A sound gamble if ever there were one

Most of you are, once again, about to become involuntary investors in poorly run corporations:

After a long weekend of drafting the auto bailout plan, Congressional Democrats on Monday afternoon delivered their draft bill to the White House, where senior officials quickly raised a number of concerns. The White House press secretary, Dana M. Perino, said Mr. Bush would insist on aiding only those automakers that can survive long term.

“Long-term financing must be conditioned on the principle that taxpayers should only assist automakers executing a credible plan for long-term viability,” Ms. Perino said in a statement. “We’ll continue to work with members on both sides of the aisle to achieve legislation that protects the good faith investment by taxpayers.”

For those of you scoring at home, this is the part where we're lectured by the guy who was never handed a business he couldn't run into the ground on how best to spend money he made sure we didn't have on a triumvirate of bad companies who are only now being politely asked to talk facetiously about what they should have accomplished twenty years ago.

When, precisely, was our good faith offered? Requested, even?