REPUBLICANS DON'T WANT THE STIMULUS TO WORK... PERIOD

[HowHasItComeToThis]

http://www.truthout.org/021009M

[leftstreet]

1. THEN THEY'LL BE PLEASED BECAUSE IT PROBABLY WON'T

n/t

[PretzelWarrior]

2. way to bring sunshine and optimism

[leftstreet]

3. no problem

[midnight]

18. That is a powerful picture, but right now I refuse for them to have

this power any longer. It is over. They don't win anymore.

[Yes We Did]

4. Everybody has a talent... n/t

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[leftstreet]

7. I won't party. I'd much rather see a stimulus plan that would work

This plan is a very tiny bandaid that can't possibly cover the gaping wound.

I expected more from a Prez with such unprecedented popularity and political capital. So shoot me.

:shrug:

[Bread and Circus]

5. It's pretty obvious. Part of me thinks the American people are on to him...

also 1994 is a long time ago.

A lot of old white people have died since then. A lot of brown people have come of voting age since then.

The GOP is still the party of rural white xenophobes and even many of those are fed up with the GOP's antics.

I understand the GOP position and Reich is right, they don't want this to succeed at all. First, it dooms their political chances in the short run and second it proves government can be a force for good.

What is also really important but not mentioned in the article is what seats are up for grabs and is it really possible to flip the senate or the house considerably.

[The_Casual_Observer]

8. The free market system has broken down and they don't know

what to do about it, because in their view, the free market system is prefect & can't break down. It's really no different than how they reacted to the great depression.

[Frustratedlady]

9. The Republicans don't want OBAMA to succeed.

That is there biggest fear.

[bdamomma]

21. the republicans are afraid that the program will work

and Pres Obama will be able to put more people to work, then the repigs will be in the shitter cause more people will be voting for the Dems.

[MrSlayer]

10. Well of course not. Politically it works for them.

They do not give a fuck about the people or the advancement of our society. All they care about are the levers of power and control of the enormous cash flow. That's the way it works on Capital Hill and how it's always worked. You can bet that they will do anything they can to retard the economy and slow recovery to a snail's pace. It makes sense for them to do it. They can blame the whole thing on Obama and his "failure" to get us out of this inherited crises. You can bet your ass they're already looking at ways to use the President's "I'll be here for one term if that happens" comments. They need the stim to fail.

[Hellataz]

11. I made this point a few days ago

Can't find the post now, but it was all about how the GOP has no intention of making things so smoothly for Obama. They only care about regaining power and are going to do everything they can to make sure he fails in time for the 2012 election.

[treestar]

12. Of course not. All they care about is winning and being right

And they will not and are not doing any of the charity that their hero Raygun said was what the would be doing about poverty and suffering.

[Enthusiast]

13. The GOP won't win in 2012 if

the stimulus works. It is a simple as that. God help us if the stimulus doesn't work. With a complicit media, and election fraud, they are sure to retake the whitehouse.

[JPettus]

15. Even if the stimulus works

They will try to claim it's a byproduct of Bush's tax cuts, not anything the stimulus has done.

Same with Reagan. Reagan's policies were crap, both on foreign policies and economics, but even today you hear conservatards trying to claim that Clinton's economic success is because of what Reagan did.

[Enthusiast]

24. Oh yeah, JPettus, same old song.

Like you, I tire of it. That GOP guy from Georgia they just had on C-Span about made me upchuck with his "American values" and GOP talking points. His message, if we just get government out of the way, and cut taxes, America will thrive. Just like the last eight years I suppose. Assholes!

[LaydeeBug]

14. Republicans don't want the government to work ... PERIOD

[Kablooie]

16. Stories of American families dieing of starvation in the streets would make the GOP jump for joy.

Wonderful representatives, aren't they?

[WinkyDink]

20. The fewer employes and their costs = higher WS gains.

[niceypoo]

22. They would see that as a cheap supply of labor

A depression is a godsend, in their view. Dont have to pay anybody very much.

[midnight]

17. That's right. They are the party of no compromise. It is war with

them. This money war is and always has been their greatest war. War on drugs, terrorism all feed into the same pot for them. Money trumps peace-george bush.

[Ikonoklast]

19. And if it fails, they fail.

There will be no government left, and this nation will cease to be an economic power as the rest of the world flees from a worthless dollar.

[Better Believe It]

25. Wrong The Republicans will take control of Congress & the White House in 2012

if the United States economy is worse in four years.

[Ikonoklast]

26. There won't be a country to control.

If this stimulus package and TARP fails, we are facing a catastrophic economic event that no government will be safe from falling.

They can call themselves the Kings of Washington, it will matter little. There will be nothing to govern.

[SanchoPanza]

23. Reich makes some interesting points

But 2010, in all likelihood, will not be 1994. Even if ARRA and TARP do not do as well as expected.

For one, Reich ignores the scandals in the House that the RCCC were able to capitalize on in 1993 and 1994, plus 40 years of institutional Democratic control upon which they could argue the majority becoming complacent and corrupt. While the 1994 midterms were in large part a referendum on Bill Clinton, it needs to be incorporated into this larger context.

Republicans also had a plan to run on and large constituencies to tap in 1994. For the moment, not so much. They haven't been out of power long enough so that a conservative manifesto like the Contract with America will resonate with any reasonably sized sector or the public. And much of their victory in 1994 came from their (at the time) more recent outreach to white evangelicals and anti-Mexico radicals, who went with Perot two years earlier. If I remember correctly, "Voted for Perot" was the largest percentile of people who voted for Republicans in 1994 (largely because of the Mexico bailout), followed by evangelicals. Aside from business leaders, who are now solidly behind ARRA, that's now almost the entirety of the Republican base. The moderate Republicans don't have representation in the party anymore. They all voted for moderate Democrats like Merkley and Shaheen.

Second, there is a rather large split in the Republican party that was not present in 1994, namely between state and congressional officials. The Republican Governors Association has taken "no official position" on the stimulus package largely because the 22 current Republican governors are feeling the political brunt of the recession, and six have publicly supported ARRA to some extent. The same is true for Republican state legislators, as well as traditional Republican interest groups like the Chamber of Commerce, who are screaming at DC Republicans to get on board the stimulus train.

Just look where Obama has been in the past few days, and pay attention to where he's going to go.

Indiana: Gov. Mitch Daniels, Republican. Has some "misgivings" about the stimulus package, but hopes it will pass and work.

Florida: Gov. Charlie Christ, Republican. Full fledged supporter of ARRA.

I'd lay good money on the table that the next stop will be in Connecticut, California, Vermont, or Utah. Maybe Arizona, too. All Republican governors of those states have issued varying degrees of support for ARRA, with Rell of Connecticut probably being the most vocal (western Connecticut is being doubly hit by the recession and the meltdown in the financial services sector). Even opponents of the stimulus, like Sanford in SC, are facing stern rebukes from mayors and legislators of their own party. And governors who are hoping they can reach a budget arrangement that doesn't count on any assistance from Washington, like Pawlenty in Minnesota, are deluding themselves.

The one charge Republicans can levy against Obama and the Democratic Party is that they aren't being sufficiently bipartisan. That's all they have, having no ideas of their own that can't easily be discredited. Bringing in state-level Republicans cripples that argument, as does appointing more Republicans to cabinet-level positions than both Bushes and Reagan appointed Democrats. Combined. Go to the recent Gallup poll, where Democrats are beating Republicans on the stimulus issue by an almost two to one margin.

This is simply a public relations war that the GOP cannot win unless the administration on congressional majorities screw up royally.

[Better Believe It]

27. K & R