The stimulus has passed. In addition to voting against it, Republicans are all over the airwaves trashing it.
The leader of their pack is John Boehner, the man with a tan. According to him, the stimulus will not create jobs. According to Michael Steele, the new RNC Chair, if you work and earn money, you do not necessarily have a job. According to all Republicans who voted no, this bill, with terrible ideas such as helping states pay for Medicare, assisting our elders and our children, is a disaster for our country.
Of course, the Republican Governors who are living this financial meltdown from coast to coast are just fine with the Federal Government coming to at least the partial rescue. As they ask for help, their Republican counterparts in Washington just say no.
Well, as we say on the sandlots, it's time for Boehner to put up or shut up. Or, as Sarah Palin more elegantly put it, "thanks, but no thanks".
Instead of wasting more words on whether the Obama stimulus plan will create jobs, or whether it is "just spending" (which, last time I looked, is what does create jobs), why not call Minority Leader John Boehner's and every no-voting Republican's bluff?
Submit an amendment to the bill stripping all money from the stimulus plan from Boehner's district. It should be the first in a series of "Thanks, But No Thanks" Bills brought to the floor.
Every Democrat would pledge to vote yes or no, exactly as Boehner votes.
That would insure that, if Boehner voted yes (i.e., stripping all the money from his district), the Democrats would give him what he wants. If Boehner votes no (i.e., retaining all the money already appropriated in the stimulus bill for his district), he gets that too. That is, Boehner gets exactly what he wants for his district.
Then, a "Thanks, But No Thanks" bill for Eric Cantor, and another for Mike Pence for good measure.
After that, any Member of Congress who goes on TV, does an interview, is quoted in the press, or stands in the well of Congress blasting the stimulus as not job-creating ought to be greeted the next day in Congress with the same "Thanks, But No Thanks" bill, with only the name and number of the district changed.
If the money is not going to create or save jobs, and is "just spending", as Messrs Boehner, Cantor and Pence have asserted, voting to strip out their district's funding should make no difference and, indeed, ought to be popular with their constituents.
Any money that is not spent in a nay-sayer's district ought to be spent in someone else's district. That way, the size of the stimulus package remains unchanged.
Will Boehner's tan pale as he confronts the implications of his own absurdities? Nothing like sunshine to expose hypocrisy.
I do think they should put up or shut up, but maybe there could be some kind of provision for those of us who have not and will not support republican garbage!!
Let's let ALL the stimulus-bashing Goopers turn down the money, and all the stimulus supporting states can take the money. Then, a year from now, and then two years from now, we can look back and see how much improvement the various states have had.
This is the "Fiscal Conservatives" time to show us what they are made of ! Stick to your ideology- you can still vindicate your failed economic theories!
Laughter and ridicule. Start now and keep it up. Letters to the editor, letters to your representatives, letters to Boehner for that matter.
Start jokes and cartoons that go viral.
We are by no means weaponless.
Dang! This thread is vicious and downright unamerican. Why would anyone think it's a good idea to deny fellow Americans badly needed assistance? Isn't that what Boehner and his friends wanted to do? When did America become a totalitarian society that demands conformity from everyone? The Democrats were reviled for not fighting harder against Bush and now we want to punish the constituents of Republican Congressmen and Senators because the republicans did what we wanted the democrats to do?
Are you really saying that Americans are not bound by any law their representatives voted against?
America never was and never will be monolithic. That is our strength not our downfall.
Boehner, et al. are jerks and I'm game for anything that slams them for it. I am NOT for punishing their constituents.
*/RANT*
They think it's about them--it's not. They've given priority to their ineffectual and narcissistic grandstanding over the real needs of their constituents.
I do not think all Republicans are doing this, or am I wrong?
I can't use the word Republican in a sentence without it turning into a rant.
civil rights?
Constitutional rights?
treason?
War crimes?
Rape of American women, while working for ohhh let's say Haliburton, B&R, blackwater?
Illegal wiretaps of innocent American citizens?
And even worse wiretapping sermiceman/women in a war zone, when they call home?
Confiscation of guns from legal owners after Katrina?
Abuse of power?
Those kind of laws??
Let the laws apply to EVERYONE...and let the evidence lead the way to bringing charges against ALL who broke AMERICAN LAWS!
No one is making the defense that the laws don't apply to them because their rep or senator voted against it.
That clause is what they'll latch on to as a reason to take it. They'll argue that their objecting isn't saving the taxpayers money because it will just be spent elsewhere. They'll use that logic just like they are doing already with other arguments. That if it's going to be spent anyway they'll take it.
To really put them in a box, remove that clause. Make them truly stand up on principle. Any funds they reject are simply not spent.
I know some will say "well if all the GOP refuse the money they'll kill the effect it will have". Yeah, maybe. But there is no way they would ever do that. And if they did... they wouldn't be in office much longer.
Isn't that the point?
Poster's with Boehner looking away from a pile of money, with big eyed children watching, Footer: Just Say No!
As one of his constituents I thank you for your rational approach that isn't throwing the baby out with the bath water.
Should I and my neighbors be punished because of his ignorance?
Seems this punishes the hard working Americans that this bill is supposed to assist.
Short sighted if you ask me.
Do not blame the writer of this article because your district elected an @$$. There is an easy remedy to all of this. Voice your disagreement, and if Boehner does not see the light VOTE him out.
I've voted against John Boehner since I turned 18.
I've written John Boehner. I've spoken at length to family and friends against John Boehner.
Not every person who lives in a district votes for this person. Yet you advocate punishing everyone to spite him.
Short sighted. Pure and simple.
Voted against him every chance I get. Not that it matters because all it takes to win in SW Ohio is to have the R next to your name on the ballot.
Guess I should be punished because John sucks at life? All my neighbors should be punished too?
Why not put together a petition that asks him to shut up about the stimulus, or better yet, to come out in support of it? Get as many signatures as you can, and, if possible, travel to DC to give it to him. Be sure to notify the local media.
You are his employer, after all. Call him on the carpet about this.
I would love to see Boehner challenged in some shape or form but at the present time the demographics of his district do not allow for any challenge. Which basically allows him to spew out his nonsense daily without fear of repercussion.
I did not vote for him. I voted for Nick Von Stein - Democrat
John Boehner has never and will never speak for me. But because I live in Hamilton Ohio I have to be punished?
Such short sighted thinking in this thread and by these authors.
Fairfield seems to be doing well, however.