Republicans flexing their opposition muscles

The House Republicans have expressed themselves as the opposition today by rejecting the ill-contrived Obama Stimulus package. Under the leadership of Rep. Boehner and Rep. Cantor, the House Republicans appear to be voting en masse against the plan.

At an ideological level, Obama's plan is doing a little bit of everything to stimulate the economy, other than make the market more free and unregulated. Republicans want more tax cuts to create an immediate impact. Democrats want more spending to expand the government, which would take longer to get into the economy. Tax cuts have lasting impact year over year. Spending is a one time shot in the arm. The argument against tax cuts is that not all of the money can be guaranteed to be spent. Well, if the money is saved that money is invested or expands the assets of the fiduciary holding (i.e. banks) which gives them more leverage to borrow. Isn't credit availability the heart of the problem here?

With stimulus dollars intended for things like contraception and ACORN, who would vote for this Boondoggle part deux.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/18024.html
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/01/27/republican-leaders-raise-concerns-acorn-stimulus-dollars/
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/capital-commerce/2009/1/27/10-reasons-to-nix-the-stimulus-plan.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/obama_economy Sphere: Related Content

Guilt by Association, Blagojevich fallout

With the arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, the U.S. is once again getting exposed to the corrupt Chicago political machine. Blagojevich could very likely be the 4th IL governor convicted of a felony!! Don't get me started on the Daley clan.

Obama was able to coat his image with Teflon through the campaign. His opponents in the primary and general election never really got his past discrepancies to stick to him. Aided by a beloved media Obama ducked and weaved his questionable associations with Ayers, Wright, Rezcko, etc. All of that has not disappeared. Take a lesson from the Clintons Barack, your past is always looming, waiting for the day to re-emerge from the shadows when you least expect it and kill or maim your political ambitions.

While the U.S. Attorney was quick to cite that the Obama campaign and President-elect himself have not been associated directly with Blagojevich's conduct, yet! There will certainly be considerable damage to the Obama presidency and administration. Illinois politics is a tight circle of cronyism, even if not directly involved we will watch as many of those that Barack is bringing with him from Chi-town to be involved.

I'm not convinced that Obama or those very close to him have not been involved. ABCNews replays a FOXNews interview where Obama's senior campaign advisor, David Axelrod, states that Obama was speaking directly with the Gov. on candidates for his replacement. They are backpedaling hard on this. Unfortunately for them, this will be very difficult, even for them, to rewind.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/12/questions-arise.html

This adds fuel to Rep. Boehner's strategy captured in a recent memo, in which he plans to highlight corruption among Democrats in the coming years as a way to strike at the foundation of their parties' revitalized brand. This is the tip of the iceberg. A word of caution, don't throw stones in a glass house. Boehner better make sure that the Republican house is clean too.

Signing off...JCB Sphere: Related Content