Althouse: "If they think... Barack Obama is going to walk away from what he is trying to do for the American people, they’ve got another thought coming."

February 5, 2009

"If they think... Barack Obama is going to walk away from what he is trying to do for the American people, they’ve got another thought coming."

Another thought coming? Uh, duh, Harry Reid coins a phrase.

And Chuck Schumer says: "Despite the efforts of the president, Senator Reid, and all of us to reach out, we’re getting rebuffed. Has bipartisanship been a failure? Well, so far it’s not working. But it takes two to tango and the Republicans aren’t dancing."

Not dancing? You could try that thing where you shoot a gun at their feet and yell "Dance!"

68 comments:

Dust Bunny Queen said...: Not dancing? You could try that thing where you shoot a gun at their feet and yell "Dance!"

You forgot to add......Dagnabit!! and othre authentic western gibberish.; 2/5/09, 5:20 PM
Maxine Weiss said...: "A man sitting near me is eating a bowl of soup with such enthusiasm that... well, it's scaring me. "

Why on earth tell Twitter; why not tell him?

You might just strike up a conversation and make an introduction.; 2/5/09, 5:21 PM
Anonymous said...: "Rebuffed"? Shumer used the word "rebuffed"? What a fag.; 2/5/09, 5:25 PM
ricpic said...: Wasn't it only last week that Obama's response to a Republican proposal that modest tax cuts be included in the Porkulus Bill was, "I won?"

And that quote should be: do to the American people.; 2/5/09, 5:25 PM
Henry said...: No, Harry, they don't think that. They want Obama -- and you and Nancy and Chuck -- to get ALL the credit. Republicans are big hearted that way.; 2/5/09, 5:29 PM
blake said...: Not do for but do t--oh, goldarnit, ricpic!; 2/5/09, 5:44 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: I can understand their problem. The Republicans are refusing to be rolled, and the Democrats just can't figure out why.

If the Democrats want Republican cover on this bill, they are going to have to give the Republicans a lot of what they want. They aren't going to though, because as multiple Democrats have pointed out, they won, and so figure that they should be writing the legislation - which of course they are.; 2/5/09, 5:45 PM
AllenS said...: Dance with the one that brung ya.; 2/5/09, 5:56 PM
Bissage said...: And the Angel of the Lord did appear before Chuck Schumer, and he was sore afraid, and the Angel did say unto him, “Somebody, somebody has to cry.”; 2/5/09, 5:57 PM
Rose said...: Obama's mistake - ordering up all the "SHOVEL READY" projects as a solution. By definition it brings in all the pork projects, all the butterfly gardens, all the fish ladders, all the bridges to nowhere. That is basically what Congress gave him, birth control and smoking cessation and all, and he is apparently unable to say, whoops, that's not what I meant.

Obama's mistake - deciding to try to rush this thing through, rather than step back and take a clear look at the root causes of the problem, then addressing those problems, even when the problem is Barney Frank.

Obama's mistake - Claiming that 'education spending' will solve the crisis. This isn't the Chicago Annenberg Challenge money given to him to piss away on activist projects, and celebrating Juneteenth, but that is how he thinks, and it is now finally coming to light. Everything we need to know about how the POTUS attacks a problem is right there in the Annenberg Challenge.

Obama's problem - people are seeing through it. Thus the impassioned speeches.

Two solutions for Obama -

1. It's the housing market. Fixing that problem puts all kinds of people BACK to work. Creating a bunch of new bridge painting jobs won't do that. Housing drives so many jobs, carpenters, sheetrock layers, lumber, plumbing, manufacturers and laborers, real estate agents, title companies, landscapers, decorators, people who make and sell curtains, rugs, furniture - the list is endless.

It is a SIMPLE FIX.

2. If you insist on pursuing INFRASTRUCTURE projects, you must first institute a ban or a stay on predatory litigious activist environmentalist groups who obstruct, delay and stop those projects with predatory lawsuits, driving up costs and dragging out production schedules for years. Be honest and admit why the New Orleans levees hadn't been strengthened.

