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dcoffee
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01/29/2009 11:31 #47556

Limbaugh is in Charge
Category: politics
I'm pissed off at the Republicans. I hope the party goes extinct. Really. because I don't believe they have the best interests of the country at heart.

I hope that isn't true, for America's sake, I hope they actually are patriots, and I'm trying to understand why they act this way.

Why are they so divisive, why are they so misleading, why do they refuse to compromise?

In case you missed it, no Republicans in the house of Representatives voted for the economic recovery package. What's up with the herd of opposition?

If you are working on some legislation, you propose an idea or you advocate for some changes, and when those changes make it into the final bill you usually vote for it. The democrats took out a bunch of 'liberal' provisions and 'wasteful spending'. The Democrats compromised, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of the public trusts the ideas of Democrats when it comes to the economy.

The republicans got a lot of what they wanted, much more than they ever gave the Democrats. But not a single house republican voted for the economic recovery bill. You'll see the republicans all over the media criticizing the bill, and offering no suggestions for improving it, except tax cuts or reducing the price tag (both of which would make the bill less effective).

Why?

I have a few ideas.

Maybe it's the permanent campaign mentality. Your team must win, and the other team must lose. Therefore the other team can absolutely never have a good idea, unless they agree with you of course. And when they agree with you, you get to say I told you so and call them weak.

Maybe it's their conservative market philosophy of self-interest spilling over into everyday life. The 'invisible hand' of the market, where if everyone follows their own rational self-interest, we magically end up with the best collective solution too. So they are all looking out for their own self interest first and foremost. Which I guess means winning elections, hoarding power, making lots of money, and get lots of campaign contributions and political favors.

Maybe redistricting and gerrymandering plays a role too. House members represent little pieces of a state, so they put the democrats on democratic pieces and the republicans on republican pieces. So the voters in their district largely prefer to keep the same party every year. Their seats are in safe Republican territory, they don't have to fear running against a Democrat (there usually is none, the incumbent is unopposed anyway) So the only thing they have to worry about is another Republican challenging them in the primary. And they only way that could happen is if the incumbent pisses of his donors, and they fund the opposition instead.

hmmm, following the logic in that last one, I guess it's about the money?


well none of those are patriotic reasons, but they seem the most logical to me. I mean, we've tried tax cuts for 8 years, did George "the king of tax cuts" Bush miss that one essential tax cut that will fix all our problems?


Maybe the Senate won't be so confrontational. They each represent an entire state, which is more politically diverse than a house district. and they also have more time between elections. Maybe they'll act more like statesmen, then their brothers in the House who look like prep school punks.

I doubt the Senate would filibuster, this is a popular bill, and they can't afford to slow it down. Especially after Obama has shown them so much compromise and respect (especially compared to the last 20 years).

Let them vote against it, and watch in horror when it passes and actually puts people back to work. Then all the campaign commercials in 2010 will ominously say "he voted against Obama's recovery package. Wrong on the economy, wrong for America"

image
joshua - 01/29/09 22:30
Oh - I think a David Brooks type is just about as likely to become RNC chair as a Blue Dog is to become DNC chair! In all honesty, I think that it will be Michael Steele.
joshua - 01/29/09 22:27
No, I just haven't posted it yet - I've had a busy night and haven't had a chance to overlook it. Don't worry. :)

:::link:::
dcoffee - 01/29/09 15:51
Oh, and I can't find that post, your journal is a little busted, maybe because of the Youtube Video. How long ago should I look?
dcoffee - 01/29/09 15:50
Both interesting articles. Hope they get a good RNC chair, cause it seems like Limbaugh is filling the vacuum right now, and he loves it :). I'll be interested in who they choose for chair, maybe someone more like David Brooks, than Sarah Palin. I'd really like to see a more cooperation on both sides. Maybe the media culture just makes it look like bickering. Sure you can have different philosophies, but lets be practical, and lets base our decisions on evidence, instead of dogma. You can find common ground to stand on.
joshua - 01/29/09 15:26
Oops, not "that," although you should read it.

I meant THIS! :::link:::
joshua - 01/29/09 15:25
Hey Dave -

I have a correlating post already written re: this topic and you can check it out later, but for now I'll leave you with this, since you mentioned Limbaugh -

:::link:::
james - 01/29/09 13:15
I can sort of see where the House GOP is coming from. The Dems now control House, Senate, and the White House. The GOP needs to show that they wont simply be walked all over (even though Obama promised an end to partisanship and has shown himself to be a very pragmatic man). So, they jumped onto the first big media event legislation they could to show the world they are down but still united. Unfortunately, they happened to pick the stimulus package. If the economy was OK and Obama promised big gun law reform, fine GOP, do what you will as the bill has only marginal effects on the integrity of the country. But the stimulus package? That is something you don't pull this kind of shit on.

