize” Mr. Blagojevich’s connections.”

Within days, Obama announced the withdrawal of Jarrett’s name from consideration, saying he needed her as his adviser in Washington. Wiretap excerpts reveal Blagojevich’s frustration that Obama would only offer his appreciation if the Governor named Jarrett to the Senate seat:

“At a bare minimum, the timing of Team Obama’s decision to remove Ms. Jarrett’s name from contention, or at least to remove her name from the public speculation about the post, seems extraordinarily lucky. It came on the very same day the FBI secretly recorded Mr. Blagojevich telling a huge conference call loaded with politicos, in Illinois and Washington, that he wasn’t about to give the Senate spot away for nothing.

It’s also the same recorded conversation in which Mr. Blagojevich uses an obscenity to refer to Mr. Obama, before the governor makes clear he won’t give the president-elect the seat for free. “F— him. For nothing? F— him.”

This may be why Obama was careful to say he — but not “we,” meaning his advisers — was unaware of what Blagojevich was doing. Now the question is what Obama and his transition advisers knew about this call and, if so, whether they reported to law enforcement what Blagojevich was saying on November 10.

— DRJ

I told my wife and she said “You’re kidding.” Sorry . . . I’m not.

[T]he backbone of “The Pellicano Girls” will be their attempts to run a private investigation company with Anthony in jail. The producers call it a mix between “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” and “Charlie’s Angels” — with Anthony Pellicano in the Charlie role, Kat Pellicano a modern-day Bosley and the daughters as the Angels.

“Pellicano Girls'” season one will center on their attempts to start the agency and also collect bills that are still owed the old company.

“They’re all very outgoing women, in a very precarious position,” said one insider familiar with the project. “Anthony may be incarcerated for a long time to come. But Kat’s a very resourceful woman who needs to support her children. She’s tried different things over time as the money has been running out.”

Hilarity will ensue!

I’d prefer to see a reality show about Pellicano in prison. Call it the “Pellicano Boys.” Profits to go to the victims.

Guess that’s why I’m not a network exec.

The short version of the Chuck Philips post below.

• Chuck Philips learns facts that contradict convicted murderer’s alibi.

• Philips then writes front-page story that omits those facts, and makes the alibi sound solid.

• Now a judge rejects the convict’s alibi, based on the facts Philips had omitted.

By the way, the new L.A. Times story reporting these facts? Yeah, it’s not on the front page.

Now go read my post. It’s only 687 words — less than a standard op-ed. You can handle this one.

You probably saw this already, but just in case you didn’t . . . iowahawk found Obama’s Senate seat for sale on eBay.