GOP lawmakers tout projects in the stimulus bill they opposed

[Judi Lynn]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

GOP lawmakers tout projects in the stimulus bill they opposed
By David Lightman, Mcclatchy Newspapers – Fri Feb 13, 6:37 pm ET

WASHINGTON — Rep. John Mica was gushing after the House of Representatives voted Friday to pass the big stimulus plan.

"I applaud President Obama's recognition that high-speed rail should be part of America's future," the Florida Republican beamed in a press release.

Yet Mica had just joined every other GOP House member in voting against the $787.2 billion economic recovery plan.

Republicans echoed their party line over and over during the debate: "This bill is loaded with wasteful deficit spending on the majority's favorite government programs," as Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R- Va. , put it.

But Mica wasn't alone in touting what he saw as the bill's virtues. Rep. Don Young , R- Alaska , also had nice things to say in a press release.

Young boasted that he "won a victory for the Alaska Native contracting program and other Alaska small business owners last night in H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090213/pl_mcclatchy/3167666;_ylt=A0wNcxnwZpZJQiMBVAE8KbIF

[Blue_In_AK]

1. Oh, come on, Don...

You've never met ANYBODY'S pet project that you didn't love ... or maybe there's just not any campaign money in it for you this time.

[FrenchieCat]

2. Young boasted that he "won a victory for the Alaska Native contracting program"?????

:wtf: How can you win something when you voted against that something?

[DRoseDARs]

5. Rude Pundit answers: By being a motherfucker, that's how.

Motherfuckers will vehemently deny fucking their mothers even as their mothers ask them in their most motherly voices, "Son < daughter >, please stop fucking me. I'm your mother for God's sake."

[Baby Snooks]

7. But he supported that one provison....

He supported Alaskans! Just not all the "wasteful spending" of the Democrats. In case you haven't noticed, Republicans in general aren't the brightest light bulbs. Especially in Alaska. By the same token, Democrats at times don't seem to be the brightest light bulbs either.

"We showed the Republicans we don't need them."

But with a huge addition to the already huge deficit for things that simply are not going to "stimulate" much of anything in terms of the economy. Which was supposed to be the reason for the legislation.

But what the hell. Wall Street had a party. So Main Street can have a party. The problem is the party on Main Street is still the party on Wall Street.

[firedupdem]

3. There is no level too low for this scum. They vote against it

but are excited about it?

:shrug:

[Bad Thoughts]

4. I never met a fish that didn't like water

And I never met a Republican who didn't like spending. Their fiscal conservatism is but rhetoric.

[Piewhacket]

6. Simple solution: then don't spend anything in mica's district.

[RBInMaine]

8. TYPICAL RePUKElican HYPOCRISY!

[radfringe]

9. new logo for the NOPE party

[NikolaC]

10. Yup Education, The Poor

Making sure that the execs who messed the hell up did not have salary caps. Them there's the right priorities! How dare the Dems want to do those things :sarcasm:!

[wroberts189]

11. Not one single shred of integrity... 3 lone pubs voted for it.

So called "party of values"

right

god I detest them.

[fasttense]

12. They were against it before they were for it. n/t

[Kip Humphrey]

13. Proof positive that the House Republicans are idiots representing only idiots!

:rofl: x 1,000

[Thor_MN]

14. What amazes me is their new found awareness that things have to be paid for.

Apparently deficits don't matter, unless there is a Democratic majority. Run up record debt over *'s reign of terra, no problem. That's the past, we have to focus on now and look forward. Now when we have to spend to try to salvage something out of their destruction of the economy and suddenly, spending is bad, it has to be paid back (but BTW, we need more tax cuts).

Way past time to kick these assholes to the curb, continually remind the public of the idiocy of conservative supply side economics bringing us to where we are now and send the 20% Republics into the irrelevancy they deserve.

[Mr. Sparkle]

15. Can we at least cut in half the amount of money going to districts that did not vote for the ..

stimulus bill. I know I'm a bad guy but look; there representatives said they didn't want it, I believe in freedom and choice and we know how much the republicans hate the government, so why not hold back the cash and give it to districts who do need it and will appreciate it.

If they are going to behave like a bunch of spoiled children, then so be it. Let the people throw these bums out of office when they realise the raw deal their representatives got for them.

[PJPhreak]

16. Two Faced Repub Bastages

"Just because Republicans spent too much money after September 11 and lost our way on financial matters doesn't mean the Democratic party should be allowed to wreck our ship of state," said Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tennessee. "This is taking us quickly down the wrong road. Vote no."

Just because Republicans spent too much money after September 11 and Lost Their Way?!?!?!?! WTF Is This BullPucky?? Then they have the gall to Vote no and Then say This is a good thing??? WTF??

[Gin]

17. they couldn't lose in this....vote no and keep your re-elections hopes alive.

and vote no and still get money for your state...it was a win win for the rethuglicans.

[DrZeeLit]

18. Lindsay "Drama Queen" Graham said it himself: he'd be stupid not to take the money.

[ohio2007]

19. Is the entire 1,000 page stimulus bill available on line?

Seems some pork got through between the lines imo.

[Alcibiades]

20. This should get reccommended

This is how we will continue to beat the republicans: call them out on their idiocy. Cudos to McClatchy for running this, although they still have a lot of work to do--especially at their Washington bureau--for the poor job they did during the Bush administration.

Keep it up!

:patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot:

[Odin2005]

21. Everyone attacks spending as "pork" unless the so-called "pork" is for them

This is why I hate the term "pork",it's a meaningless buzzword that plays into Puke memes about the "evils of big government".

[tblue37]

22. Heh heh heh.

[CanonRay]

23. One consistent thing you can count on from the GOP: Hypocracy

[No Elephants]

24. If this stimulus starts to work by 2010, Dems all over the country will need only

one campaign slogan, namely:

My opponent voted against the stimulus.

[Overseas]

25. I wished there had been subtitles while the GOP mocked the spending proposals

I wish that while those Republicans were mocking various examples of the stimulus spending, that a screen crawling line could have noted the state(s) in which the spending would occur.

"Mitch McConnel, R Kentucky. This project would benefit California, Colorado and Oregon."

I wanted to know which state the various projects each Republican condemned would be benefiting. Did their staffs dig up examples from Blue states? Or were they bipartisan in their citing of "ridiculous" spending that would put people back to work?

I wish we had truly liberal TV news so that Democrats could have gotten more air time to point out which states' spending those losers were laughing at. Whose jobs they decided to eliminate from the stimulus in favor of the fabulous tax cutting that got us into this mess in the first place.

I hope Democrats will be running ads with this material-- clips of Republicans condemning spending and promoting tax cuts, followed by clips of them boasting that they brought new spending to their states.

And the head of the Republican party saying government work is not a job could be a clip for comment by police, firefighters and food safety inspectors.

His comments about the impermanence of such work could be shown with half the screen running the headlines of recent layoffs of hundreds of thousands of workers in his precious privatized universe.