Y'all know how I'm always trashing the parties, but when they do something even halfway nice, I do notice. And I was struck by the statement that DNC Chair Tim Kaine put out about Michael Steele becoming his opposite number:
That might not sound like much, but normally the parties don't issue statements about their opposition that it not nasty or catty or worse. So this was an improvement. Yeah, I know — his definition of "putting partisanship aside" means that he wants Mr. Steele to do what the Democrats want. So you can't call this message bipartisan in a strict sense.
But he put it in an unusually nice way, and that's something. Not one slash of the claws. No, if your Aunt Emily sent out a note like this it wouldn't be especially nice, because she's nice all the time. But this is progress for the parties. And we praise children when they take those first baby steps…
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Amazing that you say you don’t have time to examine the stimulus bill, but you do have time to blather about this drivel.
Pardon me, Brad, but Kaine’s niceties are just polispeak. After asking for Republican contributions to the stimulus bill, the Democrats rejected EVERY Republican idea and amendment. That’s not working together. They mean “back us” when they say “join us.”
And when that doesn’t happen, then comes the partisan criticism: “The Republicans apparently don’t want to help.”
And who will know the difference? Your paper will have reported nothing in detail about the legislation, and you’ll be nosing around in pork bellies.
How can Obama be transparent if our journalists look the other way?
You call this blathering? Hey, y’all have seen me blather. If I were blathering, you’d still be reading it (if you hadn’t given up). I go on and on and on…
This is one of those things that I take about 30 seconds to throw out while I’m going through my e-mail, which is where this came from…
And no — I do not have time to study the stimulus bill item by item. You must be confusing me with some reporter in Washington who is actually paid to spend the day doing that, whereas I am paid to do the job of about three people whose main responsibility is publishing editorial pages that are mainly about S.C. issues.
You DO understand, don’t you, that the blog is something I do on top of a way more than full-time job — right? If I’m waiting for a piece of copy to come in, or I’m rebooting my desktop (which happens several times a day), or some such, I blog. And I blog about information I’ve already been exposed to (in the normal course of my working day), or which I can find in a matter of seconds.
For instance, a good chunk of Thursday afternoon and more than half of Friday was taken up with meeting with the S.C. Employment Security Commission, following up on various questions raised during that meeting, writing a column about it, and then editing and posting video that went with my column. THAT, along with the innumerable small tasks involved in preparing content for our pages and producing the pages themselves, is what I do.
You want someone in a position to study the stimulus bill? Check with David Broder. He’s got a good column on it for Sunday, which I think I mentioned in a comment some time yesterday. And yes, if I had been writing FOR THE PAPER about it, I would have made time (probably tacked onto the end of a long day) to study up on it, too. But I wasn’t.
By the way, what you said about Obama being transparent? This isn’t about Obama. It’s about Nancy Pelosi, et al., who rammed through a bill that contained a lot of stuff they wanted, whether it fit what Obama had asked for or not. Read the Broder column Sunday.
I see the paper finally made token effort to print a small story about the Obama-Pelosi Pork Bill, with a few examples of gross waste… on the back page, Saturday, 3 days after the vote.
Brad, you may not be the news editor ( or history editor, since this isn’t news ), but you do have the power to print opinion against this wasteful spending by experts, instead of the nonsense by Paul Krugman or the local moralizing about tobacco and loan sharks.
Right now, your paper is helping crooks like Jim Clyburn ram through the greatest robbery of the Productive Class in history.
Like I said, read the Broder piece tomorrow. I would have linked it before now, except it’s embargoed for Sunday (it doesn’t run in the Post until then).
Here’s a link to a story from The State written by the guy my ex-wife married after she’d had enough of me.
Small world, huh?
Don’t know if it’s the one you’re referring to, Lee. It doesn’t mention much waste.
But here’s a list of some of the contents of the bill. You be the judge.
This lists accounts for less than $300 billion of $819 billion. I have bolded my “favorites.”
I still haven’t read the whole stinking bill itself.
· $1 billion for Amtrak, which hasn’t earned a profit in four decades.
· $2 billion to help subsidize child care.
· $400 million for research into global warming.
· $2.4 billion for projects to demonstrate how carbon greenhouse gas can be safely removed from the atmosphere.
· $650 million for coupons to help consumers convert their TV sets from analog to digital, part of the digital TV conversion.
· $600 million to buy a new fleet of cars for federal employees and government departments.
· $75 million to fund programs to help people quit smoking.
· $21 million to re-sod the National Mall, which suffered heavy use during the Inauguration.
· $2.25 billion for national parks. This item has sparked calls for an investigation, because the chief lobbyist of the National Parks Association is the son of Rep. David R. Obey, D-Wisc. The $2.25 billion is about equal to the National Park Service’s entire annual budget. The Washington Times reports it is a threefold increase over what was originally proposed for parks in the stimulus bill. Obey is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
· $335 million for treatment and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases.
