It's a trap!
And, predictably, Republicans are falling for it.
Just hours ago, Eric Cantor (R-another planet) went on the official Republican propaganda outfit and badmouthed jobs spending as something Republicans can't agree to. Citing his wish to work with the White House on only the tax cuts side of the President's new jobs proposal, Cantor is signaling that the GOP has taken the bait hook line and stinker.
Like an idiot.
The GOP is screwed. If he does this the right way Obama is about to eat their lunch.
I DARE Republicans to vote against the American Jobs Act. I double dare them.
But Republicans are not that stupid, they are stupid, for the most part, the way most greedy people are. They can't see farther ahead than the next quarter, they don't realize that their greed and unflinching assholery might cost them in the long run. The GOP thinks they can whittle down the President's bold proposal into smaller bills specifically targeted at the tax cut provisions the GOP likes while leaving the spending side of this second stimulus bill on the side of the road.
What they are forgetting at their own peril is that Barack Hussein Obama can run one hell of a campaign, and the President has developed quite a knack for beating Republicans in elections.
More below the fold
Now, remember that basically every piece of the proposal President Obama laid out yesterday has been supported at one time or another by the GOP, because this is key/
When Republicans balk at parts or all of of Obama's jobs plan, as they predictably will, because in about 2 hours Eastern Time Friday today Rush Limbaugh is going to badmouth it and every Republican will be forced to agree with him, when that happens the trap will be set. And every idiot Republican that goes along with Rush will have fallen into a brilliant trap.
Oppose President Obama's jobs plan at your own peril, Republicans. But you can't help yourself, hating this President is the only thing they are good for.
Because if Obama takes this to the public with the message that the Republican party doesn't care about jobs, if Obama takes a powerful message to the American people that Republicans are against the Obama jobs plan because they want to go back to the George W. Bush way of doing things, if Obama makes the case to the American public that the only way to pass Obama's jobs plan is to get rid of the do-nothing Republicans in Congress and elect Democrats, then the 2012 elections will become a battle held on Democratic turf for once, and it will boil down to a simple message; Democrats care, Republicans don't.
If you are a "Job creator" the Republicans care, if not, they don't.
If you are a military contractor or a Oil company Republicans care, if not, they don't.
And on and on.
Because if Republicans show ANY opposition to the American Jobs Act in any way it gives the President a BIG STICK. Obama will be able to tell America that Republicans won't even support their own ideas if the President does. Obama will be able to tell the public that Republicans hate Obama more than they love their country. I doubt Obama says it like that, he will more likely say they choose party over country, the party of "Country first" is anything but that, and they will have proven it by proving once again that they are the party of NO, even when it comes to jobs.
This is just brilliant. If Republicans put up a fight at all over this jobs bill they will be digging their own political graves. Even better, given a strong hand, if Obama takes the fight to the GOP he will be able to prove to independents and disaffected Dems that he is willing to fight for working class people while Republicans can only fight against them. You want jobs? Vote for Democrats, because Republicans don't care.
And Eric Cantor has already taken the bait, already he is showing GOP leadership is in opposition to any spending on jobs, even if it is offset by cuts elsewhere, even if these proposals are ideas that the GOP already supports. Republicans only care about one thing, defeating Obama, and if that means standing in the way of a jobs bill so they can make things worse and blame it on Obama they will do that. By standing in the way, as they will surely do, Republicans are falling right into that trap.
And we all know that there are at least 60 new teabagger Freshman in the House who will never support this jobs proposal, and that makes things even worse for Cantor and Boehner, it guarantees that this "divide the GOP and conquer them" plan will work, because if GOP House leadership wants to avoid this trap they will have a hard time rounding up the votes in their own caucus, which means that even with Minority Leader Pelosi's help to pass the bill the teabagger house caucus will almost certainly ensure that Republicans will look bad by opposing this plan, that's what makes this so brilliant, the GOP CAN NOT WIN, they are going to fight this tooth and nail and they are going to look bad doing it with everyone who isn't already a dittohead, and between that and the GOP Presidential primary frontrunners messages of attacking social security and defending corporations, the President has them in a corner.
So I tip my hat to our President. His message was loud and clear, "Pass the whole bill as soon as possible"
And Republicans have fallen for the trap.
What's more, do we actually have message consistency? W00T W00T
Today, the White House offered its answer: Sorry, we want the whole bill passed. Nothing less.
With the spin war over the speech now shifting to a phase where Republicans are telegraphing a desire to compromise, even as Obama hits the road to sell his whole plan to the American people, this exchange on MSNBC this morning between Chuck Todd and White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer struck me as important:
TODD: The bill gets sent to Congress next week. Are you guys assuming that it gets sort of piecemealed, that at the end of the day you’re going to get some of what you want but not all of what you want?
PFEIFFER: No, we’re not assuming that. The president said it 16 times, I’ll say it a 17th time today. He wants them to pass the American Jobs Act. That’s the piece of legislation he’s sending up. It’s a simple thing. Puts the Americans back to work and puts more money into the pockets of working families. Our belief is that everything in this bill is reasonable. Everything in the bill has bipartisan support. Everything will have an effect right now. And so we want them to pass it.
~snip~
But this time — for now, at least — the usual dynamic seems to be reversed. It’s Republicans who want to be seen signaling a desire to compromise at the outset, while Obama and White House are the one sinsisting they won’t budge — and are even prepared to take their case to the American people to prove it, whether Republicans like it or not.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
We want JOBS, Republicans, and we want them NOW. Pass the damn bill ASAP or face the consequences.
Great job, Mr. President, now keep at it. We will support you.
And trust me, we need this boost bad, the sooner the better,
so to Republicans, here is your choice, lead, follow or get out of the way, and you refuse to lead and you can only follow Rush Limbaugh, so get out of the way before Obama bulldozes over you.
Amen.
And cheers
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