Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Sunday, February 1, 2009

SARAH PALIN BACKS PRESIDENT OBAMA'S STIMPAK PLAN


Someone. Quick! Alert the Hindenburg of Gasbags! Just the other day he stated that Sarah Palin is the head of the Republican Party.

Has the HoG gotten the message that she supports President Obama's stimulus package?

What will the HoG do?! In hoping that President Obama fails, he has now indirectly passed the Hope of Failure onto the Hope of the Republican Party.

Do the Republican governors actually know more about what's happening to our economy than the putative Professor of Economics, el Rushbo? Is it possible that without the stimulus package, these governors will see unprecedented economic disasters in their states?

This means that Republicans/conservatives will actually have to THINK for themselves about the President's plans instead of listening to the HoG and swallowing his rancid rhetoric.

Patrick! And all my conservative friends! What do you think of your Heart Throb in Black Boots now?


Palin Among GOP Govs Backing Obama Plan

Posted Jan 31, 09 5:07 PM CST in Politics


(AP) – Most Republican governors have broken with GOP colleagues in Congress and are pushing for passage of Barack Obama's economic aid plan that would send billions to states for education, public works, and health care, the AP reports. Their state treasuries drained by the financial crisis, governors welcome the money from Capitol Hill, where GOP lawmakers are more skeptical of Obama's spending priorities.


Governors Sarah Palin, Charlie Crist, and Jim Douglas are among those urging lawmakers to support the bill. "As the executive of a state experiencing budget challenges, Gov. Douglas has a different perspective on the situation than congressional Republicans," a rep said. Not a single Republican voted with the majority last week when the House approved Obama's $819 billion combination of tax cuts and new spending.


The 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, planned to meet in Washington this weekend with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and other senators to press for her state's share of the package.


Florida Gov. Charlie Crist worked the phones last week with members of his state's congressional delegation, including House Republicans. Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas, the Republican vice chairman of the National Governors Association, planned to be in Washington on Monday to urge the Senate to approve the plan.


And on another note:
Palin stiffs the House Republicans
January 31, 2009 7:34 PMdschabner-->
ABC News' Jonathan Karl reports: When House Republicans planned their annual winter retreat, they extended an invitation to Alaska Gov. Sara Palin, hoping the party's 2008 vice presidential nominee would give a morale-building speech to the more than 130 Republican members of
Congress gathered this weekend in Hot Springs, Va.
Retreat organizers tell ABC News that Palin politely declined, giving a perfectly understandable reason. According to the Congressional Institute, which hosted the conference, Palin said she simply could not make it to the retreat because pressing state business made it impossible for her to leave Alaska this weekend.
So where is Palin this weekend? She's in Washington, D.C., attending the super-elite Alfalfa Dinner.
"She lied to us," said a Republican at the retreat.
Asked why Palin told the Republicans she could not leave Alaska this weekend, Palin spokesman Bill McAllister offered this non-responsive answer:
"My understanding is that the governor has not scheduled any partisan events on her current trip to D.C.," McAllister told ABC News.
The House Republicans seemed to do just fine without Palin. Their list of speakers included Republican stars Michael Steele, Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and Newt Gingrich.
Asked about Palin's no-show, House Republican leader John Boehner shrugged.
"Whatever," Boehner said.

25 comments:

TAO said...

Even Republicans want handouts...

Imagine that?!

Obama has gone from being a terrorist to being a free meal for Sarah Palin...

I imagine without Stevens Alaska is kind of hurting....

Joe "Truth 101" Kelly said...

Let me tell you why the Governors want this. JOBS. Most Congressional seats are in safe districts. The incumbent would have to be caught buggering an alter boy to get booted out. But a governor of a state that's hemorraging jobs is in trouble whether it's his/her fault or not.
I love the irony that one man's welfare is another's stimulus.

Unknown said...

Imagine how Republicans will fare in the next elections, if the people find out they refused Billions in federal money, just because they played partisan politics and followed the advice of Rep. Boehner and voted against the Presidents stimulus plan.

The perception (now reality) that the President is on the peoples side and Republicans just want to try and save some face (political power) makes the Republicans the losers, and shows President Obama is a good, hard hitting politician.

Even after the elections of 2006 and 2008 the Republicans have still not gotten the message - we tried your way and you totally screwed it up, so try supporting your new President and a majority of the American people.

Ruth said...

TX Gov Perry is slamming the stimulus bill while lobbying for it thru state transportation officials.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Ruth,

That seems, uh, deceitful, no?