In northern California, CalTrans is proposing to widen curve in a major highway (101) at Richardson Grove. It means cutting down a couple of trees. That simple fix is being fought by the activist community. You can pass all the infrastructure projects through in this monstrosity, it will be YEARS before any of that money hits the private sector IF EVER.

They will also NOT automatically put the carpenters, plumbers, electricians, sheetrockers, real estate agents, etc. back to work. They aren't going to get hired to build a bridge.

For God's sake put an end to this process. Do not go on a national crusade to force it down our throats. And burden future generations with the costs of this ill thought out "solution."; 2/5/09, 5:58 PM
Nagarajan Sivakumar said...: I just dont get one thing - WHY dont the Democrats just go ahead and have a vote on the floor - they should be able to get RINO's like Specter and Susan Collins to support just about anything.

So even if Ben Nelson and Kent Conrad skip the vote, they should still have the effing 60 votes to avoid any chances of a filibuster.

Reid is already claiming that he has the votes - so WHY are they wagging their tounges ? Just go ahead and DO the DAMNED thing !

They are not going to get any Republican cover for this piece of crapola in the Senate either.

Just when i think that the GOP is in the full-pansy mode, the DemocRATS seem to give them competition.

Has the US Congress ever had two more worthless leaders than Reid and Pelosi ? I mean, i am really asking !; 2/5/09, 5:59 PM
Revenant said...: I've heard the minority party complain that it was being shut out of debate. I've heard the majority complain that the minority refused to end debate, e.g. by filibustering.

But this might be the first time I've heard the majority complain that the minority was excluding itself from the debate. How often do you hear screams of "partisanship!" from a majority that is perfectly capable of passing the bill without minority "help"?; 2/5/09, 6:01 PM
Anonymous said...: What is there to dance about? If the dems want to drive the country off the cliff, why should everone else be required to get in the car?; 2/5/09, 6:02 PM
Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...: If they won't "walk away from" ... then I and plenty of others will try to skate the bastards off the puck.

This Obama - Pelosi bill is a complete laundry list of nearly everything the Donks know damned well could never pass in, you know, a real appropriation.

I've been running my own business for thirty years. I don't want your subsidies; I don't want your bailouts; I don't want your 'stimulus' -- even if you use a condom; I don't want the inevitable higher interest rates that come when the offer of Treasuries vastly exceeds demand; I don't want your attempts to nationalise the banks, especially the stupid ones; I don't want your socialist vision of health care; I don't want your attempt to tell me what kind of truck I can drive ...

I don't want what Obama and his friends are trying to do TO the American people -- which is to make sure that ordinary folks can't ever possibly have a couple of good years and therefore threaten the exalted position of the political class in Washington.

If they're lucky ... the modern cold tar and feathers will do. If they persist in their attempts to establish themselves as a nobility, stout hemp line is more in order.; 2/5/09, 6:07 PM
Wince said...: "Not dancing? You could try that thing where you shoot a gun at their feet and yell "Dance!""

Dance bitch! Break a leg, break it off.

-- Dance for Me, motherfucker.

Warning: NSFW or the squeamish!; 2/5/09, 6:19 PM
Methadras said...: Empty-suited thoughts that come from empty-suits only leads to empty ideas that require empty promises to be made and not kept. Hope and change is a sham and it's followers more so. Mr. Barely got his army of morons to vote for him and they are going to try and sink all of us along with their pathetic ideas. Ah shit, calling them ideas is a reach at that.; 2/5/09, 6:27 PM
The Dude said...: DEATH TO AMERICA!!!

Sorry, I was channelling a muslim there. BHO is not a muslim.; 2/5/09, 6:34 PM
Jason (the commenter) said...: The President is going to have a news conference about this on Monday, after it already had problems in the House and Senate? Generally it's helpful to get public support for something BEFORE you present it for a vote. He's had since he won the election to push this bill and he hasn't done a thing for it. Instead he spent his time vacationing and going to the gym. Oh, and writing that inauguration address.

