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The Four Republican Senators Open to Working With Obama
TPM Election Central —
... As The Washington Independent's Dave Weigel points out, that question seems to have been answered in a Senate vote last night. When Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) offered an alternative stimulus plan that would replace all government spending in the stimulus with a series of tax cuts, ...
Four is enough
The Reaction —
... Sen. Jim DeMint's absurd alternative to Obama's stimulus plan. All the president has to do is keep these four in his camp and the stimulus bill will pass. All the huffing and puffing from the 36 other Senate Republicans, not to mention all those morons in the House, is simply noise that must be filtered out.
Not even the basics
Political Animal —
... . [H]ow many Republicans are even open to the need for fixing the economy through government spending? As The Washington Independent's Dave Weigel points out , that question seems to have been answered in a Senate vote last night. When Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) offered an alternative stimulus plan that would replace all government spending in the stimulus with a series of tax cuts, ...
The Negotiating Partner
Matthew Yglesias —
By Brian Beutler
Quoting Dave Weigel in full:
This amendment to the economic stimulus bill passed by the House and now being considered by the Senate, submitted by conservative icon-in-the-making Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), was breathtakingly bold. The gist, from Sen. DeMint’s Website:
o Permanently repeal the alternative minimum tax once and for all;
o Permanently keep the capital gains and dividends taxes at 15 percent;
o Permanently kill the Death Tax for estates under $5 million, and ...
Hullabaloo — These People Are Nuts by dday Dave Weigel: This amendment to the economic stimulus bill passed by the House and now being considered by the Senate, submitted by conshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifervative icon-in-the-making Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), was breathtakingly bold. The , from Sen. DeMint’s Website: o Permanently repeal the alternative minimum tax once and for all; o Permanently keep the capital gains and dividends taxes at 15 percent; o Permanently kill the Death Tax for estates under $5 ...
The Debate Is Joined
Obsidian Wings —
... – objections that should be answered. After all, there’s no God-given right to get the stimulus passed – it has to be justified. But those types of good faith arguments are not at all what we’re hearing from the institutional GOP and the idiot media circus these past two weeks. Let’s be clear – the GOP is proposing to do nothing other than redistribute income to the very wealthy. That’s it – that’s their plan. The DeMint proposed amendment – which got 36 Republican votes (90% of caucus) – is a perfect illustration. (See also Brian Beutler – his ...
2/6: Stimulus Wars
Blogometer —
... for elimination will have a disproportionate impact on women and children. [...] The Jobs Bill arrived on Capitol Hill last month in a pre-compromised state that set many progressives' teeth on edge from the get-go. How much worse will it have to be made before it can get the 60 votes needed to send it to a House-Senate Conference Committee where it can be mucked up some more?" STIMULUS III: You Can't Negotiate With People Like This Liberal bloggers are pointing to the fact that 36 out of the 41 GOP senators voted for DeMint's amendment (which would have replaced all of the ...
What all but 5 Republicans support
Paul Krugman —
Thirty-six out of 41 Republican Senators voted for the proposed DeMint amendment to the stimulus bill — a massive package of permanent tax cuts that would create a huge hole in the budget, while doing very little to help the economy. There isn’t much room for bipartisanship when 87.8% of the other party is totally irresponsible.
Rove: ‘No one that I know of is talking about tax cuts only.’
Think Progress —
... offered by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) that was an alternative “stimulus” plan consisting of nothing but permanent tax cuts. An analysis by the Center for American Progress Action Fund found that DeMint’s plan would “ ...
Pay attention, Karl
Political Animal —
... ." Rove said this on Friday. On Thursday, just one day prior, 90% of the Senate Republican caucus voted for an alternative to the stimulus plan. It contained -- you guessed it -- tax cuts only . * Permanently repeal the alternative minimum tax once and for all; * Permanently keep the capital gains and dividends taxes at 15 percent; * Permanently kill the Death Tax for estates under $5 million, and cut the tax rate to 15 percent for those above; * Permanently extend the $1,000-per-child tax credit; * Permanently repeal the marriage tax penalty; * Permanently simplify itemized ...
You Are Kidding, Right?
Balloon Juice —
... Any math men out there want to let me know if 87.8% counts as the “median position?” And it would be irresponsible not to remind everyone exactly what was in the Demint Amendment: ...
Greg Mankiw and the Republican Party
Ross Douthat —
... I think it's great for well-informed people to write about abstract
policy ideals. At the same time, if you're going to comment on public
affairs, it seems worthwhile to comment on what's actually happening.
There are, right now, four ideas that have substantial support in
congress. There's the House stimulus bill, the Senate stimulus bill,
the Jim DeMint alternative that consists of large permanent tax cuts,
and there's the idea of doing nothing. ...
The Next Nexter Right
Balloon Juice —
... that the key to the GOP future is not through youtube masturbatory fantasies about being back in the saddle again, but you still aren’t there yet, folks.
Repeat after me: You had no alternative. You had no alternative. You had no alternative. The reason no one on the Sunday shows could point to the Republican alternative WAS BECAUSE YOU DID NOT HAVE ONE.
You had a mantra- tax cuts. And you had something proposed by DeMint that you all supported. And you had more tax cuts in a house bill. Technically, I ...
Falling off a cliff
Political Animal —
... in the third quarter. As tax revenue plunged, state and local government spending also fell 1.4 percent, after rising 1.3 percent in the period from July through October. For all of 2008, the economy grew 1.1 percent, in contrast to an increase of 2 percent in 2007." Dean Baker added, "I've been pretty pessimistic all along, but [the numbers] came in worse than I expected and that's pretty bad. You worry this is just a free fall." I have a hunch a spending freeze and a capital gains tax cut probably won't help.— Steve Benen 10:35 AM Permalink | ...
"Conservatism Is Formless Like Water"
Obsidian Wings —
... "Conservatism is "formless" like water: it takes the shape of its conditions, but always remains the same. This is why Russell Kirk calls conservatism the "negation of ideology" in The Politics of Prudence. It is precisely the formlessness of conservatism which gives ...
"Conservatism Is Formless Like Water"
Political Animal —
"Conservatism Is Formless Like Water" Andrew Sullivan has found a fascinating meditation on the nature of conservatism. I reprint the parts Andrew quoted below, with the links that the author inexplicably omitted. "Conservatism is " formless " like water : it takes the shape of its conditions , but always remains the same . This is why Russell Kirk calls conservatism the " negation of ideology " in The Politics of Prudence. It is precisely the formlessness of conservatism which gives it its ...
