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Partisan Rancor Seeps Into Talks on Stimulus Plan
WSJ ^ | January 24, 2009 | JONATHAN WEISMAN and GREG HITT

Posted on 01/24/2009 7:19:29 AM PST by yoe

President Barack Obama and congressional leaders are struggling to maintain an atmosphere of bipartisanship as the House moves toward a critical first vote next week on an $825 billion economic-stimulus plan that has Republicans increasingly nervous.

At a White House meeting Friday, the president and congressional leaders from both parties hashed over the plan, with Mr. Obama showing he wasn't afraid to flex his muscles in an ideological debate. Challenged by one Republican senator about why Congress should accept a certain piece of the package, participants said the new president replied simply, "I won."

[snip] It came after Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R., Ariz.) challenged the president and Democratic leaders on the balance between spending and tax cuts. He raised the traditional Republican position that a tax credit for people who don't earn enough to pay income taxes isn't a tax cut but a government handout.

Mr. Obama contested that notion, saying such workers pay Social Security and Medicare taxes, property taxes and sales taxes. The issue was widely debated during the presidential campaign, when Republican nominee John McCain challenged Mr. Obama's tax plan as "welfare."

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: breaks; cloudy; taxes; welfare
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Caring and believing Americans really thought they were voting in a president that would strengthen America...well they were wrong.

"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." --James Madison

1 posted on 01/24/2009 7:19:33 AM PST by yoe
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To: yoe
an $825 billion economic-stimulus plan that has Republicans increasingly nervous.

Why should Republicans be nervous? Just vote against the nonsense. It didn't work last time. Why do they think it will work this time?

2 posted on 01/24/2009 7:24:18 AM PST by Need4Truth (...the borrower is servant to the lender. Prov. 22:7)
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To: yoe
I expect Republicans to vote against it. We can't stop the Democrats from passing a massive pork bill - but let them do it on a party-line vote. Let's give them the same cooperation they gave President Bush - NONE. The GOP is not obligated to legitimate their agenda and I want Obama to fail. And if the GOP doesn't get it, the base will revolt and clean house next year!

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

3 posted on 01/24/2009 7:24:51 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: yoe

bipartisanship to a liberal democrat is when republicans and other non-liberal democrats bend to the liberal democrat agenda.

poisonous partisanship is when republicans work to put their agenda into effect.

(as mr. stalin said, any number of opposition political parties may co-exist with socialism as long as those parties are in jail. this is the ambition of the liberal democrat party in the u.s.; if one looks up the definition of scu&bag in the dictionary, the words ‘democrat congress’ will be seen.)

IMHO


4 posted on 01/24/2009 7:28:36 AM PST by ripley
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To: Need4Truth
Enough of the crap sandwich of socialism. The last bailout didn't fix the economy. What makes any one think throwing another $825 billion at it is going to lead to a different result this time around? Government intervention will end up delaying an economic recovery for years. I want the Democrats to take the blame for it.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

5 posted on 01/24/2009 7:28:36 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: goldstategop

“Bipartisanship” translates into sharing the blame if it fails [and it will] and the Dems getting the credit if it succeeds. The Dems have overwhelming majorities in both houses of Congress. They don’t need Reps to pass this stimulus package.


6 posted on 01/24/2009 7:30:07 AM PST by kabar
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To: yoe

I love Kyl. I hope he continues to rally opposition. If Obama’s only logical retort is “I won”, the Republicans just have to oppose him and be very clear why they are. In 2010, things will change when his plan predictably fails. It’s going to be at least a couple of bad years for America, and the job of Republicans is to limit the damage to give this Republic a chance.


7 posted on 01/24/2009 7:30:47 AM PST by winner3000
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To: ripley
"Bipartisanship" means we cede our principles and help liberalism advance. It never works the other way around. Its unprincipled and phony and we need to be partisan now - for the sake of the American people. I don't want to see things done in Washington. I want gridlock. I want the Democrats to be stuck in a political quaqmire. I want them to drown!

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

8 posted on 01/24/2009 7:31:33 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: goldstategop

If the GOP decides to get some stones, the message is simple. This bill is nothing but the fulfillment of a trillion dollars of liberal spending. Nothing new, nothing to help the economy. It gives tax cuts to those that do not pay taxes. That is welfare on the backs of other tax payers who are already struggling. Expanding the deficit and debt is counter productive. It is more of the same. We vote against it. The only solution is lowering tax burden, shrinking government and freeing the economy to rebuild and expand.