What an ass.; 2/5/09, 6:45 PM
Anonymous said...: "But it takes two to tango and the Republicans aren’t dancing."

Obama - from The American Idol to Dancing with the Stars.

Obamamania was always about crappy reality TV anyway.

Our economy is like Survivor, our so called leaders belong on the D list with Kathy Griffin, most of the Obamadroids have grown up with Jerry Springer/Ricki Lake/Oprah and MTV.

We have handed over the executive branch of our government to a teleprompter addicted empty suit who has never so much as managed a small town McDonalds.

Let's not dance around the issue, we need someone to rise about all this pettiness. We need someone who can say - I am a hero who never fails. I cannot be bothered with such details.; 2/5/09, 6:54 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "You might just strike up a conversation and make an introduction."

I would never have sex with a man who ate soup like that. He was doing these really fast, picky little bites and clicking his spoon on the bowl with each dip as if he was some insane percussion instrument. Plus, he did not look like Cary Grant.; 2/5/09, 7:02 PM
blake said...: Quayle-- We're all in the car. What we're being asked to do is join in the stomping down of the accelerator.

And nobody's at the wheel.; 2/5/09, 7:06 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: I would never have sex with a man who ate soup like that.

How about with a guy who eats his Snickers bar with a knife and fork?; 2/5/09, 7:08 PM
Ann Althouse said...: @Maguro LOL. I'm trying to screen out the insane.; 2/5/09, 7:13 PM
Joe M. said...: I suppose this means that Harry Reid now does work for Barack Obama?

Mr. Reid ... said that he was confident that Democrats ... could win the support of the two or three Republicans needed to surmount procedural hurdles and push the bill to a vote.

Damned "procedural hurdles!" Always getting in the way of progress!; 2/5/09, 7:22 PM
Eli Blake said...: Democrats and Barack Obama met with Republicans to get their input.

They've already stripped out some of the spending and a third of the current Senate version is tax cuts.

So my observations are this:

1. Republicans apparently think they should be able to write the whole bill, not just have a say in it (which they're getting), and

2. What Obama has done, meeting with GOP lawmakers, is already a heck of a lot more bipartisan than anything Bush ever did; 2/5/09, 7:24 PM
Maxine Weiss said...: A good reason not to have sex with him is because he hasn't given you a suitable engagement ring.

Failure to ladle his soup in an appropriate manner is not a reason.

http://twitter.com/maxinesplace; 2/5/09, 7:29 PM
Anonymous said...: What Obama has done, meeting with GOP lawmakers, is already a heck of a lot more bipartisan than anything Bush ever did

You mean like Bush getting 29 Dems to vote "yes" to authorize war in Iraq?

Let's see Obama get 29 GOP votes for this package.; 2/5/09, 7:32 PM
Anonymous said...: 29 Dems

And that was just in the Senate.

You think Obama can get 29 Repub Senators to vote for his package right now?; 2/5/09, 7:34 PM
garage mahal said...: People went to the polls last Nov because they wanted to hear John Boehner say that Republicans unanimously oppose anything but what they proposed the prior 8 years. The election was a referendum on that! Winning by 50+ votes in the House was a huge setback for Obama and a big win for Republicans.; 2/5/09, 7:35 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: As Reynolds pointed out, you just can't make this sort of stuff up. Apparently, impeached Gov. Blago managed to get a 2 billion dollar earmark into the bill: What's in the Stimulus?: An Earmark as Big as the Ritz; 2/5/09, 7:36 PM
JAL said...: Did you see that Blagojevich's Illinois gets $2 BILLION for a power plant to nowhere?

Unbelievable.

Snowe, Collins,and maybe Specter and Voinivich (is that the spelling?) deserve to have their phones rung off the hook, and then their necks (figuratively). Voting them out of office might work ... then they can go to work for the Prez.

