Quick Friday Theft/Pork Update #2

This is why I really, really like Sen. Tom Coburn (one of the too-few Senators who actually holds a real job outside of Washington - he's a doctor):

"In the longer run, the legislation would result in a slight decrease in gross domestic product (GDP) …"

"The concerns that many members of Congress have expressed about this bill are not based on the failed policies of the past but sobering facts about the present, and the future. As CBO has stated, this bill will not work. In fact, this bill will hurt our economy. A majority of Americans also do not believe this bill will work because they possess a level of common sense that does not exist in Washington," Dr. Coburn said.

"Congress and the president have a choice. They can pull this bill and fix it, or they can ram it through and claim victory. Republicans and the Bush administration faced, and failed, this test many times. For years, Republicans passed bloated and reckless spending bills that were harmful to the economy. Yet, even as Republicans grew the government they touted their bills as sound and fiscally responsible vehicles for job creation. Republican hypocrisy and spin met its logical conclusion with the most recent election. Democrat attempts to call failures successes won't be any more successful. The biggest loser in this game won't be either party, but the country," Dr. Coburn said.

Tellin' it like it is!  The GOP flat screwed up over the past few years.  They failed.  And they did it because they moderated toward the Left.  By refusing to acknowledge where we went wrong, we can never correctly fix the problem and move forward.  Conservatism is what has fixed these problems in the past, and it is what will fix them again.  Case in point:

As taxpayers become more educated about the scam that President Obama and the Democrats are trying to pull over on the taxpayer with their economic 'stimulus' legislation, support is plummeting - now down to 37%. A surprising 50% of Americans now say that the stimulus plan is going to make things worse. A recent poll from Rasmussen shows that in light of the House Republicans' unanimous stance on turning Obama's economic recovery legislation into a true economic stimulus, the GOP now trails the Democrats in the Generic Congressional Ballot by only 4 points, 38% to 42%. Another poll from last week shows that Republicans are appreciative of the new conservative direction of the party - and that they overwhelmingly (55%-24%) feel that the future of the GOP lies not with the 'moderate' and populist brand of Republicanism represented by failed Presidential candidate John McCain, but by the conservative brand represented by his running mate Sarah Palin.

In the most telling evidence of how receptive the general public is to traditional Republican conservatism, pollster Scott Rasmussen took on Nobel Laureate Economist and NYT gadfly Paul Krugman head-on over a statement the columnist recently made. In an op-ed, Bad Faith Economics, Krugman said:

Next, write off anyone who asserts that it's always better to cut taxes than to increase government spending because taxpayers, not bureaucrats, are the best judges of how to spend their money.

Rasmussen took one look at that statement, remarkably arrogant even by Krugman's standards, and decided to take the exact quote and poll the American public on it:

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement... it's always better to cut taxes than to increase government spending because taxpayers, not bureaucrats, are the best judges of how to spend their money?

The results? 50% agree with the statement that taxpayers know how to spend their own money best, and only 24% agree with the Nobel Laureate.

The base is moving to the Right in a big way.  As liberals continue to follow their liberal agenda, conservatives will move even more.  Fortunately, conservatism is making at least a little bit of a comeback in the Senate already.  Here's a statement from Minority Leader Mitch McConnell:

"Americans realize that a bill which was meant to be timely, targeted, and temporary has instead become a Trojan horse for pet projects and expanded government.

"We've got a $1 trillion deficit. Our national debt exceeds $10 trillion. Soon we'll vote on an Omnibus Appropriations bill that will cost another $400 billion, bringing the total to $1 trillion for appropriations this year alone—a new record. The President is talking about another round of bank bailouts that could cost as much as four trillion dollars. And when you include interest, the bill before us will cost nearly $1.3 trillion.

"At some point, the taxpayers will have to pay all of this back. And they're worried. Americans can't afford a trillion dollar mistake, however well meaning the intent. And at this point, that's what many of them think this bill would be.

"Republicans are ready to support a stimulus bill. But we will not support an aimless spending spree that masquerades as a stimulus.

"We need to get a stimulus. But more importantly, we need to get it right."

That's exactly right!  I just hope the GOPers will actually follow through on their rhetoric - after the past few years, it's not a guaranteed thing, but they watch the polls, so they know conservative values are on the rise, too.

Here are a couple interesting thoughts on the stakes of this bill for President Obama.  Read and digest (emphasis mine):

Two observations regarding Obama's address before the House Democrats' retreat in Williamsburg last night:

1) Obama's strenuous support for the economic stimulus bill removes any remaining doubt that he owns the bill, its pork, and its effect on the economy. If the bill passes and the economy turns around, he gets the credit—and the pork/expansion of government will forgotten by the media (even if the bill has nothing to do with the turnaround).

But here's the problem for the president: That economic turnaround better be fairly robust; it can't simply be a soft landing or slight rebound.

Why? Because he's being handed $1 trillion dollars. When someone pays $500 for a used '79 Chevy, he's not going to be terribly disappointed if it only tops out at 85 MPH. But when someone shells out $ 350,000 for what he's been told is a mint condition Ferrari Testarossa, and it tops out at just 85 MPH—and is knocking and pinging to boot—the salesman better run for cover.

The American people are being sold the biggest government program in history. They better get their money's worth.

2) The speech was unhelpfully partisan. Sure, it was at a Democrat gathering, but it was being broadcast throughout the country. And much of the country is concluding that the bill is a sham.

Obama was in a protective media cocoon during the two years of the presidential campaign. Clearly he's gotten used to it. The media cocoon is still there, but what the president apparently hasn't realized is that the cocoon is much more effective when you're just making vaporous campaign statements that don't have an impact on people's lives. But once you're in office and actually charged with governing, what you say affects people's lives. They notice.

And...

A few readers misunderstand my point in today's column. I'm sure we will get a stimulus bill. I'm sure Obama will count it as a victory. But the magic is gone, or at least an important part of the magic is gone. By accepting the stimulus bill and, now, fighting for it the way he had since I wrote the column, he's made it clear he's a just a Democratic president with a conventional liberal agenda.  He will have victories, to be sure. But he's blown an important moment in his presidency, and moments are very hard to get back. He has had his "behold, a God who bleeds moment."

He is highly invested in succeeding with this thing, and he will likely get it done.  But, in a way, he's in a lose-lose situation because his goals and intentions are in conflict with the goals and desires of the American people.  He will ultimately be judged by all of us, but even if we as a collective find him wanting, he will have inflicted massive damage on the country in the meantime.

We need to jump at every chance we get to stop his liberal agenda, and the Generational Theft Act/Porkapalooza bill is a great place to start.

One final note and warning - if this thing goes through with just a couple of GOP Senators signing on, it will be hailed as a great victory for bipartisanship.  Don't buy that crap, either.  Look at the big picture - it is almost certain that any Rep who supports this thing will be one of the RINOs (Snowe, Collins, Specter, etc.) who almost always vote with the Dems.  But, once again, Obama and the Dems desperately need the cover of any pretense of GOP support to try to escape blame for the negative effects that this bill will cause, so they will take the 2-4 GOP votes and call it 'bipartisan'.  They'll also ignore any potential Dems who oppose this bill, as well as the big fat "0" they got in the House (and the 11 Dems who also opposed it there, too).  It's all about the spin, and you're going to see them spinning madly.  Just remember who really supported this and who really opposed this.

Don't worry, I'll remind you often.  :)

There's my two cents.