Republicans lost, everything else is BS spin.

[ProSense]

BS spin: Republicans won even though the stimulus package passed 244 to 188, and included not only DeFazio's transit bill, but also the whistleblower amendment.

Republicans are in a pickle. Obama can engage them, he can deal with them, and then they can decide whether they want to be a part of moving the country forward or not. Voting against the interests of Americans is not going to endear them to anyone.

Obama wanted a stimulus package, and he got it. Repubs lose. Period.

[firedupdem]

1. Word! Plain and Simple

Thanks for posting the other bill and amendment.

[AllentownJake]

2. Not only that Rush thinks he's in charge of the party now

:rofl:

Nothing could be better than a republican party with Rush Limbaugh writing the strategy...he did a heck of a job of bringing down Clinton :rofl:

[NYC_SKP]

3. K and R. It's disturbing how many are buying into the BS spin.

He came in, he danced around them, he made them look the fool.

Dick Armey's head exploded, Rush has a Boehner, MSM is calling Limbaugh the new head of the GOP.

They're in a fuckin' panic!

:rofl:

[Jennicut]

4. LOL...Rush has a Boehner!

So true. "Obambi" must be making their heads spin by speaking out against Rush. Harry Reid he is not.

[Olney Blue]

5. Rove and Bush did them in, and they are panicking.

[Baltoman991]

6. This is an

excellent post for me to give my first K & R.

[zulchzulu]

7. Let the checkers players think they are playing checkers when the game is really chess

I am astounded how stupid some people are. Actually, not really... it's the usual suspects.

[Lint Head]

8. I just wish he had made no concessions because the re-pubic-rats

voted against it anyway. The Democrats should bring up a bill that had everything that was taken out of the stimulus package and pass it. Screw re-pubic-rats. The republican party is DOA!
:dem:

[ProSense]

12. "The republican party is DOA!" Seems

like some people are desperately trying to give the Party of lame-ass whining props for failing in lockstep.

[sampsonblk]

9. I dissent strongly

This is not about a stimulus package. That's the least of the GOP's problems. Right now, they have no party. They are in total disarray from the grassroots level up. Half want to blindly follow Palin, the other half are sane.

There is little the GOP leaders can say to their party faithful to regain their trust. Their only hope is the we will give them an issue they can use to regain their former supporters.

Well guess what just happened today?

Republicans Grow Spine After Being SHUT OUT Of $825 Billion Bailout

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2173872/posts

The Freepers are not depressed anymore. This is what it was about.

[ProSense]

10. What?

You can't be serious? These are the people who don't believe Obama is a citizen, much less the President.

What is it that you think wingnut lunatic's spin means to people who are losing their jobs, etc.?

[sampsonblk]

13. Oh my...

You do understand why the Freepers and folks like them are important, don't you?

[ProSense]

14. "You do understand why the Freepers and folks like them are important, don't you?" Humor? n/t

[sampsonblk]

16. Now I get it

I have been trying to understand you, and now I have just seen the light.

Just because the Freeper-types are way out there does not mean that they aren't important. They are very important. They are the ditto-heads who listen to all 3 hours of Rush Limbaugh and then go out and do the grunt work for GOP candidates.

A week ago, their talk was about what to do next, since the GOP was no longer a vehicle for conservatism. Today, they are talking about a ray of hope. Thats not good for us.

It seems that you have discounted these people because you are smarter than them. But their votes count just as much as yours and mine. And if they quit coming out to work hard for the GOP, the GOP cannot win.

[ProSense]

19. "their votes count just as much as yours and mine." Their vote counts for Repubs, and not

all Repubs at that. People who believe that Democrats are evil and that Obama is a terrorist, a non-citizen and not currently the President are not voting for Democrats. Let the Repubs have all the freeper votes, Democrats can work on the rest of the population, as Obama did during the recent election.

Freepers are important to you, but they mean nothing to me. They are assholes. It's too bad so much time and energy has to be wasted refuting the lies they spread.

