David Frum explains why friends don’t let friends vote for Republicans
He wrote
The right kind of focused, temporary government spending can also be a powerful job creator. Over the next generation, we desperately need to improve our road, air, and rail networks and to modernize our systems for distributing electricity. We should be doing as much as possible of this work now, to spur recovery.
Unfortunately, infrastructure investment has been a victim of our broken politics. The money does not go to the best projects. The money is earmarked by the most powerful politicians. We need a new tunnel under the Hudson. We get a bridge to nowhere.
(via Jonathan Chait)
Pretty good for a Republican except for the bit about reality. We didn’t get a bridge to nowhere. The project was cancelled (and not because Palin said “thanks but no thanks”). Frum couldn’t be bothered to find an example of actual pork barrel spending, because he is a Republican and mere facts are beneath him.
But he does have a point. The transportation bill which included funding for the bridge to Gravina island was a monstrosity — passed by a House and Senate with Republican majorities and signed into law by George Bush Jr. Also Republican governor Christopher Christie’s decision to cancel the project to build a new tunnel under the Hudson was idiotic.
There is an easy solution to both problems noted by Frum. Never vote for a Republican again.
Maybe maybe if there were no elected Republicans Frum could find a decision made by a Democrat to criticize.
At the risk of sounding sensational, “Let The Games Brgin”. If what we have had previewed to date is any indication, we are in for one hell of a ride for the next 2 years.
Well we are going to hear about some modest spending cuts in the SOTU address although thankfully nothing about social security and then will hear about a lot of spending cuts from Wisconsin’s answer to Michelle Bachman which I expect will focus on social security tonight. I wonder if anyone will mention how well Britain’s austerity program is working out with a drop in GDP? I wonder if anyone will go back and read about what happened in this country in 1937 and 38 in preparing their remarks. Heck I wonder if anyone of them–or any of their economic advisers will simply page through Mike Kimmel’s book. But hey they are the best politicians that money can buy.
Norman–Budget cuts cannot be so finely tuned that they affect only libruls. Plenty of retired conservatives will suffer with their more liberal peers if Medicare doctors’ reimbursement rates and other benefits get cut. Say goodbye to whatever outpatient tests and treatment they may receive for their kidney disease, hypertension, coronary artery disesase and the miscellaneous tests you need to make sure the meds are working.
These people end up dead from lack of medical treatment in pretty short order and they know it. Unhappy seniors put an end to the Great Rostenkowski’s apparently safe seat in Illinois. Mr. Boehner and his friends can meet the same end if they aren’t careful.
Since this President is a Democrat, it benefits R’s that this population will blame the evil Dem in the WH. However, once his administration ends, especially if Obama becomes a one term President, the Republican President will take his place as the villain du jour for as long as he’s in office. And, so on. Meanwhile, the national debt will not get any smaller because everything left after paying for the MIC’s newest toys will go to prop up the corporate welfare system in other areas. The Banks will take their usual cuts and nothing will change.
I suspect everyone who comments here knows this. So, we know what’s coming. Another X years of chaos in Congress and nothing going on in the economy. But, the Repubs get to blame the TP’ers in Congress and the Dem in the WH. Win Win! NancyO
Right again, Norman. It’s likely to be a difficult and contentious period in American politics. I cannot find any evidence to suggest that deficits and the debt really matter politically except as a pretext for one policy or another. Now it’s austerity that both parties want. If it were convenient to start another war, then the we’d spend any amount of borrowed money to pursue a new military adventure, debt or no debt. But until that happens, any amount of domestic spending, no matter how small, will be too much for conservatives in Congress and elsewhere and the more liberal members will be unable to quash the conservatives complaints.
The urge to cut SS and Medicare may be irresistible to the freshman conservatives in Congress. If so, they should be forewarned. Programs like SS and Medicare are essential to as many conservatives as liberals. In fact, it’s impossible to craft benefit cuts so carefully as to insure they affect only the liberals in the population. So long as the Dems take the blame for the cuts, the R’s will benefit politically. But, at some point the R’s will start wearing the Black Hat again. Meanwhile, another 10 years will pass, and the End of the World won’t come. We’ll still have a Hugh Jiddett and the banks will have found another way to rip us off. Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose. NancyO