Well, they did just what Josh Marshall predicted. The House Republicans whined and demanded, and Obama gave them some of what they wanted: more tax cuts than the Democrats wanted and cut out the funding for state family planning support -- and every single House Republican said No. Along with 11 Democrats.
Still, the economic recovery bill passed by a comfortable margin of 244-188. It shows what strength the Democrats have. They should go ahead and do what will work best, and let the Hoover Boys stew in their own constituents' anger.
It was a noble effort on Obama's part. But in the end, as I said in my prior post, he was earnestly trying for bipartisanship, but the Republicans were playing politics.
So let them play politics -- and lose. As Henry Waxman said: "Republicans haven't quite made the adjustment to their minorty status." They lost the vote, but they're acting like they won, because they kept Obama from having any bipartisan support. And they're trying to drive a wedge between him and Nancy Pelosi, saying things like, "Now maybe he (Obama) will tell Pelosi to work with us." Why would he bother? They've already proved they don't want to play ball. They just want to keep Obama from having a bipartisan bill. Don't give them another inch.
The bottom line: The House passed the bill by a good margin. The Democrats won. The Republicans lost.
Ralph
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