Contradiction

I admit I'm late on this one but something just occured to me today.

How is it that last year when Democrats were trying to pass the stimulus bill Republicans kept saying that the government can't create jobs and then when Democrats were trying to pass the health care reform bill Republicans kept saying they should be focused on trying to create jobs instead and nobody ever called them out on this contradiction?

Might be something to remember going forward when Democrats try to pass more jobs bills through Congress to bring down the unemployment rate.

How Do You Spell Hypocrisy? G O P

Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Alabama Republicans Jo Bonner and Robert Aderholt took to the U.S. House floor in July, denouncing the Obama administration’s stimulus plan for failing to boost employment. “Where are the jobs?” each of them asked.

Over the next three months, Bonner and Aderholt tried at least five times to steer stimulus-funded transportation grants to Alabama on grounds that the projects would help create thousands of jobs.

They joined more than 100 congressional Republicans and several Democrats who, after voting against the stimulus bill, wrote Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood seeking money from $1.5 billion the plan set aside for local road, bridge, rail and transit grants. The $862 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed last year with no Republican votes in the House and three in the Senate.

Bonner said opposing the stimulus doesn’t mean he shouldn’t help Alabama projects compete for grants. “It is my role to ensure that their request is considered by the federal agency,” he said in an e-mail.

Alan Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming named by President Barack Obama as co-chairman of a new deficit- reduction commission, said about-faces on government funding aren’t surprising.

“It’s the original sin of Washington -- it’s hypocrisy,” Simpson said. “You can’t do that then say you go out and cut the other stuff.”

Bloomberg

Democrats have found an issue that will resonate with moderates in my opinion and that is for all their bashing of the stimulus bill, Republicans themselves have stated in letters asking for stimulus money that it would in fact create jobs. That's hypocrisy plain and simple my friend and Democrats would be well served to resist the temptation to be nice and actually use that word for a change.

Two Faced

Republicans change their message based on who their audience is. Thanks to Rachel Maddow they have been caught red handed.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Stimulus Success Video

Pretty good video by the DNC

Dem Media Strategy On The Stimulus

In my last post I took journalists to task for allowing Republicans to use a new talking point about the stimulus, that people don't THINK it worked, without pushing back on it and making sure their audience understood that a big reason for that is because Republicans have yelled from the mountain tops for months that it didn't work. But now after hearing about Jake Tapper carrying water for the GOP and bringing the same talking point to the White House press briefing I think its time for a coordinated strategy by Democrats to push back on a talking point we are sure to hear for the next few weeks, even in the face of all actual evidence to the contrary.

The key question is who is bringing up the talking point. It could be a friendly journalist teeing up a GOP talking point specifically for a Democrat to swat it away. It could be a journalist like Tapper trying to put a Democrat on the spot. Or it could be a Republican on one of the cable shows pitted opposite a Democrat which seems to be all the rage these days.

Now obviously the first category with the friendly journalist should be the easiest, but these days you never know. So my advice would be to start off with this strategy and then if the "friendly" journo turns out to be not so friendly, just transition to the category I strategy.

Category I

With a friendly journalist its usually best to make light of the situation before getting serious. I would advise coming up with several different examples of something that was once thought of as a consensus fact only to later be thoroughly debunked. In the earlier post I used the example of how everyone used to think the earth was flat. Others off the top of my head would be, the moon was made out of cheese, that the Sun orbited the Earth, and if you want to get a little snarky you can even point out that a majority once thought that Saddam had WMD.

After the witty comment quickly pivot into the meat of the issues. Quote several independent sources like the CBO on how many jobs were created with the stimulus bill. Then acknowledge that more has to be done and that the unemployment numbers are indeed a factor in the negative perception of the stimulus. Then, however, forcefully transition into a denunciation of the Congressional Republicans. Point out that they have said for months and months that the stimulus bill failed without every being challenged to quote a credible economist or study that backs up that claim. Challenge the friendly to ask them where they got their information that the stimulus failed the next time they speak to a Republican. Then tie it to Republican obstructionism in the Senate. Point out that while everyone else is focusing on getting the country back on track, Congressional Republicans are focusing on winning back Congress no matter what the price.

Make sure to differentiate with the term Congressional Republicans so as to not offend rank and file Republicans any more than they are already.