Keep us informed of this cute tactic by Perry.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Frank Rich hit it out of the park today in his column. Here's how he ended it:


Obama no doubt finds Limbaugh’s grandiosity more amusing than frightening, but G.O.P. politicians are shaking like Jell-O. When asked by Andrea Mitchell of NBC News on Wednesday if he shared Limbaugh’s hope that Obama fails, Eric Cantor spun like a top before running off, as it happened, to appear on Limbaugh’s radio show. Mike Pence of Indiana, No. 3 in the Republican House leadership, similarly squirmed when asked if he agreed with Limbaugh. Though the Republicans’ official, poll-driven line is that they want Obama to succeed, they’d rather abandon that disingenuous nicety than cross Rush.

Most pathetic of all was Phil Gingrey, a right-wing Republican congressman from Georgia, who mildly criticized both Limbaugh and Sean Hannity to Politico because they “stand back and throw bricks” while lawmakers labor in the trenches. So many called Gingrey’s office to complain that the poor congressman begged Limbaugh to bring him on air to publicly recant on Wednesday. As Gingrey abjectly apologized to talk radio’s commandant for his “stupid comments” and “foot-in-mouth disease,” he sounded like the inmate in a B-prison-movie cowering before the warden after a failed jailbreak.

“It’s up to me to hijack the Obama honeymoon,” Limbaugh soon gloated, “and I’ve done it.” In his dreams. He has hijacked what’s left of the Republican Party; the Obama honeymoon remains intact. The nightmare is that we have so irrelevant, clownish and childish an opposition party at a moment when America is in an all-hands-on-deck emergency that’s as trying as war. To paraphrase a dictum that has been variously attributed to two of our most storied leaders in times of great challenge, Thomas Paine and George Patton, the Republicans should either lead, follow or get out of the grown-ups’ way.

dmarks said...

I remember Tex Gov Perry. I used to read Molly Ivins, and she did nothing but talk about his hair.

But I've seen many others oppose the stimpak, including Tao.

By the way, Tao, you've found a way to keep my off your blog. There's some add-on there that usually crashes my browser. I think it is the music one :)

dmarks said...

I've got a new quiz on my blog, some of you will hate it and some will love it.

Anonymous said...

Palin proves herself once again as an opportunist and a liar. Some things never change. She calls him a terrorist, sits back while her "fans" call for his death and now she wants money from his stim package so he's her new BFF. She sucks.

dmarks said...

When did she say he was a terrorist?

And the secret service checked into the famous "kill him" incident and found out that it didn't happen. But it got a lot of mileage because a lot of people wanted it to have happened

Patrick M said...

Shaw, you need to read a little deeper. The article you link to was written based on the AP story. Here's the real story, which does not have Sarah out endorsing the plan, merely begging for her cut.

But even that has me pissed off.

Anonymous said...

Palin truly is a tapdancing vaudeville parsite....

Sarah palin-Tonya Harding 2012!!!

From WONKETTE, I WISH I thought of this !!!!

Anonymous said...

dmarks, for Christ's sake, what is it with you people? Yes, yes someone did, in fact, yell the following: "treason", "off with his head", "kill him" and "terrorist" at McCain Palin rallies. It's on frickin' youtube for crying out loud. I love how you can deny something that's on tape. That's awesome.

Anonymous said...

oh and, we WANTED to have it happen?? What?????? How does your brain work? I don't get you.

dmarks said...

Anon: I thought of that right away too. Considered a joke about Nancy Kerrigan and clubbing in the kneecap.

Anon2: The secret service said that no "kill him" statement occured. Someone did call Obama a terrorist, but it was not Sarah Palin. An Anon above claimed Sarah Palin said this, and that is simply not true.

Anon3: The partisan-beyond-all-reason blogs lit up with glee when the fake report of "kill him" came out. They did not light up near as much when the secret service found out it never happened.

Anonymous said...

dmarks: for clarity, SHE didn't actually come out and SAY he's a terrorist, but I think if you look back at her rallies, it's abundantly clear she incited it. Nobody was "scared of him" or calling things like that out before she started her whole campaign to make people scared of him. Secondly, the secret service's investigation would have relied on people at her rallies to confirm that "kill him" was yelled. Clearly they would not have admitted that. So the "investigation" went nowhere. You can hear the yelling, see videos of the people in line at the rallies calling Obama a terrorist, including the guy with the monkey all on youtube so denial won't work. She incited it, no question about it. Her entire campaign was based on "vote for us, the other guy is a terrorist" the fact that she didn't come right out and say that means nothing. People got the message loud and clear. Admittedly, some of the fringe on the left may have thrived on the kill him investigation going forward, but sane people were terrified by the way her supporters were acting. It was out of control and everybody knows it. You can split hairs if you want, it is what it is.

Shaw Kenawe said...

dmarks and anon, I, II, and III,

That mentality is still alive on some rightwing blogs.

One of them today, listed all the failures of the Obama Administration, without understanding that any international problems happening last week or this week, would be a result of the Bush administration.

President Obama's been in office 12 days, hardly enough time for milk to go bad, let alone cause foreign policy failures.

