Rude Awakening

QOTD, Attaturk: It's not a nation of Santelli's, it's a village of them -- a village full of idiots. Oh well, at least they can all get together and tea bag.


Always a first stop: BarbinMD's Abbreviated Pundit Round-Up


Benen on A RUDE AWAKENING....

Congressional Republicans seem to be feeling pretty good about themselves. They're voting in lock step, dominating the cable chatter, and releasing Aerosmith-backed videos bragging about their opposition to the economic recovery package. The GOP had discovered its mojo and was finally where it wanted to be.

But while Republican policymakers have clearly impressed each other, they haven't quite connected with everyone else.

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The NYT poll found that three-quarters of Americans believe the president has been trying to work with Republicans, but only 3 in 10 said Republicans were doing the same. Indeed, 63% of poll respondents said Republican opposition to the stimulus package was about politics, not policy, and 79% said Republicans should give up on its agenda and start working more with Democrats.

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll showed similar results.
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But I also think Republicans expected some kind of boost out of the recent economic fight, which featured a very aggressive p.r. push on GOP economic ideas. If the new poll results are any indication, their efforts haven't worked at all.

• NYTimes: What Part of ‘Stimulus’ Don’t They Get?

  Imagine yourself jobless and struggling to feed your family while the governor of your state threatens to reject tens of millions of dollars in federal aid earmarked for the unemployed. That is precisely what is happening in poverty-ridden states like Louisiana and Mississippi where Republican governors are threatening to turn away federal aid rather than expand access to unemployment insurance programs in ways that many other states did a long time ago. ...
  

  • In Newt 2.0?, Swampland's Jay Newton-Small embarrasses herself with an uncritical hagiography of Cantor. She says: "My favorite quote that didn't make the story: “I do particularly look forward to being constructive not obstructive because the problems facing this country are so large.”" As always, at Swampland the real pleasure is in the comments, where JNS is utterly ripped fior this piece of stenography. Highly entertaining.
    

Joe Sudbay: The Senate is going to vote to shut off debate on the confirmation of Hilda Solis as Secretary of Labor. Now, in my view, when the Republicans force a cloture vote, it means they've been filibustering, silently filibustering, but filibustering nonetheless. Apparently, that word isn't used by the traditional media or Senate Democrats to call out the actions of the obstructionist Republicans. But, today, there will be a vote to end the filibuster of Hilda Solis' confirmation, which should garner the necessary 60 votes. Republicans really don't want a pro-worker Secretary of Labor.


atrios says this is Really just crazy.


Herbert on That Can’t-Do Spirit

... The president seemed optimistic about the prospects of moving ahead with some additional infrastructure spending, and he said he “would like to see some long-term reforms” in the way transportation money is spent. He acknowledged that the nation’s infrastructure “needs are massive, and we can’t do everything.”

But we could do a lot more. There is something weirdly self-defeating about having a need as clear-cut as the need to move beyond a deteriorating 20th-century physical plant, and being unable to do it because of the wasteful, inefficient and outmoded 20th-century way of doing politics and government. ...

hilzoy is of two minds about Habeas Rights At Bagram

Kevin Drum on Cap and Trade

I've got a piece on cap-and-trade in the latest issue of Mother Jones. You should go read it. It's designed to explain cap-and-trade for people who kinda sorta know what it is but are still a little vague on the details. The basic structure is "Ten Things You Should Know About Cap-and-Trade,"
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Bottom line: cap-and-trade is just one piece of an overall energy/environment policy. But it's a good piece! And it helps make all the other pieces work better. Read the whole thing for more.
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