No Republican Votes For The Stimulus
Can we put back in the family planning, the Mall restoration, pump in $25 billion more in mass transit and cancel the corporate tax breaks, in conference, please?
So much for bipartisanship.
So much for bipartisanship.
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I'll give this blog, a rec, and one big: "OH HELL, YEAH"!
I'd add even more assistance (or really $10,000 checks) to the low income, working poor, and just flat poor. They will be our economic engines. Trickle up starts now!
(or I can hope, right?)
January 28, 2009 8:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Another "Hell Yeah!" here. Last night, Rachel Maddow was saying essentially the same thing.
If the Repugs don't want to come to the table and negotiate in good faith, let's just do it our way. Maybe that'll convince them obstructionism has no place in the new American order.
January 29, 2009 2:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is it!!! My dreams come true!!! The dems have zero political cover now. They are truly out in the open. It's only a matter of picking them off now!! Get ready for a remake of '94!!!!!
January 28, 2009 8:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
If you substitute the word "Dems" with "Republicans" in your comment, and the year "'94" with "'06", you would be correct.
January 28, 2009 11:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
What's so hilarious about this is that you guys seem to really want to be a permanent minority. Your valiant House GOP members, most in deep red districts, have just shown America the true face of your Party, and scared away the few remaining moderates.
There are about 5 Red states left. So a quick bit of advice: Your best hope to regain a majority....think about seceding.
January 28, 2009 11:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
But how will Idaho, Utah, Oklahoma, Texas, Kentucky and Georgia get together?
January 28, 2009 11:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Renaye we are very happy that your dream is a bunch of do nothing Repubs. Now if only we could insure that the Repub districts get not one dime of stimulus money that would be poetic justice. Fortunately for you we have a President who is not intent on playing the childish, political games that Repubs are intent on playing. You are probably one of the chumps Repubs count on. I say chump because I doubt you have ever benefited from anything the Rethugs have ever done.
January 28, 2009 11:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't feed the feral wingnut. Call animal control. They will pick it up and take it to a rescue, make sure it's OK, and then release it in an environment suitable for its kind and away from human contact where it can best survive.
January 28, 2009 11:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, since the election silenced (humiliated nay be a better word) all our old trolls, we need some new blood.
Wanna bet "it's" a Palin supporter?
Can there be any doubt?
January 29, 2009 10:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's actually a recycled Palin supporter. So, in a sense, he/she/it is keeping TPM green. :)
January 29, 2009 11:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
as in mold?
January 29, 2009 2:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
I remember at one time, many years ago, I argued with a Republican who wanted to require an IQ test at the polls, and I suggested that anyone who still believed all-star wrestling was real should not be allowed to vote.
And over the past 8 years, we have learned how ignorant people can actually get in terms of accepting the sad truth about people like Bush.
But now I see a whole new qualifier for political and cultural ignorance.
Sarah Palin. So far, I have not met, nor do I know a single person whose support for Palin is anything other than a ignorance qualifier.
Not that all her supporters are stupid, but they clearly do not understand what democracy is all about, they tend to think, no matter how much they are a minority, they should somehow still be in charge, cuz, by golly, they are RIGHT!
And more than anyone except maybe Rush or Hannity, Palin represents this cloudy-minded anti-partriotism, which they all mistake for patriotism. These people are simply brainwashed with conservatism.
When Palin gets through peeling them away from the more-sensible Republicans, she will have her own Bull Moose Party. And the Republicans will become an asterisk, at least in their current manifestation.
This is only slightly OT, because Palin's people are the ones who will be fooled into thinking the obstructionists in the Republican Party are doing good work as the oppose Obama's progress.
January 29, 2009 11:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
Perspective, please. They're a fringe minority.
January 29, 2009 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think the choice of the term "Bull Moose Party" is ill advised, unless you're trying for a seance with the ghost of a very pissed off Teddy Roosevelt.
January 29, 2009 3:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
You got that right. Sarah and Teddy couldn't be more different from an ideological standpoint.