· $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts.
· $4.19 billion to stave off foreclosures via the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The bill allows nonprofits to compete with cities and states for $3.44 billion of the money, which means a substantial amount of it will be captured by ACORN, the controversial activist group currently under federal investigation for vote fraud. Another $750 million would be exclusively reserved for nonprofits such as ACORN – meaning cities and states are barred from receiving that money. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., charges the money could appear to be a “payoff” for the partisan political activities community groups in the last election cycle.
· $44 million to renovate the headquarters building of the Agriculture Department.
· $32 billion for a “smart electricity grid” to minimize waste.
· $87 billion of Medicaid funds, to aid states.
· $53.4 billion for science facilities, high speed Internet, and miscellaneous energy and environmental programs.
· $13 billion to repair and weatherize public housing, help the homeless, repair foreclosed homes.
· $20 billion for quicker depreciation and write-offs for equipment.
· $10.3 billion for tax credits to help families defray the cost of college tuition.
· $20 billion over five years for an expanded food stamp program.
Oops. I forgot the link to The State story.
Here ’tis:
http://www.thestate.com/business/story/669292.html
If the Broder piece comes up past midnight, as usual, this night owl will hunker down with it.
Here’s a link to the Broder piece.
Here is also a Brooks piece on our Sunday page which is critical of the stimulus package, but that already ran in the NYT Friday. (As I’ve explained in the past, the Post moves columns in advance so we can run their stuff the same time they do; the NYT does not.)
The Broder column is more meaningful. People expect Brooks to be critical since he bears the “conservative” label. When Broder says the Senate needs to slow this thing down and fix it, that carries a good deal of weight.
The Broder column has virtually nothing in it about the content of the bill, but it makes its point well. Without Republican input, Obama’s presidency will walk on one leg.
The Brooks column is more meaningful, though, with respect to the stimulus bill’s contents. Together, the two pieces paint a clear picture of how the Democrats are using a broad brush to paint funding for their pet policies and economic stimulus, all in the name of economic boost, thus avoiding the pay-as-you-go rules.
Thanks, Brad. The two columns do a good job together of explaining the situation.
Wow, p.m. I know I speak for everyone on this blog when I say this: who can imagine anyone having had enough of you?
Like I pointed out in another post governing is like making sausage and what matters is the end product. The senate will clean up some of the problems with the house bill and it will pass. More importantly it will work to address the economic crisis left behind by the GOP.
KP, I get more than enough of me every single day, but I just keep peelin’.
I’ve reached the autumn of my days, and I have no intention of going gently. I have tried lately, though, to be more informative here rather than just cantankerously partisan.
I don’t really want Brad to get absolutely enough of me.
Bud, that should be “left behind by the GOP president and Democrat congress.” You rewrite history while it’s happening and three days later, too.
Now it’s ALL on the Democrats, and if this becomes a full-blown depression, then I guess we’ll be able to blame you and your Democrat sausage factory.
I’ve noticed that, p.m. and I like the kinder, gentler you. How are you and James Joyce coming along?
We’re Dublin over with laughter, KP.
There are so many wasteful spending projects for South Carolina in the Pelosi Pork Package that this blog cannot list them all.
So here is the link:
http://www.stimuluswatch.org/project/by_state/SC
List of projects in the stimulus package. Searchable by city/state. Note how many have listed “0” as number of jobs created.
http://stimuluswatch.org/
In researching the Oil-for-Food scandal – where Saddam Hussein starved his own people to buy weapons, while bribing UN officials – I found Tony Rezko involved in dealings with Iraq.
Tony Rezko, the slum lord and swindler of HUD.
Obama did his legal work on these deals.
The FBI taped 2 years of Gov. Blagojevich’s campaign headquarters, including all of Obama and Rahm Emmanuel. The FBI has the goods on both of them.
Couple of points. I am in the same time of my life as p.m. alluded to and I share his emotions of “not going gently into that good night”. And, it would be preferable to offer great responses and comments in lieu of a sometimes angry rant but then you have to at times to relieve the tension brought on by certain (blanks) on this blog.
Second point and this may not be the forum but I would like to know how much longer the people in Kentucky are going to wait for FEMA and the Obama administration to respond to their life endangering dilema? The query has been put forth that if this were the Bush administration instead of Obama’s, the press would have stopped reporting on anything else and concentrated all of their efforts toward attacking Bush for not doing enough or acting soon enough.
Well, guess that goes to show you. It all depends on your party membership and political philosophy. After all, its just Kentucky, one of those damn “Red States”. Let’em freeze, they deserve it.
The “mess” we are in today is the responsibility of the liberal news media and liberal Democrats. Had they supported President Bush, the war in Iraq would have been won by us, we would have support & respect worldwide, and more leverage on other world problems. Yes, the same support that the Obama people are asking for today, should have been given to President Bush four years ago. But the Democrats wanted to win the election, hell with the country.