Category II

When you have an adversarial member of the media speaking to a Democrat one on one, whether it be at the press briefing with Gibbs, or just a rank and file Congressional Democrat or just a Dem strategist, the key is to turn it back on to the mainstream media. Yes this will make for a contentious exchange but it will be worth it. The one thing Republicans and their right wing base has become especially adept at is pushing the media to the right by claiming over and over and over again a mythical liberal bias. Now is as good a time as any to change that.

You will want to ask a question along the lines of what is the ratio of independent economists their news organization has asked about the stimulus versus how many politicians they have asked. How many quotes from the CBO director about the stimulus have appeared in their publication or on their news station versus how many statements from politicians have been used. The clear implication you want to try to make is that its the media, not the Democrats, who have failed to inform the American people. And that because our media almost exclusively covers politics the same as policy like a horse race, they are no longer serving their readers and viewers. If its a member of a right wing media outfit like FoxNews or the Washington Times you can even go as far as to ask them why their own employees have joined the Republicans in calling the stimulus a failure without ever having to back up that assertation with information from an impartial expert on economics.

Right at the end of your response make sure to note that while politics usually does have spin from both sides, policy usually has a right and a wrong. There are ways to measure whether the stimulus worked or not and if the majority of Americans don't believe it worked, but the overwhelming majority of credible, independent economists say it did then obviously our media is not doing their job well.

For sure this could provoke backlash at a later date, but I personally think it would be worth it.

Category III

I think pushing back on Republicans when Democrats are on one of those shows where supposedly both sides are represented should be the easiest job of all. Two words should sum up this strategy, interrupt and attack. Every time a Republican brings up public opinion on the stimulus interrupt them and ask them how many times they personally had said it was a failure. They probably won't respond but keep pressing the question until its obvious they do not want to answer. If they make the mistake of actually repeating the canard that it really didn't work or "it didn't create one job" then interrupt and ask them to give the viewers the source they are using for that assertion. Again, don't expect them to answer directly but keep asking the question until its obvious they won't answer it.

When its your turn to talk whether it be first or second have a list ready of economists and independent entities like the CBO which have said the stimulus bill created a million jobs or more. Read off the list and then ask the GOP adversary if they are going on record to say all of those people and organizations are lying. Further ask them, not the host but the GOP adversary, what their background is in economics. Do they have a nobel prize? Have they ever worked for the CBO? Ask them what standing they have to call the stimulus bill a failure other than their status as a politician.

At some point the host will probably regain order and you can tout all of the positive things about the stimulus. But before the segment is over make sure to address the GOP adversary directly again and ask them a question of this nature "Isn't it true that you and members of your party on the Hill believe that it is advantageous for your election prospects if the American people believe the stimulus bill failed even if it isn't true?" Of course they won't answer and the host may try to step in but keep demanding that they answer the question. Keep it up the pressure and keep them on the defensive instead of the other way around.

Now to be sure at some point the Republicans will come up with a new talking point to harp on and at that point the strategy to push back on them will have to change. But I am willing to bet that for the next few weeks we will hear this "the American people don't believe it worked" talking point over and over. Hopefully for once Democrats will be well prepared to not only shoot them down, but also make them run for cover.

A Useful Rejoinder

The GOP is so desperate for a talking point now that all impirical evidence proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the stimulus bill succeeded that its a wonder that any reputable news outlet takes them seriously anymore....but not surprising.

But here is my thing. The latest talking point is based on avoiding any discussion of whether the stimulus bill worked, and instead focusing on polling that suggests most of Americans don't THINK it worked. Well I guess that is fair game but here is my thing. These guys spent all of last year furiously pushing the notion that the stimulus bill didn't work. Over and over and over again they took to the airwaves to repeat it. So wouldn't it make sense for journalists to point that out every time the GOP comes with the talking point.

Here is a mock interview.

Journalist to GOP representative: The evidence seems overwhelming at this point that the stimulus bill worked and did in fact create by some accounts two million or more jobs. What do you have to say to that when just last year you and your party had deemed it a failure?

GOP Rep: Well, ya know, less than 10 percent of the American people actually think the stimulus bill worked. So its clear that the Obama administration...

Journalist cuts in: But isn't it true that those polling numbers just mean that the GOP has great messaging? I mean people once thought the world was flat, but that didn't make it true did it?

I know this is probably a pipe dream, but I would pay good money to see an exchange like that on my TV. Especially if its on a regular basis.

