A Little "Mile High Magic" For Stimulus Bill

Another moment in the spotlight

This further highlights Colorado's emergence as a force in American politics, and the continuing rise of the west as a region in the field of renewable energy.

"What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof." - Christopher Hitchens

---

by: Cartesian Doubt @ Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 10:32:27 AM CST

Considering that CO is about 2% of the US population....

..its influence is beyond its quota.  From the Democratic convention to giving the not to Obama to showing a good state government model with the Dems in control, Obama knows where the action is!

"Collective fear stimulates herd instinct and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd." -Bertrand Russell

---

by: parsingreality @ Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 15:48:39 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Hardly where the action is

but won't piss off either coast since nobody cares about Colorado as PR points out.  

---

by: oldbogus @ Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 20:17:24 PM CST

[ Parent ]

So sad for the lib billionaires

Most are worth half of what they were worth a year ago.

They are really smart people.

---

by: Another skeptic @ Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 20:50:18 PM CST

[ Parent ]

So sad

except that only one of them was ever a billionaire.

---

by: RedGreen @ Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 21:06:21 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Nobody read the bill, few will, but we'll all pay for Obama's power play

I wasn't going rain on your parade, but the snotty comments about Coffman, et al demand a response.

Gullible Colorado voters elected Obama, and our gullible Senators Bennet and Udall joined our House hacks to enact a bill none of them read before they voted on it.

What a disgrace the cram down has been.

Obama and Colorado's Congressional Dems have shown their disrespect for voters and our democratic process.

Obama and Pelosi have a lot to hide, but it will come out and haunt them for years.

---

by: Another skeptic @ Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 20:45:17 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Few ever read any bill.

It's a physical impossibility for legislators in Congress to read more than a fraction of the legislation they vote on.

And, apparently, gullibility is a sound strategy for political success. Your characterization reminds me of Weekend Update last night on SNL, in which a blogger came on to ridicule the "losers" in the limelight. The joke's on you.

We're all in this story together: Let's make sure that we write it well.
http://www.steveharveyforcolor...

---

by: Steve Harvey @ Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 20:55:50 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Only the lobbyists got to read the bill

Change in Washington!

---

by: Another skeptic @ Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 21:10:36 PM CST

[ Parent ]

"What we have here

is a failure to communicate."

We're all in this story together: Let's make sure that we write it well.
http://www.steveharveyforcolor...

---

by: Steve Harvey @ Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 22:04:59 PM CST

[ Parent ]

More an unwillingness than failue

Just reflexive venom as usual.

"What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof." - Christopher Hitchens

---

by: Cartesian Doubt @ Sun Feb 22, 2009 at 14:09:36 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I'll take the troll-bait

This bill isn't perfect, but it's vital to the recovery of Colorado's, and the nation's faltering economy. Those of us with an interest in state government are greatly relieved that at least some stabilization money will be injected into the current budget process. And thousands of people in our state who are out of work will go back to work. This bill, however imperfect, is the beginning of turning America's focus back: away from the social ignorance of laissez-faire neo-Republican extremism, back toward recognition of both the importance of markets AND protection of the public's interests from markets.

If you oppose this bill, especially after the intense scrutiny it received and the cuts that were made, you are as guilty as Herbert Hoover of ignoring the reality the rest of the nation can no longer ignore. You wrap yourselves in the security blanket of a broken ideology, ineffectually whining while others lead. And you have been left behind--not just by the legislative process, or the majority of voters, but by the course of history itself.

How does that feel, throwbacks?

---

by: JeffcoBlue @ Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 10:34:42 AM CST

jobs, baby, jobs

"It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them!" - Nietzsche  

---

by: twas brillig @ Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 19:06:37 PM CST

[ Parent ]

We're all fascists now

http://pajamasmedia.com/michae...

Key graphs from pajamamedia:

"But that's not socialism.  Socialism rests on a firm theoretical bedrock:  the abolition of private property.  I haven't heard anyone this side of Barney Frank calling for any such thing.  What is happening now-and Newsweek is honest enough to say so down in the body of the article-is an expansion of the state's role, an increase in public/private joint ventures and partnerships, and much more state regulation of business.  Yes, it's very "European," and some of the Europeans even call it "social democracy," but it isn't.

"It's fascism.  Nobody calls it by its proper name, for two basic reasons:  first, because "fascism" has long since lost its actual, historical, content;  it's been a pure epithet for many decades.  Lots of the people writing about current events like what Obama et. al. are doing, and wouldn't want to stigmatize it with that "f" epithet.

"Second, not one person in a thousand knows what fascist political economy was.  Yet during the great economic crisis of the 1930s, fascism was widely regarded as a possible solution, indeed as the only acceptable solution to a spasm that had shaken the entire First World, and beyond.  It was hailed as a "third way" between two failed systems (communism and capitalism), retaining the best of each.  Private property was preserved, as the role of the state was expanded.  This was necessary because the Great Depression was defined as a crisis "of the system," not just a glitch "in the system."  And so Mussolini created the "Corporate State," in which, in theory at least, the big national enterprises were entrusted to state ownership (or substantial state ownership) and of course state management.  Some of the big "Corporations" lasted a very long time;  indeed some have only very recently been privatized, and the state still holds important chunks-so-called "golden shares"-in some of them."

---

by: Another skeptic @ Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 23:19:16 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Hat tip

instapundit.com.