First Geithner now Daschle. Both “innocently” overlooked their tax obligations and offered a “heartfelt” apology for the oversight. Boo Hoo. If a Republican had been “innocent” of the same thing, the hemp ropes would have come out en masse’ and the candidate would be forced to drop out of consideration and possibly face criminal charges. But, these are Democrats and all that is needed is a press conference, a pat on the back by Obama along with a “vote of confidence” and all is forgiven. Kumbaya anyone? And both men are going to be in charge of highly sensitive and emotional areas in Obama’s administration where credibility is paramount. Nope, no problem at all.
In his press comments, Daschle stated, **”I am deeply embarrassed and disappointed by the errors that required me to amend my tax returns,” said Daschle, the former Senate Democratic leader. “I apologize for the errors and profoundly regret that you have had to devote time to them.”** Interpretation: “Damn it all, I got caught and had to pay up.”
Conflict of interest? None here, just move along, nothing to see. No, wait a moment here. Could it be that there may acutally be a hint of a conflict? Accordng to an AP report, Mr. Daschle has been a busy boy getting rather nice speaking fees from the health care industry. ***Among the health care interest groups paying Daschle for speeches were America’s Health Insurance Plans, $40,000 for two speeches; CSL Behring, $30,000; the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, $16,000; and the Principal Life Insurance Co., $15,000.*** Nope, no impropriety here. No lobbyist involvement at all.
I’m expecting Bill Ayers to be appointed ambassador to Canada or head of the CIA any day now, Bart.
The search for an honest Democrat is considerable harder than the search for an honest man.
I can see now why the Democrats always plan to raise taxes. Hell, they don’t ever plan to pay any. Thanks to the New York Times, the double standard is accepted in politics.
Smart crooked legislators get their payola after they leave office, or they get their wives and children to set up lobbying firms.
Dumb crooked legislators take bribes while they are in office, like SC legislators and Mel Watt did.
Speaking of Mel Watt, he had been hired by Jesse Jackson as a youth counselor. Chicago takes the cake for crooks, doesn’t it?
Oh hell, here we go again. According to a Politico article, Michelle Obama is going to define the role of the First Lady all over again. In a pointed reference to Laura Bush, the article did everything it could to avoid the inevitable comparison to Hillary and her role as shadow president during the Clinton years.
No one expects the wife of the president to be a shrinking violet or to not be their own person but damn, Michelle Obama was not elected to be co-president and the underlying message in the article is that she plans to take on an activist role in Obama’s administration.
Laura Bush was very active in supporting reading and literacy in America and spent a lot of time travelling around the country and the world as a good will ambassador. Yet, that just “ain’t” good enough for the damn press.
“This is not going to be a first lady focused on sleeveless designer dresses and puppy names but on serious and complex issues,”
“Our job is to think through with the president and with the president’s team and assist in dialogue about policy. But the president is the policymaker,” said chief of staff Jackie Norris.
Yeah, right. We have enough inexperience occupying the White House being advised and guided by Clinton retreads and now, it seems as if it will be a total package and the First Lady will be a taller version of Hillary.
Now tell me again why Obama is the President and not Hillary? Apparently a vote for Obama was a proxy vote for the Clintons.
UPDATE!!! Seems like another Obama appointee has tax problems and has withdrawn her name from consideration.
*****”Nancy Killefer, who failed for a year and a half to pay employment taxes on household help, withdrew her candidacy to be the first chief performance officer for the federal government on Tuesday.”****
Damn, the gift that keeps on giving. Do Democrats have an aversion to paying taxes but at the same time expect you and I to pay ours so they can spend OUR money, not theirs?
Did Michelle Obama pay her taxes? Killefer has withdrawn, Daschle has withdrawn, Geithner should have withdrawn, Rangel should be impeached, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The Democrats won’t pay the taxes the taxes they glibly impose, so it seems to me the emperor has exactly no clothes.
Well, Daschle withdrew his name and apparently, went home. Wonder how much pressure was placed on him to be the one to walk away and not create an embarrassment to an administration already red faced over a rather poor vetting process.
And the dominos keep falling. Wait a minute. Wasn’t it the Domino Theory Democrats put forth when they pushed us into the Vietnam War? Let one communist country in the region fall and the others will topple one after the other.
Nah, you wouldn’t remember that since the press and Democrats have re-written history and blamed the entire Vietnam War and now, all the trouble in the Middle East and the rest of the world on Republicans.
I’m sure that in time, some will find a way to blame this all on Bush, especially the media. They simply cannot resist the temptation. Withdrawal from BDS for these guys is something akin to coming off heroin or cocaine after years of abuse.
To paraphrase something I read—–“if the Democrats had paid their taxes, we would not be in this mess.