Stimulus deal reached, senators say – MSNBC (2/6/09):

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said the proposal breaks down this way: 42 percent is for tax cuts and 58 percent is new spending.

If Kerry’s math skills have him even in the ballpark, the scare quotes I ordinarily use when mentioning the “stimulus” will become tattooed to the word.

“Our country can’t wait another day for another approach,” said Senator Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat who is a leader of the bipartisan coalition that worked out the agreement.

Obama had two weeks for the right approach, and he didn’t bother to sell it. Either he has absolutely no idea what he’s doing, or this is what he wanted all along. Both possibilities are completely unacceptable.

Again, this is what Obama said on Thursday that had the entire liberal blogosphere wetting themselves:

“Come on, we are not going to get relief by turning back to the very same policies that for the last eight years doubled the national debt and threw our economy into a tailspin. We can’t embrace a losing formula that says only tax cuts will work for every challenge we face.”

58% spending vs 42% tax cuts is a losing formula.