[sampsonblk]

22. Maybe I misunderstood

I thought you were making rational observations. But you have let those people really get under your skin.

[Solomon]

31. No, I think YOU have.

This idea that what happened is good for them is nonsense.

[alcibiades_mystery]

20. The Freepers are as relevant as hippies were during Reaganism

Hardly at all.

There are 30 year shifts. The Freepers are on the losing side of this one.

They're the commune hippies after 1980: a joke.

[sampsonblk]

23. I really think you are missing the boat

Last I counted, Rush Limbaugh has about 20+ million listeners. They vote. So despite the fact that they are ummm unusual people, they do matter.

As an aside, I would love to know what you mean about a 30 year shift.

[alcibiades_mystery]

29. They are more and more irrelevant

You're scared for little reason, and it's pathetic.

[sampsonblk]

36. Scared???

What's lacking is your poor analysis of what's going on.

You haven't the foggiest idea what just happened. None.

Maybe this will help you see reality:

Senate GOP leader says party must change
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090129/ap_on_el_ge/republicans

The GOP leadership is trying to rebuild their party before the next election. That's their first order of business. DUH.

[ProSense]

38. "Senate GOP leader says party must change" What does that mean?

2007: Sen. Hagel Says Republican Party Must Change

2008: The party agrees it must change or face catastrophe in November

2008: Head of Va. GOP: We must change

You seem to believe the GOP just experienced an epiphany. They must be slow learners. The GOP's first order of business is to continue spinning and trying to fool everyone.

[alcibiades_mystery]

42. Yes, DUH

The GOP is trying to rebuild the Party, just as the Democrats had to rebuild something like a Party in the wake of reaganism. It took them a while, and they dumped the radicals. The same will happen here.

Your analysis is way off.

[hileeopnyn8d]

32. "Last I counted, Rush Limbaugh has about 20+ million listeners."

Right, but a 2007 poll shows 62% have an unfavorable opinion of him. Just because you're listening, doesn't mean you agree with him.

[sampsonblk]

37. You have a point there - nt

[Baltoman991]

11. Huh?

Republicans have been screaming and whining about this since they got their asses handed to them in 2006. Didn't seem to work for them in 2008 did it?

They can continue to scream and whine about "we have no say in anything" and look like the petulant 2 year olds they are. Their problem is that enough Americans have woken up and are seeing things for what they are.

I'm an avid watcher of C-SPAN during the day and I sit and chuckle when I hear a Pub speaking about how he/she knows what Americans want. Apparently they don't because they're still being the obstructionists that lost them the majority.

So if Freepers think they've(Republicans) have grown a spine then Freepers really don't know what the term means. All the Republicans are doing is the same exact thing they've been doing since 2006........whining.

[sampsonblk]

15. Its not about the spine

The GOP leaders are trying to get their supporters back. And this worked out great for them.

They even got to push back on contraception and abortion. I'd bet money Boehner and the others are smiling tonight.

Just my opinion, but if we dont help them (by giving them opportunities like this one) they have no hope to pull their party back together. They still don't have a party leader. The GOP is a disaster. I don't think we should be helping them to fix that at all.

[Baltoman991]

18. I ask again

How is this any different than what they've been doing since 2006?

And I disagree about contraceptive and abortion as being something that was pushed back on. This was an economic stimulus package. Those things for family planning didn't belong in there and Obama and the Democrats knew that. By putting it in they figured when the right whined about it they would just simply take it out in an act of bi-partisanship.

But don't for one minute think that family planning won't get their money when the healthcare bill comes up. The Republicans won no support back today, they've only kept the support of the 28% they've had since 06.

[sampsonblk]

24. That's easy

The party leadership abandoned them in favor of sanity during the 2008 election season. And they know it. That's the difference. Spuit right in their faces.

These people either want a party to support (God, guns and gays & anti-abortion), or they want out. Get your popcorn ready.

The elected GOP officials desperately need to get those RW types back. If not, how will they raise money to compete in 2010? I think this bailout bill has really helped the GOP with regard to the RW Freeper-type extremists. Without them, the GOP won't be able to win anything.

