Looking around the blogosphere, the growing consensus among liberal blogs (too lazy to link, just go to memeorandum and hunt for angsty titles) is that Obama is losing control of the debate. I am not so sure if I would say that, yet, although we are seeing the polling numbers for the stimulus bill plummeting. This makes perfect sense, because even I am not sure the stimulus bill is a good bill or worth it.
There is a reason for this, and that is something Tim has touched on several times, and I have mentioned over and over. No one is selling it. The Democrats are simply AWOL. All I see on my tv are Republicans talking about wasteful spending, as if they have any credibility on that topic. I would pay to see Barney Frank matched up against a Republican opposed to the stimulus bill, because every Democrat has an easy retort- “If you have so many good economic ideas, how come you never passed any of them along to the last President?”
It isn’t so much that Obama is losing control in the debate. The Democrats just aren’t participating, and this isn’t so much a debate as a Republican monologue. We all know, given our “liberal” media, how that is going to play out in the long run.
*** Update ***
BTW- The next time anyone in Congress opposes any infrastructure stimulus spending, whether it be on roads, bridges, whatever, the very first thing I would do is go through every single Iraq appropriations bill, target line by line the spending appropriations for rebuilding Iraq, and then look at the roll call vote. I bet all sorts of fun could be had pointing out “fiscal conservatives” who repeatedly voted to build infrastructure in Iraq, without so much as blinking, who are now getting the vapors about a couple billion being spent domestically on similar projects. America First, the saying was, right? The Democrats do have interns, don’t they?
Michael D.
Ex.Act.Ly
demkat620
I don’t know why either, John. But its a feature not a bug.
Welcome to the party, pal.
Michael D.
For what it’s worth, I think we do have a media that is generally
liberalcentre left. But, like citizens of the Democratic persuasion, they like eating their own.Seanly
Unfortunately, the infrastructure needs the work and people need the jobs. Expect some pissed off representatives & governors if the stimulus fails.
El Cid
I keep getting the feeling that Democratic Congressional leaders just don’t want to be seen advocating for this.
MediaGlutton
I think the real problem came when Obama pre-compromised by including the tax cuts without any similar Republican concessions. Now the Republicans can claim Obama hasn’t compromised from his initial bill — which is basically true — but the initial bill was itself a compromise! Why is there nobody out there saying this on the teevee?
Maus
Lazy cowards, all. Save the "dignity" of Congress, because god knows it’s better to appeal to your "bipartisan friends" than it is to do your job.
Ash Can
You know, I’ve spent the better part of today in a tizzy myself. And I still think Harry Reid is a chump, Craig Crawford is on crystal meth, and Newt Gingrich can go eat shit and bark at the moon. But while I was fixing dinner, I heard on the radio (WFMT, Chicago’s fine arts station) a nice summary of the news out of Washington DC today:
— SCHIP was signed into law (finally)
— a salary cap of $500k was signed into law for execs of financial firms receiving fed bailout funds
— George W’s December giveaway of public lands in Utah to oil drillers was rescinded.
That was just today, folks.
Don’t give up and don’t lose perspective. Above all, don’t lose hope. Shit’s gettin’ done.
(We now return to our regularly-scheduled Dem chop-busting.)
Fwiffo
Well, when it all goes up in flames, it’s gonna be a hard lesson for Obama. I wished they had remembered the lessons from the Clinton administration, but whatever.
kay
@Michael D.:
I don’t know about that. I was thinking about Bush withdrawing Bernard Kerik, or Harriet Meirs.
Former President Bush nearly appointed a criminal to lead Homeland Security. Homeland Security has enormous and wide-ranging police power. Bush wanted Kerik.
Next, he attempted to appoint a completely unqualified person to the Supreme Court, because he knew and liked her. That’s not Cabinet. It’s for life, basically.
I didn’t hear any hand-wringing from media about Bush’s judgment. The prospective picks were discussed. Not the President.
Bill H
Well, the Repubs are able to point to one bad feature and sell against the bill based on that feature. The Dems just seem to have a big soup of whatever and are halfheartedly trying to sell, "but it’s a package."
