I need a catchy title for all stimulus blog posts like I had for “Grand Theft Auto Bailout.” If you have any suggestions, feel free to leave me a comment.
Anyways, House Minority Whip and conservative heartthrob Eric Cantor debuted his website for The Office of the Republican Whip. On it you can join the Whip Team, read the Whip Blog, check out whatever the Whip Colloquy is, and know what’s going on that day in the House at The Daily Whipping Post…which is apropos since as a conservative in the Age of Obama, sometimes I feel like I’ve been tied to the whipping post.
The website as a whole is promising as Cantor, unlike others in the party, seems to “get it…”
Make no mistake – the new Whip Team represents something different. We understand our mission: to articulate conservative principles and apply them to today’s challenges. But, that is not enough. To be efficient, effective, and successful, we must modernize the way we communicate with you – utilizing every technology available to hold a conversation about the future of our country.
Then there’s the overview of what we know aboot BAM’s stimulus plan thus far. I think “sobering” is the best word I can think of…
Given the size of the stimulus being discussed, non-partisan budget experts are now predicting a deficit for 2009 of almost $1.3 trillion; triple the current year’s deficit. That would equal 9% of GDP, which is a 50% increase over the post WW II record of 6%. (Robert Samuelson, Washington Post, January 5, 2009) Some are now speculating that we may have to pay a premium interest rate to foreign investors, like China, to borrow this kind of money.
So yeah, we R’s have a bit of a skirmish ahead of us. Rich Lowry says that Majority Leader John Boehner has tasked Cantor with pulling together alternative ideas to Obama’s stimulus. He then added:
For the purposes of the debate over this bill, it’s better to come up with one or two big ideas than 10 smaller ones. The place to start is probably with a cut in or holiday from the payroll tax-a tax on working people and on employment. Politically, Republicans have to support some sort of stimulus, but they should paint in bold, easy-to-understand colors in their contrast with Obama, who wants to suck them into supporting his bill as a political cover against its perceived or actual failure.
So that’s where we’re at right now. I know some of my conservative brethren have started hyperventilating already. Me, I’m waiting until there’s an actual bill to be reviewed. Overall, I have issues with the bailouts/stimulus/socialism. The rub is that elections have consequences, and if the Republican party had been for anything resembling fiscal discipline and not have encouraged the bailouts/stimulus/socialism, we might be in a different boat right now.
So I’m preparing to eat a little shit. How much of it…I guess we find out next month.
UPDATE: At least we’ll always have Joe the Plumber.
UPDATE DEUX: Speaking of eating shit, can we agree to never act like these douchebags?
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