[Baltoman991]

Sorry

We can just agree to disagree.

I see nothing different in what Republicans are doing now compared to 2007 and 2008 after losing their majority.

They can try to use this as a wedge issue, but it will fail. Freepers, Limbaugh, Hannity and the rest will make things up as they go along. But the reality is the American people have spoken loud and clear starting in 2006.

If they want to continue to obstruct the work of the people then all they'll have left are the 20 million fools who still pay homage to Rush Limballs.

[sampsonblk]

26. Have you talked to any Republicans?

That sounds like an inside the beltway analysis. But the parties are made up of regular people. If you go talk to them, you will find a huge difference between now and 2006. And that's what matters.

[Baltoman991]

27. My girlfriend

is a Republican. Her whole family are Republicans. And ya know what? They voted for Obama in 08. And they're saying the same thing I'm saying here tonight. It's nothing but a BS poor me story the Republicans are going to run with for the next 4 years. Nothing new.

Do you watch C-SPAN? I do daily. I watch the hearings. I watch the debates on bills and so does my girlfriend and she's fed up with HER party whining about not being included. There is no huge difference between what they're doing now and what they've been doing since they lost the majority. There is no small difference either. The fact is, theres no difference.

The Republicans will whine and claim to know what the American people want and the reality is they don't have a damn clue what we want. They only know what rich America wants.

[sampsonblk]

30. You are talking about the party elected officials

We can agree to disagree. We are all on the same side.

[Baltoman991]

25. Sorry

We can just agree to disagree.

I see nothing different in what Republicans are doing now compared to 2007 and 2008 after losing their majority.

They can try to use this as a wedge issue, but it will fail. Freepers, Limbaugh, Hannity and the rest will make things up as they go along. But the reality is the American people have spoken loud and clear starting in 2006.

If they want to continue to obstruct the work of the people then all they'll have left are the 20 million fools who still pay homage to Rush Limballs.

[alcibiades_mystery]

21. You can't win for winning

You want to lose, so you imagine everything as a loss.

[northernlights]

46. they never lost their freeper-supporters

but there aren't enough freepers in the world to bring back their power any time soon.

It's a pendulum shift. The swing is back to the left. Period. They can have the freepers. And the freepers can celebrate to their heart's content. It won't change a thing.

The only possible way the rethugs can return to power is if Obama fails. Therefore, they must vote against him.

[Hippo_Tron]

17. With the majorities that Democrats have in Congress, you can't really call it a loss just yet

Obama was going to get what he wanted and then some with or without the consent of the House Republicans. The only question is how well the bill does/doesn't work. We'll know who won in November 2010.

[ProSense]

35. The Repubs aren't going to change so

it's a loss. If they decide to engage in a genuine debate, backed up by genuine actions, they can claim a hand in helping to solve the economic crisis.

[Enthusiast]

28. K & R! nt

[Life Long Dem]

33. Obama?

Please help America to fair and balanced reporting!

Where I don't have to do my own research for the accuracy in truth. And I'm sure Obama knows exactly what I'm speaking about.

[NightHawk63]

34. K & R

I totally agree. I see more ass-kickings coming their way in the next four years.

[leftofthedial]

39. man, I'd love to play chess or poker against you

or wrestle

[ProSense]

40. Only if you promise to say that I won when I lose, and

there are no witnesses to the fact that I actually lost.

:rofl:

Too bad for the Repubs that the entire country saw them make fools of themselves.

They lost, and now they're getting lost in their own damage control.

[leftofthedial]

43. Regardless who "won,"

is this commitment to "bipartisanship" still on?

[Fire1]

41. Then, lets get on with it!

[Starry Messenger]

44. Error: You've already recommended that thread.

It also included $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts. http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/congress-approves-50-million-for-nea/

As an artist and art teacher I'm so happy to see this support right out of the gate. Republicans hate federal funding for the arts. :)

[ProSense]

45. Nice.

:)