Shots on the House

The stimulus bill, that hefty porky trillion dollar bill that not one member of Congress read, will be signed into law later today. While polling data on the efficiency of the stimulus itself is conflicted, showing that only 38% say the stimulus will help the economy, polling data for President Obama is still very high. 60% of Americans think that Republicans aren’t doing enough to work with President Obama. This obstructionist myth is catching fire. Writing for Andrew Breitbart’s Big Hollywood, African-American screenwrite John Ridley tried to claim that the grassroots uprising against Snowe, Collins, and Specter was evidence that we’re not willing to be bipartisan:

…the Republicans are disingenuous when it comes to bipartisanship. Oh, sure, they talk up the swellness of President Obama every chance they get. And will continue to do so as long as his approval numbers are above fifty percent. But most GOPers tend to become like children who dance hysterically in a sandbox when it comes time to play with others.

Despite all the sit-downs Obama had with the Republicans - apparently too many for Speaker Pelosi’s tastes - and despite the fact that the House version of the Stimulus Bill contained specific tax breaks for which the Republicans had asked - though not to the degree they wished - not a single GOPer would break ranks, step up and vote for the bill. A surprisingly “my way or the highway” attitude for the minority party whose eight years of good cogitating was a major factor in whipping America into the stellar fiscal shape we find ourselves.

How hard is it to understand why Republicans would adamantly oppose a bill that will shackle American taxpayers with an additional trillion dollars in debt, and that’s using conservative figures to calculate interest? If you extrapolate costs on some of the programs the stimulus proposes, and this is just some of the costs, the pricetag is in the ballpark of $3.27 trillion. People whine when Republicans don’t stand to their commitment to small government and whine when they oppose the biggest spending plan in the history of the United States. Yet, the narrative continues to build, and SNL employed a couple former “all-stars” to drive the point home, and it wasn’t funny at all:

Akroyd’s Boehner impression wasn’t the worst, but this ridiculously not-even-witty view of the Republican caucus is not only devoid of humor, it’s grossly inaccurate and just part of a broader plan to paint any Republican with principle as an obstructionist. If we’re going to win, ever again, we need to expand the party by emphasizing our common values, not abandoning them.