Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Reid, Brown Modest; Senate GOP Immature

Drudge today splashes the headline, BROWN VOTES FOR 'JOBS BILL'; JOINS DEM MAJORITY. Oh my God! He voted with Democrats! Say it ain't so, Scotty! We thought you were conservative!

The jobs bill that achieved cloture was the modest one with an estimated net cost of $15 billion and total spending and tax cuts of $125 billion. There are supposedly $110 billion of tax loopholes closed to make up the difference.

So the Republicans opposed this because they didn't want to authorize $125 billion of spending and confusing tax cuts, right? They wanted to close the tax loopholes and decrease the massive deficit, right? Oh no, wait, the GOP supported a nearly identical bill, except it contained $70 billion more net spending! When Harry Reid grew a testicle and kicked in the staves of that pork barrel, the GOP leadership threw a hissy fit.

Now? TPM reports that Repub leader McConnell and his crowd are voting 'no' because "they've been mistreated by Democrats". What a pathetic excuse for legislating.

Throw the bums out! Throw out the Democrats for increasing the deficit, for making tax law even more confusing, for playing favorites with industry, and for electioneering in a recession. Throw out the Republicans for wanting to do all of that, plus opposing legislation they believe is good (even though it's not) because of a playground spat. Two wrongs don't make a right!

A good word for Scott Brown: he stood up against his own party to keep things flowing in the Senate. Voting for mediocre legislation won't make him a shining star, but it's better than voting against mediocre legislation and demanding godawful porkulent legislation (hi, Chuck!).

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