The GOP spokesman during the bill's debate, Jeff Flake, showed he did not have even a basic understanding of economics. For the GOP, the event was all about orthodoxy, and not practicality. That is the same shit that made them lose the House, lose the Senate, and now lose the White House. I am cautious of the majority and sympathetic to the minority, but the GOP gets zero respect for their performance on the floor.
dcoffee - 01/29/09 13:04
PS. I know that graphic is a bit rude, but it's sooo geek, I thought it would work. Also I'm not questioning anyone's patriotism, I just think that the best-interests of political parties are often bad for the country. We need vigorous public debate of the facts, but without the party games. If anything I'm anti-party, or multi-party, I'm just registered as a Democrat so I can vote more :)

Obama has come at this crisis like a research project, and the proposal is diverse, specific, and transparent. We can measure the success of the various components as we go. That's why the opposition doesn't make much sense to me.

01/27/2009 22:30 #47538

We'll see if washington is ready
Category: politics
I'm interested to see how this 'economic recovery package' works out.

There's a lot going on. I just hope our representatives put the country first, and get down to business. Are you loyal to your political party, your ideology? Or are you a patriot, who cares most about the well being of our citizens.

I hope we have enough patriots in Washington to get us out of this hole.

I'm sick of the he said she said crap that passes for political discourse. I'm sick of the perpetual campaign, where you're always trying to make 'my colleagues on the other side of the aisle' look evil. I'm sick of power struggles, political favors, and games. I'm sick of hidden agendas.

I don't care what party you're in, you were elected to represent the will of the people. We elected You, because we trust you to look out for us, NOT to look out for yourselves.

I don't want to be too hard on the Republicans, I'd really hate to be in their shoes. And I'm sure the Democrats aren't going to be easy on them. When the Republicans had power, they used that power to exclude and marginalize the Democrats. Payback has got to be appealing..

It's not going to be easy to put this bitch back together.

I gotta say though, this past weekend was a stunt. All the Republicans doing a full court press, all over TV, to tear down the stimulus package. Every one of them saying they'd vote against it. This was a game. A decision by the Republican party to begin the 2010 campaign now. Start attacking Obama, and drawing lines in the sand. I really don't think the country has patience for that shit.

Some fanatics out there must believe that the Democrats are evil, or something, because they'd rather see Obama fail. They'd rather see the next 2 years land us in a Great Depression so they can point fingers and say "see, I told you so, the democrat party was in power, and look what happened. You fools better elect some Republicans to fix their mess." Boy that would be great for the Republican party, the more Obama fails, and the more the country and the economy are destroyed, the better their chances in 2010, or 2012.

But I hope those are only the fanatics. Because the people in Washington have more important things to do than watch the country burn.

Every person I've talked to since the election says, "I hope Obama gets something done quick, we got some serious problems in this country, I hope he can deliver." It's not just democrats, everyone has a family member who isn't making both ends meet. Laid off, part time, pay cut, can't find work, turning off the cable and internet, getting rid of a cell phone or a car. Americans are not as divided as we were, we all have the same problems. I think we're also optimistic that we can solve those problems. We're a proud nation, we have faith in ourselves.

You know what the public wants, Fix it, get 'er done. Get to work, putting us back to work.

jason - 01/29/09 09:07
11 Democrats crossed over as well. Fuck them, too, right? This is exactly the type of "bipartisanship" that I foresaw, not to pat myself on the back or anything because it makes me sad. QQ

There are a number of very sensible objections to some of the spending items, and to the wisdom of umbrella-ing (?) everything under "stimulus" no matter how little sense it makes or when the money will be spent. You would have a bipartisan vote on this if those items were scratched and voted on separately at a later time. Pelosi had that deer in the headlights look on TV explaining her rationale on some of this stuff.

The Senate version is going to look much different. I agree with you (e:James) that there will be more crossover from the Republican side. I think people should just forget the idea of bipartisanship - those days are over - and anyway nobody is sincere about it.

I know (e:Josh) is going to have something to say on this stuff, especially as it applies to bipartisanship. I know he's not going to be able to let some of this go.
vincent - 01/29/09 08:40
Wow feel the wrath of the "party of hate!" Seriously you guys are just nuts, "Fuck 'Em?" WOW

It's Politics the Republicans have a DIFFERENT VIEWPOINT. So What if they don't vote along with you to plege more money for STD Prevention, ATV Trails, More Medicaid and to increase to national debt even more to get us closer to passing the GNP /Debt Ratio of 1. They have the votes to pass it, big deal. Who really cares about symbolism. Can you really blame them in offering an alternative that may put them in a position later on?
james - 01/28/09 21:28
The Senate Republicans wont be so unified, but seriously? Tax cuts aren't nearly as effective as infrastructure investment in stimulating the economy but I suspect the House GOP could care less.

I hope this bites them in the ass in two years.
dcoffee - 01/28/09 21:21
Fuck em. :::link:::

Not a single Republican in the house voted for the Economic Recovery Package

so, you know what, fuck em. Because the Issue of the year, is the economy. and the issue of the 2008 election was the economy. And you know why Democrats won everywhere? Because the public doesn't believe the republicans have a fucking clue what to do about the economy.