Nancy Pelosi screwed the pooch here. She saw a chance with a "must pass" bill that she could lard up with a social agenda that she could not otherwise pass. Same thing the Repubs did with "support the troops" bills when they were in charge.
Which shows how little real difference there is between the parties when it comes to managing the legislative agenda.
chrismealy
If the stimulus is going to mean more highways and more car subsidies, and I’d rather have another depression.
Karmakin
I’ll say what nobody wants to say.
Push too hard, and the finance/cheap labor/conservative types go from normal tirade to full-blown tantrum. A full blown-tantrum at this point, would be enough to destroy what’s left of the world economy, so people are treating them with kid gloves. That’s why we’re not talking about nationalizing the banks, or we’re not talking about a minimum wage maximum wage for these people.
That’s why we’re not talking about single-payer universal health care, or changing the unemployment definition to get a more accurate judgement of the state of labor.
That’s why we’re not talking about a whole bunch of things. Because in the back of our heads, we know that they still have the power to sink the ship,and we think that if backed too much into a corner, they’ll use that power.
Mike
Does anybody have a feeling that the Democrats just might not want this thing to pass? The way I see it there are 3 possible outcomes for the stimulus:
1)Stimulus passes, rights the economy, and everything is A-ok come 2010. By far the least likely outcome in my opinion.
2)Stimulus passes, the economy is still in the tubes but not as badly as it would have been had nothing been done. (With all of the talk about how the stimulus bill is actually too small at this point to correct everything, I think that this is what to expect if it passes) Democratic politicians who went to bat for the stimulus get whacked over the head for pissing away taxpayer money and not getting us out of a recession (as opposed to getting credit for keeping us out of a depression).
3)Stimulus dies in congress, Republicans can claim credit for killing it. If the economy stays crappy in 2010 their GE opponents can bludgeon them over the head with preventing action on the economy.
So… when only one out of three outcomes,and the least likely one at that, looks like it would benefit you, why go to bat for it? When public opinion was never that strongly for it to begin with and is plummeting as we speak, why not give the proles exactly what they want?
Sure its cynical as all hell but I can see why no politician would want to stick their neck out for a bill that’s going to come back to haunt you in 2,4, or 6 years.
I think if you look at the stimulus through the lens of "how do I keep my seat?" as opposed to "what’s best for the country?" it does a lot to explain the lukewarm support for it by congressional dems.
MNPundit
This is squarely Obama’s fault for his actions and style.
Jay B.
Perspective: Ash Can brings it.
Also, Obama went on the tubes last night, I’m getting bombarded with MoveOn and David Poulffe emails today and the "plummeting polls" are, presumably one Rasmussen from today (a Gallup one which was buried yesterday, had 75% support for some kind of stimulus), so it’s fluid and a backlash to the GOP is inevitable.
It would also be helpful to note that sainted FDR installed only some of the New Deal in his first 100 days. I mean Social Security — the "foundation" of the New Deal — wasn’t laid down until 1935. Breathe. Fight. Argue.
But for people to be so fatalistic 11 days in, well, Jesus Fucking Christ. Get a grip. Did you think it would be easy?
Samuel
Never underestimate the American people’s ability to spot a scam.
The main economic criticisms from the left of the GOP control of government over the past 8 years was that: a) taxes were cut and b) government spending grew exponentially. This, of course, makes the GOP arguing against runaway government spending look ridiculous, and rightly so. The implication here, which the Obama campaign made clear all summer/fall and what Democrats have been crying about, was that it was spending and tax cuts which caused our current economic crisis.
So here comes the Democrat answer to our problems, a trillion dollar stimulus bill loaded with……wait for it…..more government spending, and more tax cuts.
You don’t need Democrat politicians parading on MSNBC every night to show what the American people can see for themselves.
The Other Steve
I’m not sure if the Democrats aren’t selling it.
Or the media just isn’t publishing what they have to say.
LItlebritdifrnt
OT – if you want a nice little diversion from all of this current madness may I recommend "August Rush" a complete and utter schmalz fest of ooooooooooze, which is completely and utterly delightful in its schmalz and ooooooooz. As you know DH is a musician, this movie has entered his soul and he is obsessed by it (which by default means I have watched it many times), Freddie Highmore is precious, and if he doesn’t end up broke or drug addicted in the next twenty years will prove to be one of Britain’s finest new actors. The music is spectacular, the story (based on Oliver Twist) is glorious and the whole shebang is just win. Hey who couldn’t love Robin Williams as Fagin? Watch it, you will be glad you took the two hours off from all this silliness to watch schmalz in its purest form.
