Listening to Rush and the Taliban
Republicans in Congress keep their ears tuned to Rush Limbaugh’s radio show for marching orders. President Barack Obama may have won an election and world admiration, but to Rush he is “Osama Obama”, a liar, a man with a “perverted mind” who wants to destroy America.
Following Rush’s advice on how to make Obama’s presidency fail, many GOPers are positively giddy with excitement.
“We are far ahead of where we thought we’d be at this time,” said Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, one of the party’s young stars. Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas doesn’t give Rush all the credit—he says the party is learning from the disruptive tactics of the Taliban.
After eight years of creating the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Republicans increasingly feel-- with Rush’s help-- they can block Democrats from solving it.
Christina Romer, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, warned that if a large stimulus plan were not enacted, it would have a “catastrophic” impact on the economy. “It’s in our hands—if we can get this package through, we can turn it around and be back on the road to growth.”
Sen. John McCain told Face the Nation that “I know we’re in trouble. I know America needs a stimulus. But this is not it.” What we need, said McCain, “is tax cuts.”
“Just say no” to big spending after running up record deficits when they were in charge worries some Republicans.
“I’m always concerned when the party takes a negative position on something that should be moving forward,” said Rep. Mike Castle, Republican of Delaware. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania concedes the stimulus bill would save or create 4 million jobs, a welcome message to those 600,000 who lost jobs just last month.
When the RNC met in Washington recently to select a new chair, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky warned they were in danger of becoming “a regional party”. The top Republican in Congress said “every House member from New England is a Democrat.You can walk from Canada to Mexico and from Maine to Arizona without ever leaving a state with a Democratic governor. Not a single Republican senator represents the tens of millions of Americans on the West Coast. And on the East Coast, you can drive from North Carolina to New Hampshire without touching a state in between that has a Republican in the U.S. Senate.”
Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele got off to an embarrassing start as RNC chair when he claimed that “in the history of mankind, government has never created one job.”
Maybe not one job, but how about millions? Since this debate goes back to the Great Depression, there have been lots of reminders of how within the first two months of his presidency FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps created 250,000 jobs and by 1934 other new agencies hired millions more, reducing unemployment from 25% to slightly over 10%.
But Republicans aren’t listening to Steel anyway. Just Rush and the Taliban.
Following Rush’s advice on how to make Obama’s presidency fail, many GOPers are positively giddy with excitement.
“We are far ahead of where we thought we’d be at this time,” said Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, one of the party’s young stars. Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas doesn’t give Rush all the credit—he says the party is learning from the disruptive tactics of the Taliban.
After eight years of creating the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Republicans increasingly feel-- with Rush’s help-- they can block Democrats from solving it.
Christina Romer, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, warned that if a large stimulus plan were not enacted, it would have a “catastrophic” impact on the economy. “It’s in our hands—if we can get this package through, we can turn it around and be back on the road to growth.”
Sen. John McCain told Face the Nation that “I know we’re in trouble. I know America needs a stimulus. But this is not it.” What we need, said McCain, “is tax cuts.”
“Just say no” to big spending after running up record deficits when they were in charge worries some Republicans.
“I’m always concerned when the party takes a negative position on something that should be moving forward,” said Rep. Mike Castle, Republican of Delaware. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania concedes the stimulus bill would save or create 4 million jobs, a welcome message to those 600,000 who lost jobs just last month.
When the RNC met in Washington recently to select a new chair, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky warned they were in danger of becoming “a regional party”. The top Republican in Congress said “every House member from New England is a Democrat.You can walk from Canada to Mexico and from Maine to Arizona without ever leaving a state with a Democratic governor. Not a single Republican senator represents the tens of millions of Americans on the West Coast. And on the East Coast, you can drive from North Carolina to New Hampshire without touching a state in between that has a Republican in the U.S. Senate.”
Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele got off to an embarrassing start as RNC chair when he claimed that “in the history of mankind, government has never created one job.”
Maybe not one job, but how about millions? Since this debate goes back to the Great Depression, there have been lots of reminders of how within the first two months of his presidency FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps created 250,000 jobs and by 1934 other new agencies hired millions more, reducing unemployment from 25% to slightly over 10%.
But Republicans aren’t listening to Steel anyway. Just Rush and the Taliban.
posted by Victor Kamber | 11:48 AM
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