Quote:PregNut said:Quote:gmoney42 said:i like politics too, but this is a big boob forum!!!!!post some pictures of big boobs! Preg(This is the off-topic section, BTW.)Nut
Quote:gmoney42 said:i like politics too, but this is a big boob forum!!!!!post some pictures of big boobs!
Quote:Yahoo! News: "FACT CHECK: Examining Obama's job, pork claims"At least Route 31 is a road to somewhere. President Barack Obama had it both ways when he promoted his stimulus plan in Indiana and later at a prime-time news conference. He bragged in Indiana about getting Congress to produce a package with no pork, yet boasted it will do good things for a Hoosier highway and a downtown overpass, just the kind of local projects lawmakers lard into big spending bills.Obama's sales pitch on the enormous package he wants Congress to make law has sizzle as well as steak. He's projecting job creation numbers that may be impossible to verify and glossing over some ethical problems that bedeviled his team.In recent years, the so-called Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska came to symbolize the worst excesses of congressional earmarks, a device that allows a member of Congress to add money for local projects in legislation, practically under the radar.Nothing so bold, or specific, as that now-discarded bridge project is contained in the stimulus package. That's not to say the package steers clear of waste or parochial interests. Obama played to such interests Monday, speaking at one point as if he'd come to fill potholes.A look at some of Obama's claims in Elkhart, Ind., and the news conference called to make his case to the largest possible audience:OBAMA: "Not a single pet project," he told the news conference. "Not a single earmark."THE FACTS: There are no "earmarks," as they are usually defined, inserted by lawmakers in the bill. Still, some of the projects bear the prime characteristics of pork — tailored to benefit specific interests or to have thinly disguised links to local projects.For example, the latest version contains $2 billion for a clean-coal power plant with specifications matching one in Mattoon, Ill., $10 million for urban canals, $2 billion for manufacturing advanced batteries for hybrid cars, and $255 million for a polar icebreaker and other "priority procurements" by the Coast Guard.Obama told his Elkhart audience that Indiana will benefit from work on "roads like U.S. 31 here in Indiana that Hoosiers count on." He added, "And I know that a new overpass downtown would make a big difference for businesses and families right here in Elkhart."U.S. 31 is a north-south highway serving South Bend, 15 miles from Elkhart in the northern part of the state....
Quote:I think what is often missed about Obama's BiPart Fetish...is how incredibly transformative it would have been if he could have pulled it off. I think most of us agree that trying to engage republicans was a lost cause- but at the end of the day i cant blame him for hoping he could realign the debate with getting 80+ votes for the stimulus package. I think it needs to be acknowledged that if that could have really happened, the reward would have been tremendous, we could have the majority of the republican party signing on to massive infrastructure spending. I'm glad he learned his lesson and is moving on- but i dont blame him for trying.It made sense...Listen, the Republicans had been battered in the election, had lost their footing... McCain was openly talking about creating a Republican version of the DLC... It made sense to try and get that reverse Reagan coalition and realignment... I agree with Chuck Todd when he said that maybe Obama got too much into his own hype, thinking that charisma and mandate alone would be able to push republicans like Bush pushed Democrats around during his tenure.There was a brief window, though, where the Repbulicans were a bit punch **92** and apologetic to the new president... Had the stimulus bill been completed on time (i.e. the inauguration), we might have gotten a better bill passed quickly WITH bipartisan support...Oh well... that ship has sailed... now, it's time to be like FDR.
Quote:notty said:I don't think bipartisanship is doomed, but where the economy is involved, the Democrats and the Republicans will never agree about much of anything.
Quote:pedonbio said:Quote:notty said:I don't think bipartisanship is doomed, but where the economy is involved, the Democrats and the Republicans will never agree about much of anything. Notty, people who talk about bipartisanship are remembering a time that never was. There are now, and always have been, four political parties: Liberal Democrats, conservative Democrats, liberal Republicans amd conservative Republicans.One of the things always cited as a great act of bipartisanship was the Voting Rights Act of 1965. You can think of it that way, because Evertt Dirksen brought 6 Republican senators with him to vote for it. But that was when Lyndon Johnson needed those seven votes to overcome the conservative Southern Democrats like William Fulbright who voted against it.At that time the Democratic majority was 65 to 35.Byegones.But it is important to separate bipartisan votes for the sake of singing "Kumbya" from ideological rifts that cut across parties.
Quote:For example, in the House this time the entire Republican caucus stuck with their ideological belief that only tax cuts for people making over $500,000 a year will affect the economy. I think they are very wrong, but they are ideologically consistent.
Quote:notty said:I think the objections to the stimulus plan are slightly more numerous and complex than that.Personally, I think the current iteration sucks. The money is spread around such that there isn't enough to actually fix any one problem. It's like treating a person with a couple deep gashes and bunch of superficial wounds by slapping bandaids on all the wounds. Guess what? Homeboy is gonna keep on bleeding.Pick one thing to fix, Obama. Commit to it. Then move on to the next problem.
Quote:pedonbio said:In truth I think the Republican objection is that they didn't get to write the bill.