Jay
What the fuck good is a liberal blogosphere if we can’t get together to demand the resignations of Reid and Pelosi? Where’s the petitions? Where’s the pressure?
I may be blowing smoke up our collective asses, but I’d like to think we helped get Obama elected and if so, why aren’t we at least trying to get Reid and Pelosi out of the leaderships?
northstar
"Well, when it all goes up in flames, it’s gonna be a hard lesson for Obama. I wished they had remembered the lessons from the Clinton administration, but whatever."
Oh yes, the Clinton way. Let’s see, pass bills with no participation from the opposing party. Then, in the midterm elections, lose complete control of the house and the senate. Also, the minute any nominee of yours has any issues at all, don’t stand by them, just cut them loose. See Guinier, Lani-Elders, Jocelyn, for more information.
Xenos
@Samuel:
Comedy gold, sammy.
A sucker born every
minutesecond would be a huge improvement.Bill H
And some of the defense is a little hard:
Why are we giving money to the movie industry?
How does computerizing medical records stimulate the economy?
Tax cuts for buying cars: how does more cars on the road help us out?
Tax cuts for cars part 2: how can people without jobs buy cars?
Tax cuts for buying houses: without having a job?
Tax cuts for business: Bush did that four times, that’s how we got here.
Rescue for homeowners: what the fuck you mean "later"?
Other
FWIW, Barney Frank kicked some ass on This Week on Sunday on this issue.
Joshua Norton
Things are being said, just not reported on.
Barbara Boxer in the Senate:
"After eight long years of Republican rule around here, where we saw the debt go from $5 trillion to $10 trillion and not a word from the other side about fiscal responsibility," Boxer said. "Tax cut after tax cut to the wealthiest few, unlimited checkbook for Iraq. No problem then. We didn’t hear speeches about the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren, oh no," Boxer said. "When people are losing their homes … suddenly my friends on the other side come out with their charts. Oh, my goodness, a trillion dollars. Well, we had a presidential election about this."
But the repigs line up like the mindless water-carrying brooms in Fantasia and spew out the same talking points over and over even though they’re shot down every single time. Facts and honesty be damned. It’s a joke, not a debate.
JenJen
Again, I would argue that it’s really early in the first quarter, and we’re freaking out because the GOP has scored mass points.
The way I remember both the primary and the general, Obama’s style is to just to allow them to play their hand. It was a highly successful electoral strategy and I truly don’t have this goofy, panicky feeling that ZOMG IT’S ALL SLIPPING AWAY!
Are the left-wing bloggers suggesting that all of a sudden, Obama and his team don’t "get" the way the 24-hour news cycle works? I can’t recall a time when they were rolled by the GOP in the general, nor were they rolled by Clinton in the primary. And they were constantly accused of "blowing it" back in the not-so-long-ago day, in the moment. In the end, I’d argue we were all surprised by how large the electoral margin really was.
Get a damned grip. This is serious business, and a lot of damned money. Allow it to play out before flipping out. Live by the 24-hour-news-cycle… well, I’ll just let y’all complete that sentence.
It’s exhausting, it really is. Is there anything more exasperating than us panicky liberals?
LM
It’s worse than Dems being AWOL. When you have a prominent Dem like Krugman all over the airwaves and print media seeming to tar the whole bill because he dislikes small bits, it chills support. Bloggers forget Krugman spent more than a year trashing Obama in order to boost Clinton, and that he’s yet to find a good word to say about him. Instead, the left acts as if an Obama *supporter* is on the attack, and that makes them mistrust the bill. It leads to silence where there should be advocacy, and imo that’s been as destructive as McConnell and Boehner’s attacks.
Joshua Norton
We’re not. Keep up.
Movie Industry tax break stripped from bill
Comrade Jake
I don’t know. I’ll reserve judgment for when this thing actually comes up for a vote in the Senate. My guess is that something that’s pretty damn close to what Obama proposed in the first place is going to pass, but that he’s not going to own it.
