Archive for January, 2009
Stimulus Bill Shenanigans (Part Two)
(4) The Living Buddha (contd.) Then, there’s the curious case of Republican leader Mike Pence. In an interview with Sam Stein of the Huffington Post, he distanced himself from Limbaugh’s I-hope-he-fails mantra: Asked whether he shares Rush’s hope that Obama will fail, Pence, the no. 3 ranked House Republican and a leader of congressional conservatives, [...]
Stimulus Bill Shenanigans
(1) I am somewhat in sympathy with Hilzoy, when she writes: There are good reasons to try for bipartisan support regardless of how likely you think you are to succeed. If you do succeed, then both parties have some ownership of the stimulus bill, neither will be as eager to politicize it, and it will [...]
Three Dimensional Chess
Bowers: As demonstrated on so many occasions, most recently by the 95% drop in Republican support for TARP, almost all Republicans in Congress are bad faith actors. You can’t compromise or appeal to people whose motives are simply to oppose you, rather than to actually stand for any principles or values (except, I guess, the [...]
This Stimulus is Making Me Tired
TPMDC has been doing a nice job covering the dynamics of the stimulus bill in Congress, but this post is a little weird: Republicans have blanketed the airwaves in the past week, carrying a single message that’s been well-amplified, with almost no skepticism… [several examples follow] Mark Zandi, a Republican economist who advised John McCain’s [...]
I’ve Only Been Predicting This Exact Situation for Two Years
1115.org – (5/18/07): The main theme of Obama’s campaign is of course, compromise. And that sounds great, and has obviously sent legions of impressionable young voters swooning, but none, not even Obama himself has been able to explain why, in practical terms this is desirable, or even provide a substantive example where compromise would yield [...]
Bipartisan!
Democrats Among Stimulus Skeptics – washingtonpost.com (1/27/09): “Every penny of the $825 billion is borrowed against the future of our kids and grandkids, and so the question is: What benefit are we providing them? What are we doing for the country? It’s the difference between real investment that will serve the nation for 30, 50 [...]
Consumerism!
What car shoppers want now that gas is cheaper – San Francisco Chronicle (1/27/09): As Woody Allen once said, “the heart wants what the heart wants.” And in the case of Bay Area car buyers, it’s pickups and SUVs. Not Priuses. It seems now that gas prices have fallen back to earth, saving the earth [...]
Bread Lines
Financial District, San Francisco, Tuesday 4:15PM: iPhone photo of roughly 200 people waiting in line to turn in applications for a job at Specialty’s Cafe & Bakery. This job can’t possibly pay more than $10/hour in one of the most expensive cities in the world. Bookmark on DeliciousDigg this postShare on Facebookshare via RedditShare with [...]
Flagrant Foul
Obama has apparently been nursing the fantasy — despite all evidence to the contrary over the last several years — that he can negotiate with the current Republican leadership in good faith. He’s heading over to the Hill for a meeting with House Republicans, to solicit their input on the stimulus bill, and to cajole [...]
Depends on the Definition of Won
I was just about to link to this Chronicle News Service rundown of all the Bush policies that Obama rolled back with executive orders. But the thing is, he’s so massively screwing up the stimulus bill, that everything else really pales in comparison. People disagreed (or pretended they didn’t know what words meant) when I [...]