Obama met with Collins (personally) and she is charmed to vote for it. Unbelievable.; 2/5/09, 7:46 PM
SteveR said...: This is an easy thing for Republicans to oppose. To start with, playing nice gets them nowhere and Obama's bipartisan attempt is just an attempt to co-opt blame when the package does not do what they say it will, which is highly likely.

If its a sure thing to work, pass it without Republican support and take the glory and increase your congressional leads in 2010.

You have to ask why they feel the need to get bipartisan support, and doing the Republicans a favor, is not the answer.; 2/5/09, 7:50 PM
jayne_cobb said...: Yes, a majority voted for Obama.

And now a majority opposes the current stimulus bill. In fact a plurality seems to prefer the tax cut plan put forward by the Republicans.

But hey, Obama won (he even said so) and the Republicans should just roll over.

On an unrelated note his Labor Secretary's hearing was canceled after it turned out her husband hadn't paid a tax lien in 16 years. Although this one was merely $6400.; 2/5/09, 7:55 PM
jayne_cobb said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/5/09, 7:56 PM
Darcy said...: Ha ha, Althouse. I can see where you're coming from. Watching someone eat can be a lot more than a turn off. I've felt like I've wanted to bolt from the dinner table on a few dates, let alone random people in restaurants.; 2/5/09, 7:59 PM
Palladian said...: "2. What Obama has done, meeting with GOP lawmakers, is already a heck of a lot more bipartisan than anything Bush ever did"

Except for that whole authorization of force in Iraq thing. That was fairly "bipartisan" wasn't it? Oh! I forgot! Your party was 'misled'.

Remember folks: the word "bipartisan" is generally used by politicians to mean "do what we want!".; 2/5/09, 8:05 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: I agree with SteveR. The problem for the Democrats here is that they have a pig that they are trying to dress up. If it works as stimulus, then they get the credit. They just want Republican cover in case it doesn't work. And as more and more of the sausage works become evident, they are more and more worried that when the package does not do the job of stimulating the economy that they are claiming it will do, then it will be evident to a large percentage of the voters that it really wasn't a stimulus bill at all, but rather merely a pretext for passing every Democratic wet dream of the last 14 years.; 2/5/09, 8:07 PM
Palladian said...: "Ha ha, Althouse. I can see where you're coming from. Watching someone eat can be a lot more than a turn off. I've felt like I've wanted to bolt from the dinner table on a few dates, let alone random people in restaurants."

What bothers me is the sound of eating. I cannot bear to hear other people chew and swallow food. I have to turn on music or a fan if it's quiet in the house and I have company. I remember, as a child, being absolutely disgusted when television commercials showed people gleefully eating potato chips or pretzels accompanied by that fake "crunch!" sound. Even thinking about it makes me nauseous.; 2/5/09, 8:08 PM
Anonymous said...: Same difference.; 2/5/09, 8:11 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: "2. What Obama has done, meeting with GOP lawmakers, is already a heck of a lot more bipartisan than anything Bush ever did"

This is a typical liberal logic flaw. Obama may have listened to the Republicans, but the Democrats refused to make any significant changes in the "stimulus" package as a result. The suggestion above is a classic case of form over substance. Obama talks the talk, but cannot walk the walk when it comes to bipartisanship.

Also, some more examples of Bush (43) bipartisanship - Bush working with Kennedy, on, for example immigration reform, where it was the Republicans who were essentially cut out.; 2/5/09, 8:14 PM
Darcy said...: Yes, some of the sounds bother me too, Palladian. I could barely stand for my sister to eat Cap'n Crunch near me. And she chewed with her mouth closed!; 2/5/09, 8:28 PM
MayBee said...: "2. What Obama has done, meeting with GOP lawmakers, is already a heck of a lot more bipartisan than anything Bush ever did"

Does nobody remember No Child Left Behind?
I know that, as with the Iraq War Resolution, the Democrats later turned on Bush and pretended it was his own great shame.