Comrade Jake
@JenJen:
I’ve definitely seen such suggestions. When you get right down to it, lots of lefty bloggers aren’t particularly bright or observant.
Adrienne
After a whole day of pearl clutching, I’m forced to say this: Everyone Chill the Fuck Out.
Per Obama.
Adrienne
Per Obama
The Raven
Seems pretty obvious–there are 25 conservative Democratic Senators, and the House Democratic leadership, for whatever reason, is conservative, though the House Democrats are liberal. If Obama wants to set matters right, he’s got an uphill climb.
Stuck
I don’t think anybody on the planet knows if the stimulus will work. All anybody knows are some economists are saying it’s needed and some like the Major in the opening scenes of Dances With Wolves, are wringing their hands and wondering why there’s no salt in the Officers Mess. And this after several so called stimulus boondoggles that gave us nothing but record CEO bonuses.
The only model for this sort of thing happened 75 years ago in a much different America. Nobody wants to get blamed when another bundle of taxpayer cash goes down the shitter with nothing to show. The only reason the bill exists in the first place is that they’re equally scared of doing nothing and getting blamed if the bottom falls out.
But democrats run the store now, and they wanted the job and now it’s time for them to man up and make it happen, or crawl off in a corner and suck their thumbs. And it goes double for Obama. Though I fully agree that it’s early in the process for screaming oh noes, the dems are failures. As Ash Can says, it’s not been a bad run of good bills getting signed for the first two weeks. But on the Stimulus, it’s approaching the time for dems to shit or git off the pot. I’m wondering, after hearing Durbin ranting into the senate floor camera, that it HAS to be a bi partisan bill. Only enough so to get to 60 votes is the answer to that.
Radio One
The media was obviously spinning hard to help block the stimulus bill, but I think that when the new job losses hit this week, it’ll be easier for the Obama team to win back the "narrative" from the village and pass this stimulus plan. In fact, it’s already starting to happen, with various cable news people noting that Obama is "beginning" to use the bully pulpit.
That said -ugh. If the Obama administration lobbied their grassroots for the bill the way Rush Limbaugh lobbied his dittoheads to oppose it on Capital Hill, we’d be in a much better situation, perception-wise.
debbie
What the hell problem would there be with helping the movie industry? It’s a major source of jobs in some places and these are good paying jobs.
Adrienne
@debbie: Come on Debbie… You know those ain’t real jobs in real ‘Murika. Theys in lie-brul Hollywood.
bago
Speaking of movies and right-wing blowhards, I present to you a masterpeice.
Joshua Norton
The REAL problem is that people think it’s raining money and everyone is showing up with a bucket. Not quite what Obama had in mind, but it’s how the sausage is made.
Samuel
@bago: Speaking of blowhards, if Leon Panetta earns over $700,000 in "speaking fees" in 2008 from bailed out financial institutions (Wachovia and Merrill Lynch), the Carlyle Group and American Maritime Assoc., does this count against Obama’s $500,000 cap on excessive pay? Hope Leon has his tax situation straight…..
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123378062602049003.html
cleek
congressional Dems never participate in these debates. didn’t you just do a post on the GOP’s over-representation on talk shows? i bet you’d find more than one guest booker who’ll say the GOP is just more aggressive and available when it comes to landing those spots.
Brick Oven Bill
People do not trust government documents that consist of 600+ pages of ambiguous language written by a government with a President who said he would not hire lobbyists, who then hired seventeen lobbyists and issued 5 executive orders in 3 days.
Who stabbed the unions in the back after being bluffed by EU bureaucrats. Who lied to those making less than $250,000/yr by raising the tax the tax on cigarettes 16% this afternoon.
Here is a bill that would be a winner:
1. Hire Joe the Plumber to be the Anti Corruption Czar. Give him a $10 million budget and free reign;
2. Subject all government leaders to an IRS Audit, as previously described;
3. Electrify the railroads;
4. Institute an immediate 10% tariff on all imports, rising by 5% per year, for five years.
The electrification could start immediately, and would employ workers in every state starting on Friday. I could write this bill on a single sheet of paper.
cleek
Samuel’s enthusiasm for pie is awesome.
