Free Republic

Obama, allies move stimulus fight into high gear WASHINGTON (AFP) – After a failed "charm offensive," US President Barack Obama and his allies unleashed a hard-hitting campaign Thursday to break defiant Republicans' thus-far united opposition to his economic stimulus plan. The strategy called for millions of labor union members to telephone Republicans from hard-hit states, coupled with an aggressive television advertising campaign targeting potentially vulnerable Republican senators. The ad featured Obama's warnings about the economic crisis he inherited from George W. Bush and invited viewers in Maine, New Hampshire, Alaska, and Iowa to tell their senators "support the Obama plan...

After decades of watching their extravagant, far-Left programs languish in never-never land, Democrats are now realizing their once-forlorn hopes for a return to the good old days. Massive giveaways for their pet socialist schemes – and payoffs to labor unions and other financial supporters – will now be the order of the day. This time they are outdoing their New Deal, Fair Deal, Great Society overspending extravaganzas, cobbling together an $825 billion package they laughingly call a stimulus program, allegedly designed to put unemployed Americans back to work and get the economy back on track.

It had less than 50% support last week and is falling fast. We went from and 11 point spread down to 3 in a week. Independents hate it. More . . .

It seems the House passed bill on ’stimulus’ is not going to survive the Senate. First off, no Republicans (rightfully) voted for it and 11 Democrats joined them. Now Rassmussen is showing that support and opposition for the bill is now equalized: Forty-two percent (42%) of the nation’s likely voters now support the president’s plan, … The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 39% are opposed to it … 3% points is statistically a tie. The fact is Obama and the Dems have promised to fix the economy, but this bill doesn’t do anything for months and years from now. Smart...

No requirement for a valid Social Security number. Why not save postage and just send them a certificate of citizenship and a voter registration card along with the check?In yesterday’s report on the Hogzilla stimulus bill, we cited the Wall Street Journal editorial which draws attention to $83 billion for redistribution of wealth through tax refund checks to people who don’t pay income taxes. And you thought it wasn’t a vote buying bill?Dick Morris describes the problem this way: GOP, Push Free Enterprise TownHall.com by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann January 28, 2009…In the name of economic stimulus, it not...

This is a memo from Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Democratic members sent after the stimulus vote yesterday. Pelosi is apparently panicked at Republicans’ success in uniting against her hyperpartisan actions in shutting them out of the formulation of the stimulus bill and in peeling nearly a dozen Dems off to vote in opposition. Here is the full text of the memo leaked to HUMAN EVENTS this morning. Memo To: Interested Parties From: Brendan Daly Re: The Republican Problem Date: January 29, 2009 The House Republican Leadership put its Members in another politically untenable position yesterday: trying to reclaim the mantle...

The Wall Street Journal calls it the “40-year Wish List”.  Michelle calls it the “Generational Theft Act”.  Others have started calling it the Obama-Pelosi-Reid Debt Act.  Whatever name one gives it, the least likely is stimulus.  The WSJ calculates that no more than 12 cents on the dollar in the trillion-dollar whale goes to actual economic stimulus, and that the rest go to Democratic wish lists for electoral advantage: We’ve looked it over, and even we can’t quite believe it. There’s $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn’t turned a profit in 40 years; $2 billion for child-care...