Can the new "All No, All the Time" GOP really reap political rewards from, well, unobstructed obstructionism?
>
by Ken
This 38-second yukfest is making its way rapidly around the Intertubes. If you haven't watched the clip (and frankly, I don't blame you; comical as it is, it represents 38 seconds of your life you're never going to get back), it builds in true fake-thriller style -- think 24 -- to this arresting climactic message:
0
House Republicans
Voted for the Democrats'
Wasteful Spending Bill
House Republicans
Voted for the Democrats'
Wasteful Spending Bill
It pays tribute, in other words, to the New "All No, All the Time" Republican Party's unprecedented ability to, well, say no. One point of interest, though, as Todd Beeton notes on MyDD, is the apparent emergence of House whips Eric Cantor and Kevin McCarthy as "the new stars of the GOP," with Minority Leader "Sunny John" Boehner "nowhere to be found."
Can this audacious gamble pay off for the GOP-ers? Several things make me nervous:
* The obstructionists have the power to sabotage the president's and congressional Democrats' efforts to get the economy working again. The Rush Limbaugh wing of the party has made it clear that it wants the president to fail, which means that they also want the country to fail -- no doubt confident of their ability to score political capital.
* There is, in the administration approach as outlined so far, an awful lot of timidity and ritual obeisance to the now-discredited old economic orthodoxies -- it's possible to pour a lot of money down a rathole and accomplish not much more than pouring money down the rathole.
* Even if the president's approach proves to be on the right track, turning the economy around is going to take time. Do people really have the patience? During the election campaign I had this discussion with progressive friends who seemed persuaded that part of the great change that was taking place in the country was an appreciation, in the wake of the Bush regime's catastrophic and systematic abuse of the processes of government, that this is a process, and that those Americans are committed to seeing the process through.
I'm not so sure. I think a lot of the people who said they didn't expect immediate results meant that they were prepared to wait a week, or maybe even two. I don't think the country is all that changed. I'm afraid that too much of the Obama margin of victory was a simply panic-induced rejection of the Republican ticket because the Republicans were in power when everything went to hell.
The Republicans have continued the total contempt for truth they perfected during the election and melded that with some actual ideology: their deep-rooted compulsion to believe that government can't work. They have the power now to make things a whole lot worse, and profit from it. Of course they'll inherit an unholy mess, but that's a problem for another day.
For one thing, as soon as they return to power, the principal obstructive force will disappear.
#
Labels: Boehner, Cantor, Kevin McCarthy, obstructionist Republicans
posted by KenInNY @ 7:00 PM
12 comments
|
Reddit
12 Comments:
Saying no to leaders who peddle fear in order to pick our pockets isn't such a bad thing (and there's an waful lot of pork in this "stimulus"); too bad that Dems didn't show any of this backbone when Dubya was president.
Yes - IF.
I have no problems bashing Republicans for their hypocrisy, but that doesn't mean the stimulus pork has merit.
And if Republican opposition makes for better legislation, then perhaps that not so bad.
What if the Republican obstructionism makes for NO legislation? That, of course, is their goal.
The Republicans objecting on principle, for the most part -- and the principles they're standing on have nothing to do with "pork." Those principles are entirely about coddling the super-rich and pandering to ideological extremists.
Just about everything they've attacked as "pork" is simply a matter of lying and obfuscating. In good part, of course, as with the successful assault on money for family planning programs, they probably just don't understand to begin with.
The GOP leaders said openly among themselves that they are obstructing FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBSTRUCTING. It may be the only time in their political lives that they tell the truth. As Anon suggests, their goal is to prevent any kind of genuine economic stimulus. The very fact of attacking an economic stimulus program as "a spending bill" is, as the president pointed out, proof of imbecility -- or just plain dishonesty.
Some of them are morons, some liars, and some lying morons. All of them are laughing at your defense of them, TT. They know what they're doing.
Ken
Ken
Ken, I think Republicans have decided, after spending like drunken sailors on their own watch, that they`d like to sober up a bit, at least enough to pretend outrage and to postture.
But no doubt there is quite a bit of real concern (although it is quite convenient that the concern only shows up when someone else is in charge).
But in any event, can you help me to under stand the difference between an "economic stimulus program" and a "spending bill"?
Where are the jobs? I don't see any in this pork. Maybe the saving of some teacher's jobs - but not the creating of jobs.
So in this I agree with the Repubs, and don't mind if they object to the PORK.
This bill is just putting my grandchildren in debt - and they are not even born yet. No legislation would be the best thing, because every time Govt gets involved, they screw stuff up - no matter what party they are from.
Cram that "pork" stuff. There's never been a bigger bunch of pork thieves than the republicans. Right wingers are simply whiners; they have nothing to offer except tax cuts. Their feeble objections to the stimulus package show them for exactly what they are: greedy, hate-filled, nay-saying losers. I can only hope the next elections send even more of them to the showers.
Republicans are the enemy of the American people. They can't send enough money to other countries or to their CEO friends, but a dollar to help an American citizen is considered wasteful spending. Sessions was right in his comment about the Taliban. Republicans are the American version of the Taliban.
The Republicans in Congress knew that the stimulus bill was going to pass, with or without their votes. They also knew that failure to pass the bill would have been disastrous for their own constituents. Even so, as they no doubt see it, voting "no" on the bill didn't really hurt anybody and, at the same time, it will give them a handy campaign slogan in the next election. That's the election where they will discover that the number of blue states outnumber the red states 5 to 1. Voters have a longer memory than the GOP gives then credit for. They will remember that people like Boehmer offered nothing but the same old ideologically-driven economic solutions we got from the disastrous Bush administration. They'll remember that John McCain and his friend Lindsey Graham accused the president of being partisan, after they had showed a total unwillingness to compromise at all. Voters will remember that Republicans in Congress voted to preserve their ideology rather than the jobs of millions of teachers, firefighters, police and hard-working Americans in nearly every state. In 2012, the Republican Party is going to hand President Obama a fillibuster-proof Senate on a silver platter.
The people who insist on using the term "pork" to describe this package need to explain what part of it is pork and what percentage of the total package it represents. Otherwise, shut up.
Wittle Erwk Cantor and his Rushlican congressional buds sound like juveniles. Every time our Prez talks about returning the Gov't to the adults, his popularity rises. The GOP with there silly little song parodies and sarcastic anti Dem Valentine
Day cards that they posted on-line makes them look like immature simpletons. Most Americans are sick and tired of being led by 13 year olds.
People, I think BOTH parties created this mess and it's important to step back from the partisan screeching and self-justifications.
We're having a downturn because politicians and the Fed have acted together to use "easy money" create a series of bubbles. The downturn is big now because the housing bubble was enormous and has undermined financial institutions worldwide. The way out of the mess is to let people take their losses and investors start investing again in what people want to buy. Having the government step in to drive demand directly interferes with this task, by hindering the flow of capital to the most productive uses. (There is an argument for some long-term investments, but those aren't really happening under the bill.)
I can support most of the bill which - as a result of Republican pressure - includes hefty middle class tax cuts and more welfare benefits. But on most of the rest of the spending I'm not convinced (even as Rs certainly are being hypocritical, since they didn't mind stimulus and pork when they were controlling the spigots).
Here's someone quoting Alice Rivken and others in a relatively balanced summary:
http://heartkeepercommonroom.blogspot.com/2009/02/bail-out-12-cents-on-dollar-in-growth.html
Post a Comment
<< Home