Dulcie
@Bill H: I work for a medical software company. If companies computerize their medical records, it saves lives. Electronic prescriptions, better recordkeeping, consolidated lab results, etc. It also helps medical practices send correct information to insurance companies so bills get paid correctly and on time.
Someone has to program the software, someone has to sell it, someone has to implement the installation and training, and someone has to provide post installation support. Those are all good paying jobs.
Additionally, those hospitals and medical practices have to purchase computer hardware, scanner/copiers, additional network bandwidth, etc. to run the software. People make all of those items, which means people are employed.
Gus
C’mon John, we all know the Republican answer to that question: tax cut. And that shit works because people are simpletons.
kay
@Joshua Norton:
There’s an alternate theory. That Obama wanted a clean bill, and Pelosi didn’t give him one, so he wouldn’t sell it. That he’s familiar (understandably) with the Senate process, is relying on that process to get a bill he likes, and will then back the Senate version, full-bore.
My friend Dean, who is a newly-minted Democrat, but a really good legal strategist, thinks this is Obama asserting control over the Democrats in the House. He thinks the real battle here was intra-Party, and the GOP are a sideshow.
Dean is fascinated by his new hobby, Those Crazy Democrats.
Ed Marshall
They made a bad fucking bill. They did.
Here is your Keynesian model: The shortfall in demand is projected at over a trillion dollars in 2009. All monetary policy is exhausted, we have hit the liquidity trap and brought interest to 0%. It’s going to mimic the "virtuous circle" praised in bipartisan fashion by our New Democrats and the GOP that supposedly tied Main St. and Wall St. together in mutual benefit. Now, you are about to meet the "final circle of hell" where they have tied themselves together and they destroy each other in a downward spiral.
The final option left is that government is there to act as the buyer of last resort in this dire scenario and try and hold back a deflationary cycle. A trillion dollars sounds bad, so the idea is we are going to borrow and spend $800 billion and try to stop tt his outcome. The mechanism that is supposed to do this is the jobs it creates.
Congress just swept up it’s wish list and tried it’s ass off to spend $800 billion and started running out of ideas! Seriously, large portions of this, while perhaps deserving on their own merits aren’t going to make jobs to cycle money out and create natural demand. If this is going to work (and everyone better hope like hell it does work) it has to get money to the right people by whatever mechanism.
Joshua Norton
I would have to agree with that.
Comrade Jake
@Brick Oven Bill:
OH NOES! NOT TEH CIGARETTES!
Joshua Norton
The standard knuckle dragger responds that their ideas weren’t severe enough.
Kind of the same theory that’s behind people thinking that jabbing the up-button harder and harder over and over again makes the elevator come faster.
And just as useless.
excathedra88
heard Gregg has recused himself from the stimulus vote;
Hmm, this is starting to get a little bit depressing
Stuck
It was already written that Obama’s biggest problem would be keeping herded the winsome democats in congress. It’s understandable he doesn’t want to big foot his supporters there this early on. But it was a bad bill in the sense it gave wingnuts a talking point to apply to their drum beat noise machine, which is still pretty loud and effective. Somebody needs to make a new political rule that when you ask for a trillion plus taxpayer bucks, even a little non germaine spending looks like a lot when that’s all that’s on teevee.
What is worrisome is that dem leaders will republicanify the bill for GOP support to the point it makes people seriously wonder why we bother to elect dems in the first place. If that happens, I’m going to put on some Cammies and face paint and march down to the County Clerk and change my registration to the Urban Guerrilla Party.
ronathan richardson
Any democrat needing to feel better should watch Ackerman tearing apart the dipshits at the SEC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOKSkaQoF_I&eurl=http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/
debbie
If you haven’t called your Senators and House member and told 10 folks to do that, too, then you haven’t done your part to fight the Republicans.
Montysano
Per John’s earlier rant thread: I’m not worried so much about the Dems or BO losing control of the debate. I’m more concerned about the Villagers deciding that "Obama out of control/losing it" is a fine meme that draws the necessary eyeballs, so they run with that, and facts and "news" can go fuck off.