I bet we won’t hear anything close to this from more than a few.


9 posted on 01/24/2009 7:33:51 AM PST by ilgipper
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To: kabar
Exactly. The Democrats can pass this on their own. We can't stop them. And we should have nothing to do with it. Socialism has never worked at any time in history and it will be no different in America!

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

10 posted on 01/24/2009 7:34:02 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: ilgipper
We are not obligated to help the Democrats pass their agenda. If they want to pass what we think is wrong for America, they're just going to have to do it without our votes. Its time to take a stand for what's right.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

11 posted on 01/24/2009 7:36:27 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: goldstategop
"Bipartisanship" means we cede our principles and help liberalism advance. It never works the other way around. Its unprincipled and phony and we need to be partisan now - for the sake of the American people. I don't want to see things done in Washington. I want gridlock. I want the Democrats to be stuck in a political quaqmire. I want them to drown!

How unpatriotic you are!!! LOL!

I plan on having fun over these next four years, as I turn the tables on the Democrats.

For example: "Let me see if I have your position correct. You want Rush Limbaugh removed from the public airwaves for simply voicing that he wants Obama's agenda to fail. Yet you were forcefully crying out just a few months ago that "Dissent is Patriotic" when Bush was President. So which is correct: Dissent is Patriotic, or Dissent is Unpatriotic?"

12 posted on 01/24/2009 7:38:07 AM PST by Night Hides Not (Don't blame me...I voted for Palin!)
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To: goldstategop

“I want gridlock.”

music to the ears.

the time to be poisonously partisan is upon us. to the phones i go.

IMHO


13 posted on 01/24/2009 7:41:45 AM PST by ripley
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To: Night Hides Not
I'm a patriot. I owe allegiance to my country but not to a man and I certainly don't owe the Democrats my time of day. Obama said loud and clear he doesn't need us! Let's take him at his word. He can rely on the Democrats to get their noxious brew of an agenda through. People who cherish God, country and family want nothing to do with it.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

14 posted on 01/24/2009 7:42:55 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: yoe
He won what? That Muslim Marxist Criminal will never be my President.
15 posted on 01/24/2009 7:43:06 AM PST by Cheetahcat (Osamabama the Wright kind of Racist!)
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To: goldstategop
Socialism has never worked at any time in history and it will be no different in America!

True enough, but once implemented, it will be very diffficult to unring a bell. SS and Medicare are prime examples of how once something is institutionalized and bureaucratized, it is virtually impossible to get rid of.

16 posted on 01/24/2009 7:44:25 AM PST by kabar
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To: kabar

This is NOT a Stimulus Bill It IS REPARATIONS ! Billions for ACORN ?! Lets get Real This is Reparations disguised as stimulus


17 posted on 01/24/2009 7:45:14 AM PST by ballplayer
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To: yoe

The central claim of postmodernism is that reality is whatever you say it is, and if you want to change reality, start by changing the meaning of words.

Orwell understood that early, in what he described as duckspeak.

So, “freedom to choose” means that parents no longer have the right to prevent statutory rapists from taking their young daughters to abortion clinics without their knowledge or permission. It means that doctors no longer have the right to refused to perform abortions. It means that babies have no right to live.

“Family planning” means killing off your family. “Reproductive rights” means teaching people not to reproduce.

And “bipartisanship” means Obama/Reid/Pelosi’s way or the highway. Aren’t we lucky that Juan McCain has promised to help lead this biparisan effort?


18 posted on 01/24/2009 7:46:01 AM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: ripley
I love partisanship. The object is to make life for the Democrats very difficult. Let's give 'em hell over the next eight years. They'll find out being in the majority can be a completely miserable experience. LOL!

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

19 posted on 01/24/2009 7:46:09 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: yoe
Being PARTISAN is PATRIOTIC! hildebeast told us so!!!!! Dissent is the highest form of PATRIOTISM! I am NOT being sarcastic.

LLS

20 posted on 01/24/2009 7:47:25 AM PST by LibLieSlayer (hussein will NEVER be my president... NEVER!)
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