Stimulus Success

Imagine if, one year ago, Congress had passed a stimulus bill that really worked.

Let’s say this bill had started spending money within a matter of weeks and had rapidly helped the economy. Let’s also imagine it was large enough to have had a huge impact on jobs — employing something like two million people who would otherwise be unemployed right now.

If that had happened, what would the economy look like today?

Well, it would look almost exactly as it does now. Because those nice descriptions of the stimulus that I just gave aren’t hypothetical. They are descriptions of the actual bill.

Just look at the outside evaluations of the stimulus. Perhaps the best-known economic research firms are IHS Global Insight, Macroeconomic Advisers and Moody’s Economy.com. They all estimate that the bill has added 1.6 million to 1.8 million jobs so far and that its ultimate impact will be roughly 2.5 million jobs. The Congressional Budget Office, an independent agency, considers these estimates to be conservative.

New York Times

Very nice article in the NYT today about the success of the stimulus bill which also points out what worked best (aid to states, unemployment, food stamps) and what was less stimulative (TAX CUTS!) Everybody concerned with keeping a Democratic majority in Congress this year should be posting this story on their facebook, tweeting it on twitter, and if they have a blog, linking too it. We have to cut through the bullshit and spread the word around that the stimulus made a huge difference in the economy last year and that those who opposed it (republicans) were foolish.

Just my opinion.

Shots Fired!

Excellent attack ad on GOP hypocrisy over the Stimulus Bill. One thing about it though is Democrats have to learn to start using scarier music. Sets the mood a bit better lol. Still, damn good in my opinion.

Growth!

The Truth Should Matter

Yeah, the stimulus bill failed....




Steve Benen goes in on Dana Perino and her bullshit theory about how the stimulus failed because people THINK it failed. Really, if anything, that's just proof positive that it doesn't matter what reality is most of the time in this country, its all about perception. And of course its also points to the failure of our mainstream media to report the truth rather than employing horse race coverage.

Its very very depressing.

Stopping The Bleeding

The unemployment numbers for this month were unexpectedly VERY positive.

Waiting for the monthly job numbers to be released this morning, I saw the New York Times homepage run a headline that said the "economy shed 11,000 jobs in November." I assumed, in all sincerity, it was a typo.

After all, there were plenty of estimates on what to expect. The most optimistic number I saw was 130,000 job losses; the most pessimistic was 169,000 job losses. A total of 11,000 losses just didn't seem realistic.

And yet, that's what happened.

The United States economy shed a surprisingly few 11,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment rate fell to 10 percent, from 10.2 percent in October, the Labor Department said Friday. [...]

The pace of job loss has been declining since a peak in January, and some economists say they expect a turning point to come in the late spring or summer, with employers finally adding workers as a recovery takes hold.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics also revised estimates from September and October, and both were better than previously thought.

Now if I didn't know better I would suspect that this would be enough for the dumbass wingnuts in Congress and out to stop saying the stimulus was a failure. But unfortunately I DO know better and all this will do is add fuel to the fire for those morons in that they will say its "proof" that the free market works inspite of the stimulus bill.

If you are reading this and frowning in disbelief right now just wait a few days until it happens.

OF COURSE He Didn't Read The Bill!

Maybe its just me but I don't think anybody should be surprised that Dick Armey didn't read the stimulus bill. To revise a Chris Rock riff, these days Republicans "love to not know shit". If anything I am mildly surprised that he admitted it. But then again being against reading probably ups his cred with the wingnuts.

Remember When Charlie Crist And The Republican Legislature Regected Stimulus Funds For Unemployment?

From TBO

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Unemployment compensation taxes paid by Florida businesses will skyrocket next year due to the state's high jobless rate - 11 percent in September.

snip

The increases are needed to replenish the state's Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund. It dropped from more than $1.3 billion last year to zero in August. Florida then began borrowing $300 million a month from the federal government to pay benefits.

That's your Republican economic philosophy in action. I wonder if they will try to paint THAT as a tax cut....

A Mountain Of Evidence

I am not sure there is anyone on the planet that is still not convinced that Charlie Crist isn't lying through his teeth about his earlier support for the stimulus bill but just in case check out this exchange from the Rolling Stone.

But when I interviewed Crist this spring for my piece The GOP Jihad, here’s what he told me he’d have done had he had a darn vote:

Rolling Stone: Just a final question: Had you been in the Senate, would you have voted with the other Republicans for the stimulus package?