Let me also say how fucking sick I am of hearing about "pork" and "earmarks". It may be a fine idea to build a research center devoted to goat sex, provided it’s in your town and provides jobs. That same project in another state is "pork".
Laura W
@Joshua Norton:
Between this, your Fantasia ref, and the imaginary children quip I woke up to, you’re having a very good writing day!
(I’m super sleepy so I do hope all those things did come from your keyboard.)
Wings of Oatmeal
Excellent post, this.
I wonder if Obama isn’t doing just the right thing here, however. The Repubs are pushing the same ideas that got us into this crap, and the Democrats are AWOL pussycat bastards. I doubt the public sees either one of these as anything courageous. Any minute now, Obama be smitin’ ALL them morons and gettin’ something done.
Or not. But I don’t doubt him for a minute.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Laura W: Christ on a banana sandwich, I go to school for a few hours and you take up with another commenter.
Oh shit, so busy today I forgot to read Adrienne’s blog.
Joshua Norton
@Laura W:
Thanks. I was hanging around Wonkette for the past few days just to keep my snark muscles in shape. You’ve got to think fast to keep up with that group!
Adrienne
@Just Some Fuckhead: Nothing earth shattering today. I’m just warming up to this whole blogging thing. I don’t think my mind is organized enough yet.
Laura W
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Well, I am surprised you even noticed, Fuckhead.
I was looking for Bonnie Raitt singing this, but this is way, way better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2Epe0J4gac
Even ice melts to water when it gets hot*
(*I don’t really understand what that means but I like how it sounds in the song.)
kay
@Dulcie:
@Bill H: I work for a medical software company. If companies computerize their medical records, it saves lives. Electronic prescriptions, better recordkeeping, consolidated lab results, etc. It also helps medical practices send correct information to insurance companies so bills get paid correctly and on time.
People have amazingly short memories. This was Hillary Clinton’s and New Gingrich’s big bi-partisan project/idea, and the whole world loved it. That was a year ago.
Mike in NC
WTF? Seriously, I wouldn’t hire Sam-Not-A-Plumber to do jack shit. Well, maybe to give Sarah Palin a hysterectomy with a toilet snake.
MobiusKlein
Here’s what Obama’s got to deal with:
1) R’s who are more nihilist that conservative
2) multiple states aiming at nukes
3) two wars that could go south
4) screwed up health care system
5) dying economy
6) global warming nearing positive feedback points
7) D’s who can’t back a winner
8) Justice dept full of crony hacks
9) the rest of the govt full of crony hacks
10) terrorists out there plotting attacks
11) crumbling US infrastructure
12) peak oil
We are so fucked.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Laura W: Wait..
Fulcanelli
@Joshua Norton:
Metaphor of the day. WIN.
@Samuel: Self-awareness is obviously not a Republican strong point. 28 years their party is in teh driver’s seat, the family car is in the ditch, and all these idiots can do is whine "are we there yet?" once an adult takes back the wheel for barely two weeks. They do have good reason to be angry, after all somebody in the middle class still has a few bucks left.
kay
@MobiusKlein:
You’re fine. Go to the Senate site. Republican-backed amendments are going down in flames. McCain lost on both of his, as of 10:30.
I’m as guilty as anyone, but this crisis might be mostly made-up.
Texas Dittohead
Face it, Obama kids. Your dreams of turning America into a socialist worker’s paradise are dying fast. I really think this administration is on its last legs—very close to total collapse. I never dreamed we could cripple this socialist buffoon so quickly but it looks like we just might succeed. And then I’m going to sit back, laugh my ass off, and count the days until January 2013, when we’ll be inaugurating Sarah Palin as our 45th President.
Laura W
@Just Some Fuckhead: PTB!
(Peeing the Bed). I am so glad that I have no neighbors.
I believe that is the finest musical post in our pas de deux battle of the non-wits thus far, Fuckhead.
And speaking of juxtaposition…
Brilliant.
I shall never stray again.
