Feb 23rd, 2009 at 4:18 pm
The Party of Ideas
Hot new press release: “Boehner, House Republican Leaders Call for Federal Spending Freeze to Address Growing Budget Deficit”
Sounds like a winner to me, but it’s not enough. What if this was boxed together with fresh new ideas like a corporate income tax cut, a promise to put country first, and a fresh-faced mavericky governor from an oil-rich arctic state of some kind? Toss in a joke about DNA testing for bears (I don’t know if it was a paternity issue or a criminal issue…) and you’re on the road to victory.
34 Responses to “The Party of Ideas”
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February 23rd, 2009 at 4:21 pm
I think you’re headed in a good direction here. But we can’t win without the base, dude, so let’s also promise to overturn Roe v. Wade.
February 23rd, 2009 at 4:26 pm
You guys forgot mention the constitutional anti-gay-marriage amendment.
February 23rd, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Time to break out those tire gauges.
I’m telling you, those things are political gold! Best money we ever spent.
February 23rd, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Attacking Democrats on off-shore drilling will be the real winner.
February 23rd, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Drill, baby Drill!!!
February 23rd, 2009 at 4:50 pm
No doubt, Boehner and his bunch in the House are among the dumbest people in Washington.
That being said, the reason why these guys still matter, given the tremendous amount of damage that they caused over the last eight years, is because the Democratic party might just be dumber.
I knew it was going to be a rough ride with this administration and this Congress on economics, but I really believed that they could moderate themselves and potentially set the country up for a tough slog out of this mess.
I was wrong.
The stimulus is a complete disaster. The financial bill is a farce…and the forclosure measure will likely succeed in making it more difficult to open up the credit markets.
Moreover, the Obama administration brings in a smart guy like Geithner and what happens??? They sideline him in favor of Larry Summers, Rahm Emmanuel and David Axelrod (the latter of which is looking like a left-wing Karl Rove when it comes to policy-making).
Seriously folks. There are some smart people that come to this forum from the left…I can’t imagine that you’re terribly happy with the way that these people are bleeding the party at the present time.
February 23rd, 2009 at 4:57 pm
And of course ObaMessiah can take great comfort in the fact that every day since his Stimulator passed the Dow has sunk to an ever lower low.
WooHoo… This Is Great News for the DemoFrauds!
We are now where we were 12 years ago.
You know, year 5 of Clinton, that hated-by-the-Lefties centrist who raised taxes, cut the nanny state, and whose budgets generated surpluses?
Instead we get the Keystone Kos Kids and their onanistic social engineering schemes that even the CBO admits are BAD NEWS for our country’s economic health.
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:02 pm
JT, you missed an opportunity to insert a childish insult in there. I would have gone with “Klin-toon.”
Also, despite what the non-economists of the Moonie Times would have you believe, the CBO has said no such thing. In fact, they clearly stated that the package would significantly boost growth over the next two years.
And by the way, when the stock market inevitably rebounds, I look forward to you singing “NObaMessiah’s” praises, and I trust you won’t then revert to claiming that market movements are just “cyclical” like you losers did during the Clinton Era.
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:04 pm
@6 and 7 — Totally agree. The stimulus is already a complete disaster, and the quicker we start saying so, the more the country will realize we are the rational evidence-based party.
I also particularly like JT’s phrase “onanistic social engineering,” and will try to get Michael Steele to use it next time he goes on MSNBC.
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:08 pm
“the more the country will realize we are the rational evidence-based party.”
Uh, you can’t claim to be a rational evidence-based party when you only have speculation. It’s been about a week since the bill was passed. You’re going to have to wait a little longer (you know, when the money is, uh, actually out there) to determine what impact it had. Certainly, it may have a smaller impact than hoped, but unless you have a time machine your pocket, I’m going to guess that your “evidence” is coming straight from your ass.
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:11 pm
My fiends…
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:12 pm
JT,
Look, I don’t mind that you’re a conservative. I don’t mind that you don’t like Obama or his policies. But could I give you a word of advice?
Stop sounding like a 12-year-old. Seriously. When anyone who reads this thread sees “ObaMessiah” and “DemoFrauds” they immediately think you’re a kook and disregard anything you might have to say, even if it may be a good point.
There are conservatives here who make reasoned arguments without that kind of immaturity. Not many, but a few. Try to learn from them, would ya?
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:12 pm
ugh…
Obviously… I meant ‘friends’
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:13 pm
the more the country will realize we are the rational evidence-based party.
Denying more forcefully evolution and global warming is the surest way to do it!
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:13 pm
You’re going to have to wait a little longer (you know, when the money is, uh, actually out there) to determine what impact it had. Certainly, it may have a smaller impact than hoped
And let’s not forget, who pushed to make the bill smaller. Is it by any chance the same people who now say it won’t work?
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:17 pm
I echo Adam and add one thing further. You’re not much of a conservative if the best that you can do is come up with some Limbaugh inspired personal attack on a man that cleaned the clock of your party (I’m assuming that you are a Republican like me).
As for solutions…Let me just say…as a conservative…that the answer is NOT sit back and let the market figure this out.
THERE IS NO MARKET.
Carping from the cheap seats is not a serious policy alternative, especially when you consider that Boehner and the party spent the better part of the last eight years standing up FOR NOTHING.
Both parties suck. I’m just more upset at the dems because they should have known better given the times that were in.
