That was Bob Herbert’s very apt description of Republican behavior in his Op-Ed Column, as they tried their best to derail the economic stimulus package working its difficult way through Congress. And making sure no one would mistake him for a “class act”, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina ranted and raved about how “This bill is stinking up the place.” That should do it, Lindsey, puts you right up there with the eloquent Bushie!
Obama has gone out of his way to get Republicans to make a genuine effort towards cleaning up the miserable mess that resulted from the long, dark night of GOP control in Washington, but he was rebuffed, and in some cases contemptuously.
Thursday night he struck back, attacking Republican intransigence and its failed policies of the past and then, of course, everyone started complaining that he wasn’t being the nice guy anymore!! Well, whatever, the bill did get passed, although by a very slim margin and a small number of Republicans did finally come aboard.
It’s been clear for years that the GOP is a party without a heart. But, according to Herbert, its pointless obstructionism, its overall lack of any serious response to what is a clear national economic emergency, seems to indicate it’s also a party without a brain. Oh, I’m so glad someone besides me has said that! Someone with a lot more credentials than I have.
Republicans in Washington have behaved like a milling crowd standing in the way of firefighters trying to respond to a devastating blaze. The best that can be said for the party is that a few senators seem to have been able to part the crowd enough to let the rescuers begin to inch forward.
On the front page of The Times on Friday was an article that said the number of women on the nation’s payrolls is poised to pass that of men for the first time in American history. This isn’t necessarily because women have been doing so well, but because men have been doing so poorly Yeah, those guys who used to lap up Rush Limbaugh’s slimy crap while driving to or from work are now having to tune in from their living rooms because the benefits of the GOP’s right-wing, tax-cutting ideology never trickled down to them and they are now jobless. The price of stupidity!
They just don’t get it. Most act as if they don’t understand that in this radical economic downturn the demand for goods and services has fallen off a cliff and that government spending is needed, and needed quickly to replace a large portion of the lost demand. If you haven’t read my post “A Different Take on Recession”, you might take a look and you can see why this actually applies to all of us.
The goal is twofold: to alleviate some of the enormous suffering (something that is easily understood if you have a heart), and to revive the battered economy (equally easy to understand by anyone with a brain – a functioning brain, that is).
John McCain indignantly sputtered that “This is not a stimulus bill; it is a spending bill.”
It was an objection that had been addressed by an incredulous President Obama on Thursday night. “What do you think a stimulus is?” he asked. “Spending is the whole point.”
Wake up guys!
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Showing posts with label Stimulus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stimulus. Show all posts
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
What Are Politicians in General Thinking These Days??
I posted this briefly earlier, then took it off thinking that everyone is as sick of politics as I am, but that turning away from the things we don't want to think about, don't want to deal with is one of the reasons we're in the mess that we are today. So, I re-posted it. We can't afford to keeping looking away from things we don't want to think about and saying, 'there's nothing I can do anyway'. I will continue to post beautiful things because they are what give us the courage to do what we can about the ugly things not only in our own country but in the world today.
In the daily email yesterday morning that I get from MSNBC's Political Director, Chuck Todd, he seemed to be asking the same question. Unfortunately, the Democrats are acting as childish as the Republicans. This in turn leads me to want to ask, isn't our country's future more important that this petty, small-minded view that seems to be running rampant in Washington right now?
Despite Obama traveling to Capitol Hill to meet with them in private, despite including one of their former members (Ray LaHood) in his cabinet, and despite inviting their leaders over for cocktails last night at the White House, not a single House Republican voted for the stimulus package, which cleared the House yesterday by a 244-188 vote. Predicting that GOP outcome before the vote, the Washington Post notes, House Republican Leader John Boehner put his finger and thumb together to signal the big, fat "O" -- zero. House GOP leaders seemed to go out of their way to make sure reporters knew the message they were sending was directed at Speaker Pelosi, not the president. (As one snarkily noted to First Read, the president met with House Republicans on the stimulus bill more times than Pelosi did). But how closely does the American public follow congressional politics? Won't this look like they are snubbing a president who just days ago reached out to them? Republicans are taking a risk by looking so defiant, especially if this package ends up working. The last thing the GOP needs is another "O" -- obstructionist" -- being tagged to them.
