BERNANKE’S NOMINATION in trouble. “I’d now say it’s quite likely that his nomination will not make it through the Senate. They need someone to strike at to take voters minds off the health care bill and the debacle in Massachusetts. I think Ben Bernanke just got nominated to lean into the strike zone and take one for the team.”

It’s getting crowded under that bus. Meanwhile, I wonder if rumors of Bernanke’s trouble have been helping to drive the markets down. Probably not as much as the bad news on housing and unemployment, and the idiotic bank-bashing from the White House.

UPDATE: A hedge-fund reader emails: “Bernanke’s re-nomination issues have totally freaked out the markets, largely accounting for today’s selloff. A Senate shoot-down would be without precedent, and given all the other hand grenades lobbed toward the Street this week, this issue was clearly ‘the last straw.’ These clowns are playing with fire. Their cluelessness is frightening the pinstripe boys who thought they’d bought off area code 202.” They’re not honest politicians. They don’t stay bought.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Stephen Clark writes: “Apropos of your hedge fund trader’s comment: Would those advocating for a government takeover of 401K’s really mind a chaotic market?” Yes, they would, though they may not realize that yet. When the folks with pitchforks show up, though, they will . . . .

MORE: Regarding a 401k takeover, a reader emails:

In addition to being many folks’ core retirement nest egg, the various 401k-type accounts are an enormous source of income for Wall Street.

They’re a very reliable, stable source of fee income. Any Washington effort to force-convert them into ordinary govt IOUs would find the pinstripe boys personally financing the tar and pitchfork crowd.

It’s really shaping up to be a perfect storm, isn’t it?