Senate Passes The Jobs Bill Too-- But No More Republicans Were Willing To Put America First

Specter with one of the senators who wanted to vote for the jobs bill but was too frightened

With no wiggle room at all-- and Sherrod Brown rushing back to DC from his mother's funeral and Joe Lieberman walking (on streets) to get home after the Sabbath sunset falls-- Democrats managed to pass the revised jobs bill with help only from the same 3 Republicans who worked out the compromise. The rest of them just decided that their party's policy of obstruction is the safest bet for them. Arlen Specter claimed that several of his Republican colleagues believe in the Stimulus and wanted to vote for the bill but were afraid of Limbaugh and the Republican extremists threatening to mount primaries against them.

"When I came back to the cloak room after coming to the agreement a week ago today," said Specter, "one of my colleagues said, 'Arlen, I'm proud of you.' I said, 'Are you going to vote with me?' And he said, 'No, I might have a primary.' And I said, 'Well, you know very well I'm going to have a primary.' ...I think there are a lot of people in the Republican caucus [a sizeable number] who are glad to see this action taken without their fingerprints, without their participation."

As for that corrupt little dipshit from New Hampshire:

Judd Gregg last week when he though he was going to have a career in politics

"We need a robust one," he added. "I think the one that's pending is in the range we need. I do believe it's a good idea to do it at two levels, which this bill basically does, which is immediate stimulus and long-term initiatives which actually improve our competitiveness and our productivity."

Judd Gregg this morning after announcing the kitchen's too hot and he's retiring

Republican Sen. Judd Gregg is putting a final exclamation point on his withdrawal as Barack Obama's designee for Commerce Secretary with a promise to vote against the president's economic stimulus package. Gregg's office confirmed the decision Friday.

If Limbaugh is the drug-addled brawn behind Republican obstructionism, Abramoff's former partner, corrupt lobbyist Grover Norquist, is the brains of the operation. Although all the House members are well-trained in rubber stamp techniques and are sticking together in ultra-reactionary lunacy, Grover's been having a fit about all those Republican governors and mayors who are more in touch with reality and backing President Obama's plans to help America. Norquist is convinced that if America fails, the GOP wins. He had a temper tantrum when he heard that Florida Gov. Charlie Crist was actively supporting Obama's efforts. "This is the bill that the Republican Party will be running against in 2010 and 2012 and 2014," Norquist predicted. (Well, they sure can't run on any they actually did pass, like Bush's far more expensive and utterly catastrophic stimulus bills.) It looks like South Carolina Democrat James Clyburn just made his life a little more difficult by forcing all governors-- including hypocrites like Mark Sanford (R-SC), Tim Pawlenty (R-MN), Bobby Jindal (R-LA), Haley Barbour (R-MS) and Rick Perry (R-TX) to either accept the money and spend it within 45 days or pass on it. You think any of these loud mouthed obstructionists want to come down off their soap boxes and explain to their hard-pressed constituents why they passed up on the Stimulus money? A worse mob of craven cowards you never saw in politics and not one of them would dare try it.

Anyway, the bill passed 60-38, beating back the GOP threat to filibuster. Republican obstructionism is likely to hurt them in the 2010 midterms in several states, particularly in Senate races in New Hampshire, North Carolina, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Iowa, Kansas and possibly even Louisiana, Arizona and Georgia. And speaking of New Hampshire... file this under "crazy, mixed up, messed up Republicans":