Having Your Cake and Voting Against It Too

PolitiFact | Obama criticizes Republicans who opposed stimulus, then claim credit for projects it funded.

— Rep. Geoff Davis of Kentucky. Davis, a three-term congressman, issued a news release on Jan. 28, 2009, the day of the first House vote on the stimulus, in which he was quoted saying that “this so-called ‘stimulus’ legislation is full of pet spending projects that will do very little to restore confidence in our economy or create jobs.”

But 11 months later, on Dec. 16, 2009, Davis sent out a release announcing the awarding of a $1 million-plus grant for the Carroll County School District. “Congressman Geoff Davis is pleased to announce that the Carroll County School District has been awarded $1,044,140 in funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) Early Head Start Expansion Program,” the release stated. It goes on to say, “In these difficult economic times, it is critical to ensure that vulnerable populations in Kentucky have access to important support services like those provided by the Early Head Start program. This important grant will allow Carroll County School District to expand their ability to provide needed assistance to local low-income families and children. I am very proud of the work that the Carroll County School District is doing to strengthen their community, and I am pleased that our office was able to assist them in obtaining these funds.

As it happened, on the very same day, Davis sent out a separate release in which he referred to the “failed trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ bill.”

Breathtaking hypocrisy.

Why it’s Hard to Respect the GOP These Days

After Voting No, Republicans Tout Funds – WSJ.com:

“WASHINGTON — Republicans railed against the Democrats’ massive economic-stimulus and spending bills as fiscally irresponsible, but some GOP lawmakers are taking credit for projects in their own districts funded by the measures.
‘Washington needs to stop spending money that it doesn’t have,’ Michigan Republican Rep. Pete Hoekstra said in attacking the $410 billion omnibus-spending bill, which funds the government through September. But once it passed, he touted its benefits for his district, which stretches along Lake Michigan.

In an interview, Mr. Diaz-Balart said, ‘The omnibus was too much money, too much spending, too much borrowing, too much debt, and no accountability. Now, I have stuff in that bill, but I still voted against it. But what I have in there, I am very proud of.[emphasis mine]’
Rep. Howard Coble (R., N.C.) issued a news release on March 11 boasting that ‘six Coble earmarks’ were in the omnibus bill, including $855,000 to extend an airport runway.”

(Via The Wall Street Journal.)

If this story doesn’t belong in the dictionary under “hypocrite” for oh so many reasons, I don’t know what does. Wow.

The Forgetful Man

Wasting Away in Hooverville:

“Shlaes’s actual critique of the New Deal [in The Forgotten Man] is not easy to pin down. Defining what she believes depends on whether you are reading the book itself or her incessant stream of spin-off journalism. In one article she adopted the classic right-wing line taken up by Andrew Mellon, Hoover’s treasury secretary: ‘Mellon–unlike the Roosevelt administration–understood that American growth would return if you left the economy alone to right itself.’ This is the conclusion that most excites Shlaes’s conservative admirers. And in keeping with this argument, Shlaes, a committed supply-sider, scolds Roosevelt for raising taxes on the rich, which discouraged them from taking risks. She fails to explain how the economy managed to recover after the outbreak of World War II, which saw even higher taxes on the rich, or in the postwar period, when they remained high. [emphasis mine]

Moreover, the classic right-wing critique fails to explain how the economy recovered at all. In one of his columns touting Shlaes, George Will observed that ‘the war, not the New Deal, defeated the Depression.’ Why, though, did the war defeat the Depression? Because it entailed a massive expansion of government spending. The Republicans who have been endlessly making the anti-stimulus case seem not to realize that, if you believe that the war ended the Depression, then you are a Keynesian.

(Via The New Republic.)

Once again conservative ideology reveals it’s soft-think. It can’t handle even simple facts. If facts are about reality, I’d be all too happy to forget conservatism.

You are not Him

Republicans, Democrats criticize Jindal’s speech:

“‘To come up in this moment in history with a stale, ‘Government is the problem, you can’t trust the federal government’ is just a disaster for the Republican Party,’ Brooks said on PBS’ ‘The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer.’ ‘It’s not where the country is, it’s not where the future of the country is.'”

(Via Yahoo! News.)

Exactly.

Then Don’t Take the Money

Commentary: If you oppose stimulus, don’t take the money – CNN.com:

“If Republican politicians are so deeply opposed to President Obama’s economic recovery plan, they should refuse to take the money. After all, if you think all that federal spending is damaging, there are easy ways to reduce it: Don’t take federal money.”

(Via CNN.)

Throwing in Their 2¢

Obama Campaigns Outside Washington to Win Insiders on Stimulus – Yahoo! News:

“While the president’s approval ratings are close to 70 percent, much of the public has been persuaded by arguments from congressional Republicans that the stimulus package is loaded with projects that won’t spur economic growth, according to Charles Jones, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.”

(Via Yahoo! News.)

Why I have not no respect for the GOP. Party comes before country. Fully 2% of this package is what they’ve been harping about. That’s 2¢ out of every dollar. The rest everyone agrees will stimulate the economy. Typical.

Obama Takes ’em to the “Chuch”


Part 1 Top Quote:

No, seriously…that’s the point!


Part 2 Top Quote:

Let’s put Americans to work doing the work that America needs done.

PREACH!

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