In the house, the co-authors were John Boehner (R) and George Miller (D). In the Senate, it was Judd Gregg! (R) and Edward Kennedy.

Bush and Kennedy made joint appearances to celebrate its passing.

It was the very picture of bipartisanship, and serves as a fine illustration of just what good bipartisanship with Democrats does when you get to election time.; 2/5/09, 8:30 PM
Ann Althouse said...: The most memorable thing to me in "Anna Karenina" is when Anna is disgusted by the sound of her husband's chewing. These are things that mean a lot.

BTW, I'm listening to a great audiobook, but occasionally the reader's mouth sounds are apparent and I am grossed out.; 2/5/09, 8:33 PM
Joe said...: "If they think... Barack Obama is going to walk away from what he is trying to do TO the American people..."

Fixed.

* * *

I love a statement Obama made today where he whined that he "talked" to the Republicans with a tone of "what more do they want?"

I don't know, how about a plan that isn't stupid as shit and which will cause more problems than it solves?

Hmm, Japan had a real estate crisis which led to a banking crisis and they tried to spend their way out of it. Didn't work out too well.; 2/5/09, 8:33 PM
Eric said...: Bruce, give it up. You have to realize when Democrats say "bipartisan" what they mean is "do it our way".; 2/5/09, 8:36 PM
MayBee said...: If you don't like the sound or sight of enthusiastic eating, I suggest you not go to Asia.; 2/5/09, 8:37 PM
MadisonMan said...: It's very hard to dance with Chuck Schumer. He's constantly scanning the room, craning his neck and looking around, to see if there is an open microphone anywhere. It really throws off your timing.; 2/5/09, 9:09 PM
MadisonMan said...: Even thinking about it makes me nauseous.

I am never nauseous. But sometimes I am nauseated.

(end of pedantry); 2/5/09, 9:11 PM
wgh said...: Which is coming, another thing or another think?; 2/5/09, 9:13 PM
Jason (the commenter) said...: Palladian: I cannot bear to hear other people chew and swallow food.

Ann Althouse: The most memorable thing to me in "Anna Karenina" is when Anna is disgusted by the sound of her husband's chewing.

Palladian, stay away from trains.; 2/5/09, 9:13 PM
sg said...: The fundamental lie about Obama's position is that he's saying he's going to replace jobs lost in manufacturing, housing, services, banking, etc. with jobs in health care and education, both industries of which are in no need of stimulus.

Basically, he's telling the laid off factory worker, electrician, or teller, that they need to learn how to empty bed pans or teach second grade.

As for pushing jobs in "green" industries, that is industrial policy at its worst. Regardless of how hard the government presses their finger on the scale, it will ultimately succeed or fail on it own merits.

So any money spent outside of basic research is money wasted.; 2/5/09, 9:14 PM
Revenant said...: What Obama has done, meeting with GOP lawmakers, is already a heck of a lot more bipartisan than anything Bush ever did

Considering that Bush's first major accomplishment in office was to push for and sign a bill coauthored by Ted Kennedy, that's a pretty fuckin' stupid thing to say, Eli.; 2/5/09, 9:21 PM
BJM said...: Obama has forgotten the key to successful negotiation; never let them see you sweat.

His televised speech at the Grandee's weekend getaway was 1/2 flop sweat and 1/2 Elmer Gantry.

Obama is failing to convince and as Mickey Kaus wondered today; does anyone fear President Obama?

Hell, even Etta James is dissing him.; 2/5/09, 9:34 PM
Palladian said...: "I am never nauseous. But sometimes I am nauseated.

(end of pedantry)"

I proscribe prescriptive grammarians!; 2/5/09, 9:38 PM
Anonymous said...: I thought it was a good campaign speech at the getaway.; 2/5/09, 9:42 PM
Anonymous said...: Also, in an unprecedented move, Bush re-nominated two Clinton circuit court nominees, whose nominations had expired.