Another Obama Olive Branch: That said, in his statement last night, Obama said that he wants "to strengthen" the stimulus plan before it gets to his desk. It was an interesting word choice and yet another olive branch to House Republicans. (And get this -- Obama didn't include the words "Democrat" or "Democratic" in his statement.) There are a number of Democrats scratching their heads at the House GOP goose egg; we even learned that LaHood was calling his fellow House Republican asking for them to support the legislation. After all, the president has a 70% job approval rating and the package itself has the support of a majority of Americans, who in general appear to believe they want government to do something -- rather than nothing -- when it comes to the economy. Interestingly, the president may have his own issues to deal with in his own party. The more defiant Democrats are thinking, "I told you so," when it comes his GOP outreach efforts. In addition, we've been hearing chatter from congressional Democrats that they'd like the president to act as concerned about winning their support as he acts when it comes to the Republicans. Meanwhile, a coalition of liberal groups is launching a new ad campaign that urges moderate Republican senators to support the economic stimulus.
Status Quo You Can Believe In? Just askin', but what kind of message would the GOP be sending after its 2008 losses by keeping Mitch McConnell as Senate leader, keeping John Boehner as House leader, and keeping Mike Duncan as RNC chair? If that all happens, it's an odd message to send to the party and American voters. Not much change.
In the daily email yesterday morning that I get from MSNBC's Political Director, Chuck Todd, he seemed to be asking the same question. Unfortunately, the Democrats are acting as childish as the Republicans. This in turn leads me to want to ask, isn't our country's future more important that this petty, small-minded view that seems to be running rampant in Washington right now?
Despite Obama traveling to Capitol Hill to meet with them in private, despite including one of their former members (Ray LaHood) in his cabinet, and despite inviting their leaders over for cocktails last night at the White House, not a single House Republican voted for the stimulus package, which cleared the House yesterday by a 244-188 vote. Predicting that GOP outcome before the vote, the Washington Post notes, House Republican Leader John Boehner put his finger and thumb together to signal the big, fat "O" -- zero. House GOP leaders seemed to go out of their way to make sure reporters knew the message they were sending was directed at Speaker Pelosi, not the president. (As one snarkily noted to First Read, the president met with House Republicans on the stimulus bill more times than Pelosi did). But how closely does the American public follow congressional politics? Won't this look like they are snubbing a president who just days ago reached out to them? Republicans are taking a risk by looking so defiant, especially if this package ends up working. The last thing the GOP needs is another "O" -- obstructionist" -- being tagged to them.
Another Obama Olive Branch: That said, in his statement last night, Obama said that he wants "to strengthen" the stimulus plan before it gets to his desk. It was an interesting word choice and yet another olive branch to House Republicans. (And get this -- Obama didn't include the words "Democrat" or "Democratic" in his statement.) There are a number of Democrats scratching their heads at the House GOP goose egg; we even learned that LaHood was calling his fellow House Republican asking for them to support the legislation. After all, the president has a 70% job approval rating and the package itself has the support of a majority of Americans, who in general appear to believe they want government to do something -- rather than nothing -- when it comes to the economy. Interestingly, the president may have his own issues to deal with in his own party. The more defiant Democrats are thinking, "I told you so," when it comes his GOP outreach efforts. In addition, we've been hearing chatter from congressional Democrats that they'd like the president to act as concerned about winning their support as he acts when it comes to the Republicans. Meanwhile, a coalition of liberal groups is launching a new ad campaign that urges moderate Republican senators to support the economic stimulus.
Status Quo You Can Believe In? Just askin', but what kind of message would the GOP be sending after its 2008 losses by keeping Mitch McConnell as Senate leader, keeping John Boehner as House leader, and keeping Mike Duncan as RNC chair? If that all happens, it's an odd message to send to the party and American voters. Not much change.
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I'm interested in almost everything. Use to like to travel, but it's too expensive now. I take Tai Chi classes, swim, volunteer in a Jump-start program for pre-schoolers. I'm an avid reader and like nearly everyone these days I follow politics avidly. I'm a former teacher and Special Projects Coordinator for a Telecommunications company, Assistant to the President of a Japanese silicon wafer manufacturing company. Am now enjoying retirement -- most of the time. I have two daughters, one son-in-law and two sons scattered all over the country. No grandchildren.