Obama, Dems need to expose true GOP financial philosophy to get stimulus relief

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Chad Rubel

Republicans like to pretend that they don't like spending money. House Minority Leader John Boehner has been leading the charge that government spending on domestic issues is a misuse of government money.

But Republicans like to spend money on their own constituents. They like to spend money to give corporate fat cats huge tax breaks that won't help the economy. They like to spend money overseas, preferably to companies who work on the wars the GOP loves so much, even the ones started for legitimate reasons.

So what we have is a dose of hypocrisy. Republicans claim they hate spending money, except they will spend money on people they like.

We have on the table an $825 billion stimulus package, coming shortly after a $850 billion TARP package, with $700 billion going to banks, insurance companies, and Wall Street. The upcoming $825 billion package is split 2/3 ($550 billion) in spending and 1/3 ($275 billion) in tax cuts.

Since at least $700 billion of the first $850 billion is going to the constituency of the Republican Party, then a larger percentage should go to those sympathetic to Democrats.

But Republicans are crying foul (again). Even though the new package has 1/3 of unnecessary tax cuts, they still aren't happy. They want more.

President Barack Obama has been good about showing bipartisanship. But the Democrats gave too much in September, and they seem ready to give out more. Subsidies for family planning? Gone. Obama might have been correct that those subsidies should be dealt with separately, but again, there's more anger and concern with the left than with the right.

Republicans dug in their heels in September and are digging in now is that they love the perception that they are the party for fiscal responsibility. The MSM gives them a pass on this issue, and the Democrats seem afraid to portray it as otherwise.

If only Obama and the Democrats came out and said, "Republicans are fighting us tooth and nail because they don't want to spend money. But in reality, they do spend lots of money; they just don't want to spend money on you unless you already have money or you are a big corporation."

Portray them as the party that spent us into this recession on intangible results on U.S. soil. Note the wasted money spent in Iraq. Tie in L. Paul Bremer who couldn't account for missing money.

The Democratic Party is in a key position to say, "Money has been spent, but not on you. We are here to spend money on what is important to you. They don't want to help you unless you give them lots of money."

Right now, Republicans have no reason to be scared. Their core philosophy, which has more holes than Swiss cheese, is kept intact in the public realm. Don't wait for the MSM to challenge the idea; that won't ever happen.

And if the Democrats do stand up, there are great benefits. First of all, the people will be thrilled that someone in government will stand up for them. There is a swell of people who feel alienated because no party will stand up for them.

The GOP will become less of a force since they will be challenged. Sadly, the only thing a bully respects is a bigger bully. Alan Colmes might have respected Sean Hannity, but Hannity never felt that way about Colmes. If the Democrats stand up, the GOP might not like it, but they will respect it.

President Obama has strong approval ratings on his side, and a desperate financial situation among the people. If Obama and the Democrats can't stand up now, when will they ever have the cojones to stand up for us?

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

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