The rightwingers are so crazed over Obama's popularity, here and worldwide, that they are praying to their Lord God on High for him to fail.

Any slip-up, and they stampede to their blogs to post it and predict the end of America as we know it.

This is a new sensibility in America: A group of people who are out of power, praying for the president to fail not only in foreign policy, but in helping America out of the catastrophic financial mess that THEIR president saw happen during his administration and dumped on Obama.

Not to mention the unresolved problems in Iraq, and the escalating war in Afghanistan.

And these noodlebrains blame this on Obama. TWELVE DAYS.

As I've said, I've never seen anything like this in my life--perhaps we should all take a minute to examine what the hell is wrong with us--but more important what is wrong with people who actually hope for a disaster in Obama's administration.

Anonymous said...

The attention span of Americans seems to be shrinkng by leaps & bounds. Add that to the mix of a feeble grasp of history and a profound lack of interest in the rest of the world and voilà! Public discourse at a level scarcely imaginable given the advantages we enjoy.

Go figure.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Arthurstone,

The 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln is the 12th of this month [also Charles Darwin's, he and Lincoln were born on the same day, same year--imagine].

I visit conservative blogs as you do and comment. One of these blogs featured a writer/contributor, a conservative Republican, who called Lincoln a fascist. Imagine THAT.

He didn't give any reason for calling him that vile name--just put it out there as though it was received wisdom--because he said so. Then pronounced that so were Wilson and Roosevelt--the worst of the fascists.

dmarks said...

Anon: "dmarks: for clarity, SHE didn't actually come out and SAY he's a terrorist, but I think if you look back at her rallies, it's abundantly clear she incited it."

No, she didn't. She did not say it or tell others to.

"Secondly, the secret service's investigation would have relied on people at her rallies to confirm that "kill him" was yelled. Clearly they would not have admitted that."

So, it remains an urban legend. Conveniently unproven. Only true to those who want it to be true.

"She incited it, no question about it"

Actually, she said that Obama associates with terrorists. She never said Obama actually was one, or suggested killing him in any way, shape, or form. Not only is there "question", it is irrefutable that she did not incite it.

" Her entire campaign was based on "vote for us, the other guy is a terrorist""

Now you are making stuff up. I visited McCain-Palin web sites, and saw speeches. For one, the sentence you used above was never ever used by the campaign. The only claim similar to that was that his friends were terrorists. Big difference. For another, they did speak on other issues. Mostly on other issues, in fact. The vast majority of the time. Sorry, they never said or did what you wanted them to have said or did.

"the fact that she didn't come right out and say that means nothing"

It means everything. Don't you realize that if you try to quote someone and it turns out that they never said it, that it actually matters?. She never said what you claim she said. She never asked others to say it. I guess facts don't matter and people can "say" anything you want them to if you put entirely fake quotes in their mouths.

"but sane people were terrified by the way her supporters were acting. It was out of control and everybody knows it. You can split hairs if you want, it is what it is."

At least you have moved away from claiming she said stuff she never said or meant, or incited things without any evidence that she did.


Shaw: "I visit conservative blogs as you do and comment. One of these blogs featured a writer/contributor, a conservative Republican, who called Lincoln a fascist. Imagine THAT."

I have encountered some Southern conservatives (neoonfederates) who view the old South as a people's paradise of perfect principles of liberty, and Lincoln as an evil northern aggressor. I detest such, and would rather be called a liberal than to be called one of them.

Shaw: "One of them today, listed all the failures of the Obama Administration, without understanding that any international problems happening last week or this week, would be a result of the Bush administration."

I don't think I'm that hard on him, but I do admit I light into him harshly for nominating tax crooks to the Cabinet (twice so far?), and hiring lobbyists when he said he would not. I don't really consider those to be right-wing v left-wing criticisms, though. He's supposed to better than this.

Anonymous said...

Google 'Democrats soft on terrorism' and have a look-see.

Much of the GOP rhetoric, during the primaries and in the campaign itself repeated the same old Republican lie that Dems are weak on defense and unpatriotic.

To deny it happened at this stage is perverse.

dmarks said...

Arthurstone: I remember this rhetoric. Certainly. But no-where in there is the "fact" that Sarah Palin said that Obama was a terrorist. Because that is just not a fact.

Anonymous said...

dmarks typed:

"But no-where in there is the "fact" that Sarah Palin said that Obama was a terrorist. Because that is just not a fact."



A distinction without a difference.

Gordon Scott said...

The calumny that Palin "incited" folks at her rallies has been raised before here at PE. The falsehood was shot down then, too:
Secret Service says "Kill him" allegation unfounded

The investigation relied on people at the rally, as well as Secret Service agents who are scattered in the crowd.

It didn't happen. Quit claiming that it did.

dmarks said...

Arthur: A distinction that means everything. Someone claimed that Palin said something, and it turns out she never said it at all.