Eli - if you're going to make baseless assertions, do it somewhere where people will just nod and accept them, like DU.; 2/5/09, 10:01 PM
Methadras said...: I would willingly go to jail to have the ability to punch Harry Reid in the face so hard that his great great great grandchildren feel it and know who did it. Just once, to shut this piece of human offal up. I actually miss the days of Daschle. [shudder]; 2/5/09, 10:02 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: You know, I'm starting to get negative vibes from you guys about this stimulus bill.; 2/5/09, 10:37 PM
blake said...: You're too sensitive, Chip.; 2/5/09, 11:05 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: So just how big does the Democratic majority have to be before they stop blaming Republicans for their own inability to pass laws?; 2/5/09, 11:22 PM
Peter said...: Trouble is, the Republicans are the ones with the guns, remember? Well, except for Jimmy Webb.; 2/5/09, 11:30 PM
Nichevo said...: "If they think... Barack Obama is going to walk away from what he is trying to do for the American people, they’ve got another thought coming."

Well, I hadn't hoped Obama would *resign* this early, but seeing how they like to escape from the White House - a month in! not even! - into the embracing arms of a classroomful of second graders, well then, maybe we can hope for change after all...

Oh, you meant the bill!

Oh and /pedantry on it's "another think coming." /pedantry off; 2/6/09, 12:23 AM
Chris Arabia said...: "The most dangerous place in Washington is between Charles Schumer and a microphone."

-- Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.)

(this was said in a conversation, not public appearance); 2/6/09, 3:16 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "If you don't like the sound or sight of enthusiastic eating, I suggest you not go to Asia."

I said I was screening out the insane. If I were in a place where it was the customary style, it wouldn't be insane. I don't think this would bother me. The soup guy wasn't slurping, btw. I wasn't being grossed out by mouth sounds, a la Anna Karenina. I was somewhere between puzzled and alarmed by someone being really weird. If everyone did it, it wouldn't be weird.

I've been in Japanese restaurants where customers were slurping loudly, and I wasn't grossed out. I was interested in the completely different custom. Also, I was amused.; 2/6/09, 4:28 AM
Patm said...: 2. What Obama has done, meeting with GOP lawmakers, is already a heck of a lot more bipartisan than anything Bush ever did"
_ _ _ _ _

You mean like when Bush invited Ted Kennedy to write the education bill that even the Dems now deride?; 2/6/09, 10:30 AM
Kurt said...: When Obama went into attack mode on the Republicans at yesterday's pricey House Democrat "Retreat," I considered it a major tactical win for the Republicans. After all, many Republicans warned that Obama had no record of bipartisanship time and again during the election. And here he and his party's leaders are whining that they're not getting Republican support for their porkfest bill--this after he turned away Republican suggestions about the stimulus by saying "I won" during his first week in office. Increasingly, he's being exposed for the partisan the Republicans said he was during the campaign.; 2/6/09, 10:56 AM
Nichevo said...: I should say, while I did not expect it of him, I think his resigning would be a good idea and he has my permission to do so. Biden hopefully can be dealt with...

oh who am I kidding?!? Lessee, Biden, Pelosi, Byrd, Clinton (?!?), how far down before we get somebody decent?; 2/6/09, 11:48 AM
Joe said...: "President Barack Obama decried as "inexcusable and irresponsible" the delay of his economic recovery legislation in Congress with an estimated 3.6 million Americans losing their jobs since the recession began."

Action defines what someone really believes; if Obama actually did take this seriously, he wouldn't be advocating a bill this bill, rather one that would have an immediate impact, such as reducing corporate taxation and capital gains and repealing Sarbanes-Oxley.

(If you really really believe man is destroying itself with CO2 emissions, you would support the immediate construction of pebble bed and breeder nuclear reactors. If you really believed in energy independence, you wouldn't cancel oil and gas leases in Utah. In both cases, you would put wind farms in Nantucket.); 2/6/09, 11:54 AM