Oh well, there’s always foreign policy (provided that we can keep the lid on Hillary and her merry bunch of neocons/wilsonian hawks).
BTW, she’s totally running in 2012 when this blows up in poor Obama’s face.
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:19 pm
And just to put this on the record again. I said long ago in these forums that letting her into the Cabinet was going to come back and bite Obama in the ass. Just wait…
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:20 pm
@10: you may want to turn up the sensitivity on your irony detector.
I was kind of enjoying this as a rah-rah advice for Republicans thread. Now I’m afraid we’re getting bogged down in details, wandering too far away from our Core Conservative Beliefs.
We need to get back to basics. Let’s propose a flat income tax, and cut the capital gains tax to 0%. Capital gains should be sacred. In fact, let’s have a minute of silence in every classroom in America, so students can meditate prayerfully on capital gains.
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:22 pm
The game has changed. The Treasury is going to borrow $124 billion dollars this week. Numbers from $50billion to $100billion till tax day in mid April can be expected. There will be periods like this as far as the eye can see.
We have a problem. No longer can we scoff at these numbers. Yes, the total Treasury debt vs GDP is not huge. What is huge is the short term needs which are overwhelming the world financial markets. As Uncle Sam sucks up all the free money in a flight to safety the markets crater, forcing ever more into Treasuries in the ugliest virtuous circle of all time. I say virtuous because it’s great the Treasury can borrow at rock bottom rates, for now.
Soon will come the day when he markets will say enough and rates will spike. Auctions might fail. In which case cutting spending will not be an option because the Treasury won’t be able to write checks. Unless the Fed just monetizes, which will drive rates higher yet.
Imagine a depression as the government is forced to slash spending. There will I suppose be a titanic battle to have the Fed monetize and I don’t know how that pans out. The situation is monumental from a political angle. It is a whole new world.
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:22 pm
1. Spending Freeze 2. Tax cuts 3. Bear DNA 4. ?????? 5. PROFIT!!!!!
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:36 pm
I disagree with jessican, it should go:
1. Tax Cuts
2. Reagan
3. Wasteful Pork
Where can I apply to join a conservative think tank?
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:53 pm
“If you don’t know how to say it, say it loud!”
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:54 pm
i especially like boehner’s impeccable timing: during a period of growth, when we should have been running a general fund surplus, boehner saw no problem with spending and revenues being completely misaligned.
now in a period of decline, when we should be running a general fund deficit, now boehner wants to “freeze” spending.
as for the more general point rapier raises: the world, at this point, appears to have decided that the US is too big to fail. perhaps someday the world will change its mind, but reacting to a potential interest-rate crisis before we’ve reacted to the demand and wealth destruction crisis we have right now is extremely foolish.
over the past 40 years, we have plenty of empirical evidence that with a democrat in the white house, we get fiscal responsibilty and with a republican, we don’t, and right now, the fiscally responsible thing to do is to utilize G….
February 23rd, 2009 at 6:15 pm
“BTW, she’s totally running in 2012 when this blows up in poor Obama’s face.”
Nope. First of all, if it blows up in Obama’s face, it blows up in HER face, too. She’ll simply be unable to distance herself enough in three years, probably much less, especially given that she’s completely adopted all of Obama’s positions, and even eaten shit about her own management skills.
Second, she’s not going to get much early support, which will probably make her stay out. Her campaign was such a disaster, she still has debt, and Obama’s made the party over in his own image. No one’s going to jump with her facing all of that.
Third, she doesn’t WANT it. In the campaign post-mortems, it’s become clear that she only ran in 2008 out of obligation. She’s a lot more comfortable being a policy wonk/Washington insider.
But most importantly, she’s not going to jump in unless she can win, and she’s smart enough to know when that is. And if Obama’s weak enough to be defeated for renomination, no other Democrat is going to win, either.
All in all, this sounds more like Republican Primary than a reasonable prediction.
February 23rd, 2009 at 6:50 pm
@SA 11, 13: I liked it better the first way.
February 23rd, 2009 at 9:07 pm
School prayer!
February 24th, 2009 at 12:36 am
Hey, what about an anti flag burning amendment, mandatory school prayer (to the Christian god) and a ban on gay abortionists (or the death penalty, your choice).
February 24th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
ah yes, the democrats the party of fresh ideas…
counter-cyclical fiscal outlays! that is a fresh new idea you can believe in.
FAIL.
February 25th, 2009 at 9:38 am
JT@7: I have been saying for years that our much-revered “stock market” is not a market at all; it is a casino. It is just as water-filled as the mortgages. It needs to drop another 20-30% to get back to rational. I’ll get back in when I see rational P/E ratios. My suggestion for many years has been to tax stock-trading capital gains according to the length of time they were held, varying from no tax at all if held over 10 years, up to 100% if held less than a year.
February 25th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
counter-cyclical fiscal outlays! that is a fresh new idea you can believe in
Ideas don’t always have to be fresh to work. They just have to be different than what was tried and failed for 8 years.
We borrowed every dime of teh Iraq war and reconstruction, and that seemed OK with the Republican Congress (and DEm lap-dogs) and was orchestrated by ‘gladly eat the hamburger today, pay tomorrow’ Bush.
This sudden resurgence of Republican fiscal rectitude reeks of opportunism and counts on total ignorance of short term history.
March 17th, 2009 at 3:13 am
You made some good points there. I did a search on the topic and found most people agree with your blog.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Well said, finally a good report on this stuff
April 10th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
FANTASTIC!