Go ahead and pass the most effective package possible, let the republicans follow, or get out of the way.
jason - 01/28/09 08:48
PS - Yes, the people who want Obama to fail are in the minority among Republicans. The 20% on each wing are clinical. Don't worry about that. One sad fact in politics is that the opposition party almost always has to hope for failure so they get the keys. Certainly that has been the case as long as I've been alive. I'm with you on that, I'm tired of it.
jason - 01/28/09 08:46
Oh, I hear you. But the divisiveness among the politicians will continue. The Republicans are being petulant (which, of course, is the status quo for the minority party these days) and the Democrats are exacerbating the situation. Congress is a mess. I think they're trying to set the country on fire.

01/20/2009 00:28 #47453

New Era
Category: politics
image

Cheers to the 131.2 million people who voted this year. that's 63% of eligible voters. Congratulations to The People's President.
drew - 01/20/09 08:39
I know 63% is higher than any time in recent history, but it is still dreadfully low.

01/20/2009 12:58 #47461

The people's president
Category: political


image

I feel unified.

This must be the most gracious and humble president we've ever had.

There is something about public ritual that inspires a certain awe. It seems an appropriate way to take pride in our country and our democracy. I've been in big cowds, It's a unifying thing, and to think of how many people are watching the same thing around the world. It's like half of humanity just took part in this moment, at the exact same time. And it's a time when we need to be unified, and determined to meet the challenges facing humanity.

It's nice to feel hopeful about the future. Maybe the world will feel like working together a little more. Feels like we all have a responsibility to help.

Barack Obama, the people's president.


jason - 01/20/09 18:35
I'm going to admit in part that you've been right about Barack Obama being a unifier. I still don't think he's having much effect to that end, but I know now he really means it. After all, who would willingly piss off a segment of their constituency during the inaugural?

Today I've seen some liberal behavior during the inaugural, of course with the accompanying conservative meltdowns, and thought there's no way anyone can unify us. We're more divided than ever. I'm not trying to harsh anyone's mellow but from where I sit we have a long way to go.

So today I've been gripping about that, but this afternoon realized other people's baggage doesn't have to effect me. Reaching for Obama's standard is a hell of a lot more honorable than reaching for the lowest common denominator. That's bullshit.

Neither of us will agree 100% with President Obama but it's nice to see that at least one person is considering what Obama is asking of us. This means eschewing some popular inquisitions in the left wing, by the way, if you ask me.

01/10/2009 09:55 #47343

Economic Stimulation
Category: politics
Hey all! it's been a while. We're doing good on the house, I plan to post some more pictures soon, but first a bit of politics.

If you're looking for the economy, you'll find it in the crapper. We've got lots of unemployment, less credit, less spending, less confidence, and less consumption.

Everyone agrees that something needs to be done to boost the economy before it gets worse. So what will get us the "most bang for our buck"? Is it tax cuts, spending on public works projects, aid to the states? What is the most effective use of dollars. We already have a trillion dollar deficit, so it'd be nice if we could avoid simply throwing money at the thing, like we did with the banks. We should be making targeted investments, and we should be able to see exactly where that money is going.

Tax cuts work different for different groups. For the working class it's supposed to encourage us to buy stuff. Pay down our debt, and get a new laptop or something. It's real similar to the rebate checks we got last time around, except it comes out of our payroll taxes instead.

Tax cuts on the upper classes, that's where we expect tax cuts to do the most good, because if they have more money it inspires them to go ahead and create more jobs for us poor working stiffs... right? I doubt it, if people aren't buying their product they're not hiring. If you sell fewer cars this year, why hire new people? And when people don't have decent jobs, then they can't buy your cars... we're still broke.

I think tax cuts are the equivalent of throwing money at the thing... "Here, everyone have a little cash, go spend it, and this will probably work itself out." Sounds like a faith based economic philosophy to me. I don't have any confidence that the invisible hand of the market will save us. I'd rather a more practical approach.

You know what inspires companies to create jobs? Better sales!!!! Increase demand, and guess what, they'll increase the size of their workforce.

If we want this recovery package to work, the government needs to buy stuff, lots of it, because that creates demand. Buy new computers for the schools, fix roads and bridges, make government buildings more energy efficient, buy some hybrid cars for the postal service, modernize some hospitals...

There are a million things in this country that have been neglected because of an anti-spending attitude in Washington. We live in Buffalo right, we've got a hundred plans and a hundred projects that are ready to go, if we just had the cash to go ahead and build. You don't even have to be creative just give states, counties and cities the money they've been waiting for. But remember, local governments can be just as corrupt as the Feds, make sure that we know exactly where the money is being spent. I love Obama's idea of making all this information public online. Transparency in government is so important.


Article supporting tax cuts


US News article


NY times roundup