Laura W
@Fulcanelli:
I dunno about that. While I really loved it too, you really should review his entire body of metaphor/analogy/simile work from the last 24 hours before you make your decision.
mey
As far as I’m concerned, this is an argument to vote out incumbents in 2010. No one can get anything done. I think they like the swing back and forth (d vs. r), so we just keep getting bounced back and forth between the two divorced parents who are playing nothing but mind games. So, screw ’em all. With a few exceptions (Obama, Kucinich, Paul, Sanders, Feingold, etc.), I’m voting straight ticket NON-incumbents for the foreseeable future. That is the ONLY thing that will get these career politicians to care about getting anything done.
Fulcanelli
@Texas Dittohead: Our dreams? It was the Texas retard whose face is on your knee pads and his rubber stamp ho’s in congress who drove the US economy closer to socialism than any Old Leftie ever could. Hold your breath. Please. Hold. Your. Breath.
Stuck
Gonna take a lot of trollin’ to make that egg hatch!
TheHatOnMyCat
People aren’t. Bloggers are, pundits are. These people all talk to and listen to each other.
It was less than a year ago that these same people had Obama’s campaign finished because of Rev. Wright.
They are all full of shit.
MobiusKlein
@kay: I know I’m hyper ventilating. I just worry that if the R’s can’t cooperate on something so obvious as stimulating the economy, there is no hope at all for things like Global Warming or health care reform.
TheHatOnMyCat
Middle of March last year.
TheHatOnMyCat
No, they just like misery and pain … mainly, causing it.
They moan one day that the Dems on the Hill are spineless and capitulating, and the next day, that Obama is losing control of the debate.
It’s projection. It’s the pundits who are spineless, capitulating, and losing control of the debate. Obama will be fine. This guy is not Jimmy Carter. Trust me.
Mike in NC
Dream on, fucktard. dream on. It’s all you assholes have…
Mike in NC
Reminds me also of an excercise at Fort Hood a few years ago, where a Navy buddy who went through training at NAS Corpus Christi saw some grafitti in the head: Hear I sit, bowels flexin’, giving birth to another Texan. Dittohead…
cosanostradamus
.
No one cares what those weenies on TV are saying. All anybody cares about is what those weenies in DC are DOING. The Repukes are doing nothing and worse than nothing, getting in the way. Polls are BS. (They said Hillary would win. Then McCain.) I know, I used to work on them. Pure BS. We just have to stay behind Obama and keep pushing him left. That’s what people voted for. Not this Puke & DINO bullsh*t. You are so OVER, Repukelickin’s!
.
Michael D.
@Bill H:
In understand this will be a tough sell, but a lot of the film industry is taking its production (and, therefore, production $$) to other countries precicely because it is easier and cheaper to do business there. Did you know that The X-Files was filmed almost entirely in Canada (to quote one of hundreds of examples)? It was because Canada gave HUGE tax incentives to the production company to film it there in Vancouver.. If you keep production here in the US, you save thousands of jobs.
It helps the auto industry, which will help save a lot of those good union jobs we love so much . It helps the auto parts industry. It helps the banks and credit unions who write the loans, etc, etc. Helping the auto industry, I would say, is a very good stimulus. My only stipulation to this would be that the tax cut only goes to people who buy cars that get 32+ miles a gallon.
Not many, but that is not the point. The point is that helping the auto industry can help save millions (or hundreds of thousands) of jobs that depend on that sector.
Tax cuts for buying houses: without having a job?
Again, I am not sure of the wisdom of the program as a whole, but when people buy houses, they are helping:
1. The lumber industry
2. Bricklayers
3. Hardwood floor installers/makers
4. Shingle makers
5. People who make and sell large appliances
6. People who make and sell small appliances
7. Furniture stores
8. Lawn and garden companies
9. Etc.
HyperIon
@Bill H:
well, that one is pretty easy to address.
someone (or more likely many, many someones) are going to have to do a shitload of data entry. presumably they will be paid. get it?
now we could, of course, get it done cheap(er) overseas but…i hope you understand how that would not be a good idea.
and as far as your questions about tax cuts, i say, fuck ’em.
so i agree that targeted tax cuts are needless bones thrown to repubs. cut the rates but do NOT make the already hopelessly complex tax code more complicated with these "special" cuts.
Offred
Everyone is acting like this is the only money to be had for the next year. Pass this one as is and everyone can lobby for the pet projects next time around.