As for the Paulson plan, there were many problems, the amount that by
treasury admission was "just a big number", the total lack of oversight, no
protection for the government investment, and last but not least no idea if
it would work or not.
The compromise worked out fixed some of those things. The installment plan
seemed like a good idea to me, start with $350B and if that worked, add
more. Oversight of the treasury actions, equity stakes, etc all were
reasonable fixes to a very flawed plan. It was at least something.
But McCain had a back channel meeting then went into a meeting he requested,
said very little but let surrogates torpedo the whole plan. Now they have a
new plan that includes little more than the old repugnican favorites, tax
cuts and less regulation.