Crist: Absolutely.

Like I said before, this isn't likely to affect Republican voters in his primary against Rubio because for them his conformity is a good thing regardless of the hypocrisy it shows. But should he make it out of that primary this will definitely doom his electoral prospects.

Voters kind of expect politicians to lie. What they don't expect is for that politician to try to play them for fools.

Charlie Crist Hopes His CRS Is Contagious

Evidently Charlie Crist has a severe case of CRS, Can't Remember Shit. And he is REALLY hoping that not only his base but also general election voters will come down with the same ailment.

There was a time not so long ago when Gov. Charlie Crist (R) and President Obama saw eye-to-eye on economic policy. But that was before Crist announced his bid for Senate.

Crist's first radio ads slam Obama over his plan to, as Crist says in the script, "spend our way into prosperity." The popular Florida governor once (literally) embraced the stimulus package and the Obama plan to, well, spend America back into prosperity. But a summer of attacks from the right, led by former state House Speaker Marco Rubio, appear to have brought that bipartisan spirit to an end.

The pair of radio spots are actually running in the very same market where Crist's stimulus-support summit with Obama took place back in February. The rally took place as other GOP governors that, like Crist, were considered on the short list for 2012 presidential runs were fighting the stimulus plan and even promising to refuse the funds. Crist bucked the trend and welcomed the money, a move seen by readers of political tea leaves as an attempt to appeal to a moderate national base.

LMAOOOOO This is getting increasingly comical from that guy. Its also another sign of why I think all these predictions of a Republican resurgence next year are totally bogus. The early polling totally discounts just how far to the right most Republicans will have to run next year just to win a primary. So far to the right in fact that they totally discredit themselves and any prior "bipartisan" stance they have ever taken. Its the same reason why John McCain was able to win the Republican nomination for President only by denouncing some of his best bipartisan work. And while that might work in a primary, people don't forget that kind of blatant pandering in general elections. Charlie Crist was at least the second most prominent Republican elected official in the country to publicly back President Obama on the stimulus and it really was and is a good move. But because his base is full now the fringe of America and because Crist never met an issue he wouldn't willingly flip on if the political winds shifted, this is what you end up with. Classic memory hole stuff in those ads.

The people of Florida are a lot smarter than this and they for damn sure deserve better. Agree or disagree with him on policy issues, Kendrick Meek is going to stand for what he believes it. That is the TRUE sign of leadership and that is what we need in our next junior Senator representing we the people.

David Broder Reduced To Making Shit Up

The Dean of Villagers who worships at the well of phony bipartisanship tries to weigh in on an issue he doesn't have a clue about and fails miserably.

And by journalisms current standards that means Dean Broder will now be invited on all the cable talk shows.

Sigh.

Ungrateful Bastard

As he goes around the state of Lousianna handing out jumbo novelty checks to different cities to help them through the recession which are FULL of stimulus funds, Governor Bobby Jindal just can not bring himself to admit that President Obama's stimulus bill is helping his state.




This is the fatal flaw of the majority of elected Republicans these days. When you can't give any credit nor ever find any fault of your own, people will no longer trust that. We had 8 years of that bullshit in this country with Bush and people see now where that gets you. So keep it up Bobby Kenny, you are well on your way to discrediting yourself with the American people.

Mike Pence PWNED On Stimulus Criticism

I guess the one small saving grace for Mike Pence is that even with all of his unfounded and irrational criticism of the stimulus bill, he didn't put us a ridiculous YouTube of him searching for jobs with a bloodhound.

From the Evansville Courier and Press of Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS — More than 2,400 people are now at work on federal stimulus-funded roadway projects in Indiana, according to a state report being released today.

Covering 83 projects and listing a total payroll of $2.8 million, the Indiana Department of Transportation report details only a small fraction of the hundreds of projects so far selected for funding using the $440 million the agency received under the American Relief and Recovery Act.

Economists say it's too early to tell whether the long-term value of President Barack Obama's economy-boosting effort will justify its $787 billion cost. But construction executives say stimulus-funded projects certainly have created jobs and spared layoffs within the industry.

"Things were slowing down, and the stimulus filled in the gap," said Tim Mahoney, an economics professor at the University of Southern Indiana.

"It has kept people employed that would be laid off."