January 29, 2009 3:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is all well and good unless you are a progressive living in a red state. Your comments are spot on about the Palin base. I had a long conversation with a lady who tried to tell me that Sarah's "real America" didn't mean what democrats thought it did, so I asked her to please explain to me what it meant. Of course, I got the hemming and hawing, but no definition. She also told me that she would never vote for Barack Obama because of his vote not to give medical care to aborted babies. But then I asked her how she could be so outraged about aborted babies, but not about innocent Iraqi children being killed in a pre-emptive war with no WMD's (didn't they both deserve the same pro-live outrage?). She said there were WMD's but they just couldn't tell us about it for strategic reasons. God help me! This person has the outward appearance of having the capacity of critical thought, but I highly underestimated her. In the end, when I had successfully debunked all of her beliefs, all she could say was that I was a good debater. I did tell her that I am a very reasonable person and that if she could ever show me certified documentation about the found WMD's, I would apologize and buy her lunch. Needless to say, I am still waiting.
January 29, 2009 3:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
For the sake of honesty, I have to quibble with this. What they're brainwashed with is neoconservatism. That is a particularly bilious and vile strain of political un-thought.
I really think we all need to retool this whole "liberal/conservative" terminology. Wanting health care for all Americans is not all that "liberal". And wanting the federal government to start paying down its ridiculous debt service is not all that "conservative".
I have a lot of moderate Repub friends. The things we want for the country are, in many ways, exactly the same. Where we differ is in deciding what roads to take.
Other than that, I agree with the entirety of your comment. Well done.
January 29, 2009 11:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for saying it, Boyd, so I didn't have to. I agree 100%. This false dichotomy is perhaps our biggest systemic weakness right now.
January 29, 2009 1:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
How many of those Moderate Republican friends voted for John McCain. I would imagine few, if any. Which leads to the conclusion that the Republican Party is in a serious crisis. Whoo-hoo!
January 29, 2009 2:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, more than a few moderates I know still couldn't bring themselves to pull the lever for someone of Barack's limited experience. My father-in-law being just one of dozens I know personally.
Most republicans I know and respect voted reluctantly for McCain, but that doesn't mean they wish Obama to fail and many have been very impressed with his initial moves as president elect and president.
This country is in a very complex place right now that no amount of partisan simplification can account for.
January 29, 2009 3:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, like POTUS, I enjoy having people around with whom I can disagree in a spirited, yet civil manner.
Of seven close Republican friends, five didn't vote for Obama. Of those, two are very pro-life (but very moderate on all other social issues), two others thought McCain simply had more experience and would be a steadier hand, and the fifth believes that the only health-care reform that will work in this country is a complete switch to single-payer. None of them particularly liked Sarah Palin. :-)
January 29, 2009 5:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Republican Party is supposed to be in disarray but the Republican Party is still moving in lock-step. There were no 'defections' on a bill that clearly had to be passed to address the economic disaster facing the US. I think Dems depending on a the Republican Party being disorganized and 'in flight' is a mistake. Republicans are not chastened by bringing on a disaster and now surely planning a new big disaster.
January 29, 2009 1:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
The good thing about Repub lock-step is that it should make it clear to the public who's being partisan. Some Dems did defect.
January 29, 2009 2:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is pretty clear who is for economic recovery. It is not the Republicans. Maybe the Dems can pick up two or three Senators next election.
January 29, 2009 2:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
They seem to be in a lemming-like lock-step over the nearest falls. Unanimity isn't necessarily a good idea if it's in favor of infantile temper tantrums like this vote. Good riddance to them, further, in 2010, one hopes.
January 29, 2009 3:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is the first piece of legislation that Obama has tried to push through the Congress. 12 Dems voted against it; if 27 more had voted against it, then it would not have passed, something he (and the country) cannot possibly afford. There are many things about the bill I don't like, however exactly how much more "progressive" was he supposed to make it when he was already losing Democratic votes from the right wing of his party? He ended up with a cushion of 27 out of some 257 Democrats. My quick math tells me the bill could have been 10% more progressive if he had nailed the vote perfectly. Besides, now it must pass the Senate, where some GOP members have vowed they will vote against it by party line as well. The balance in the Senate is much closer.
January 29, 2009 4:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Clearly the Republicans from Boehner (I'm told I'm to call him Boner from now on--though that seems like an insult to boners to me) on down, do not believe in spending as a form of stimulus. I would hate to do anything to make them go counter their own deeply held beliefs. I hereby move that the spending bill be scrupulously perused and any spending which would obligate Representative Boehner to cut a ribbon or take the credit be immediately excised. Ditto the bluest doggies on the Democratic right.
January 29, 2009 5:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Another sobriquet for John "The E-H Is Silent" Boehner: "The Ohio Oaf." :-)
January 29, 2009 5:38 PM | Reply | Permalink