It's tough to tell exactly how many new jobs are being created or old jobs are being saved by stimulus projects that range from repaving roads to laying new ones.

"On all these stimulus programs, the anticipation is greater than the reality in terms of getting the money spent and getting the jobs created," Mahoney said. "Just by the nature of a public works program, it just takes awhile to get geared up."

Nonetheless, INDOT has been among the quickest state transportation agencies in getting projects under way.

The nature of construction industry work already causes a great degree of fluctuation in employment numbers.

What's clear is that the stimulus projects have boosted an industry otherwise floundering in Indiana.

The work is badly needed. According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, Indiana's construction industry has lost nearly 24,000 jobs over the last two years.

"In general, it definitely puts our people to work," said Pete Bjorkman, the chief estimator for Evansville-based J.H. Rudolph.

"We've been struggling here just due to the recent economic woes we've been through."

Bjorkman said the company has a core group of workers that are among the first called to begin projects each year. The stimulus, he said, has allowed the company to rehire those core workers.

He said in the construction industry, a better measurement is how many hours are available for everyone from truck drivers to project managers.

"Our crews are going to be working more hours and more days because of this ...," he said. "It is creating more crew hours for our people that wouldn't have been there before."

Mahoney said it's early, but signs are beginning to point to slow progress, in part thanks to the stimulus package.

"I think the markets are starting to look and say 'OK, there are some of these projects that are starting to pay off,'" he said. "But the private sector is still coming back slowly. Public dollars mean an awful lot to that (construction) industry."

I wonder if Pence will go home during August break and tell these people that they are all failures and that they don't count.

Some how I doubt it.

(h/t Greg Sargent)

Reality Obliterates Grandstanding

Yeah Rick Perry, its fun to talk shit about the stimulus bill at a tea party isn't it? Not so fun when you actually need those funds to run your state though, huh?

Earlier this year, Texas Governor Rick Perry was one of a handful of Republican governors who refused some federal stimulus funds from President Obama's economic recovery package on the grounds that there were too many strings attached to the money.

Now that the state is dire straits, however, Perry is asking the federal government for a loan to cover the very expenses the rejected stimulus money would have paid for.

While Perry accepted most of the roughly $17 billion in stimulus funds allocated for Texas, the governor in March rejected $555 million that would have covered state unemployment benefits. Perry said he was not accepting the money because the state would have been obligated to expand its unemployment coverage, creating too much of a long term tax burden.

snip

Democratic legislators in Texas are speaking out against the governor's actions.

"That $555 million would that would have come with the stimulus money wouldn't have to be paid back to the federal government, and that would have saved business taxpayers money for the next 20 years," said Democratic State Rep. Mark Strama, according to News 8 Austin.

As I have said before, conservatism is good for sloganeering, bumperstickers, and selling books. As for actually governing, not so much.

Move Bitch, Get Out The Way

The South Carolina Supreme Court has ruled that their asshole Governor Mark Sanford must accept the stimulus money for education.

The Supreme Court's ruling came a day after arguments in two lawsuits filed by students and school administrators. Sanford had tried to get those cases merged in federal court with his lawsuit against the state, which he filed moments after legislators overrode his budget veto. But he lost that battle Monday when a federal judge refused to take those cases.

Sanford had refused to request the $700 million _ the portion of the $2.8 billion bound for the state that he says he controls _ unless legislators agreed to offset state debt by an equal amount. The White House twice rejected that idea, noting the money must be used to help education and avoid job losses.

South Carolina, which had the nation's third-highest jobless rate in April _ hitting a state record high of 11.5 percent _ cut more than $1 billion from its $7 billion spending plan for 2008-09 as tax revenues slumped in the recession.

Sanford's refusal has raised the ire of U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the No. 3 House Democrat, who accused the governor of being a foe of public education. Amid budget cuts and uncertainty over the federal money, districts had told hundreds of teachers they don't have a job in the upcoming school year.

State education officials estimated schools would eliminate 2,600 education jobs, including 1,500 teachers, without the stimulus money.

Clyburn, D-S.C., inserted an amendment in the federal law with Sanford's anti-bailout stance in mind, saying legislators could go around a governor's refusal. While the legality of that was questioned, U.S. District Judge Joseph Anderson on Monday cited it in saying it was clear Congress intended to allow legislators to get around governors who didn't want the money.

Thank God that Congressman Clyburn had the foresight to put that amendment in the bill.