---

by: Another skeptic @ Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 23:22:14 PM CST

[ Parent ]

And that C&P has what to do with the stimulus bill?

When capitalism fails, something else will fill the void.  

I disagree with that text in that government did not necessarily own the private companies.  In fact, I don't think that was very common.  If so, that would be communism, no?  

"Collective fear stimulates herd instinct and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd." -Bertrand Russell

---

by: parsingreality @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 07:33:30 AM CST

[ Parent ]

So much bullshit in three little paragraphs

After conflating socialism with communism, the author goes on to call any cooperative relationship between business and government "fascism," misidentifying his fictional construct as Clinton/Blair "Third Way" politics (the correct term used by fascists to describe their twisted view is "Third Position"), ending with essentially the branding of any robust government that still allows private property as Mussolini's "Corporate State."

It's such a disjointed hodge-podge of ignorance and pseudo-intellectual dishonest hackery that it really doesn't merit an intelligent reply. But you get that a lot, don't you?

---

by: JeffcoBlue @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 13:33:42 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Exactly what I was about to say,

except that I was going to say "dishonesty" instead of "dishones hackery." But, other than that, word for word....  :).

We're all in this story together: Let's make sure that we write it well.
http://www.steveharveyforcolor...

---

by: Steve Harvey @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 20:07:36 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Coffman's pissy comment

that somehow the bill doesn't  stimulate, just spends, ignores the fact that stimulus IS spending. Lambourn's is straight out of the mindless rightie talking points book; huge government spending spree, blah blah blah.      

John Salazar's comment should serve as a template for Dems all over the country serving in Republican districts. He finds just the right note for his constituency, pointing out that after spending so much on other countries' economies and infrastructure it's time to spend American money on American jobs.  Doesn't that sound like something the old Main Street, pre-neocon Republicans would say?

No wonder he plays so well in his Republican district. And no wonder Colorado and Colorado pols are so favored by this administration.

---

by: BlueCat @ Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 10:43:14 AM CST

Hey, don't confuse the issue with facts

Coffman & Lamborn don't want to lookat their economic approach and admit it won't work in this situation, so better to just make the same statements rather then concentrate on what actually works.

Amazon tax? Bad Idea!

---

by: DavidThi808 @ Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 11:33:26 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Obama's focus on Colorado

is really quite extraordinary. It seems to me disproportionate to our superficially apparent political value, and yet I have no doubt that it is a finely calculated move.

We all can make arguments about why it is a smart strategy. I see it as an investment in Colorado's political future, an attempt to catalyze or augment a nascent regional political shift, to create a feedback loop between his attention and our internal processes. These are exciting times for progressives in Colorado!

We're all in this story together: Let's make sure that we write it well.
http://www.steveharveyforcolor...

---

by: Steve Harvey @ Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 12:01:50 PM CST

I get the feeling

I get the feeling that the state Repubs feel a little differently about this bill than the national ones.  Things really are looking pretty grim with our budget, and if Federal money is going to be passed around, I think even most local Repubs want Colorado to get its share.

---

by: Emma Anne @ Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 12:07:24 PM CST

You'd think so but

if Coffman, Lambourn and Wadhams are any indication, they'd still rather bash Dems and anything Dems promote regardless of Colorado conditions.  

---

by: BlueCat @ Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 14:02:29 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Well...

I don't like the bill.  I think that it's the wrong philosophy to approach economic downturn.  I think there's a lot of spending that's not temporary in nature, will grow government, and won't add a single job.

But...

There is some great stuff in the bill.  The tax cuts are good, and the infrastructure spending is much needed as is the funds available to States (assuming California doesn't hog all the money).

Now that it's passed, I really hope it works.  I hope we're able to aid in somehow the dispersion of money so that politicians don't think they're going to politically award any of the money (ahem... let's see what happens in CD-4).

Now that it is what it is, I want success, and it's an honor to have the President in Denver.

BTW, I'm going to be gone for about 10 days with the family.  Definitely will not be checking in between Cohibas on the beach and looking at big fish 80 feet under.

Republican36, I will have a diary in full response to your post from the other day when I return.  

You guys have a great week or so.

"Kevin and I will keep them out somehow -- even if we have to redefine what the peer-review literature is!"  

---

by: Laughing Boy @ Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 12:29:59 PM CST

Have a nice vacation, LB

---

by: BlueCat @ Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 14:03:29 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Ditto. Have fun.

Your point about the danger of using the stimulus money as targeted political capital (paying off political debts and creating new ones) is a good one. I'd only suggest this: The fact that politics intrudes on the political process does not in and of itself discredit that process. In a sense, politics is the art of diverting corruption (ie, politically leveraged personal gain) toward "incidental" or "collateral" popular collective advantage.

The most important thing is how a policy or legislative (or executive, or judicial) act affects the populace at large (using some calculus of total costs and benefits and their distribution), not how it incidentally benefits a few who promote it out of self-interest. I liked Barney Frank's use of the term "collateral benefit" to describe how sometimes good policies incidentally benefit undeserving people, but that it would be foolish to eschew such policies which are of general benefit in order to punish those underserving people.

We're all in this story together: Let's make sure that we write it well.
http://www.steveharveyforcolor...

---

by: Steve Harvey @ Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 14:38:36 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Watch out for bogus Habanos!

I hear counterfeit Cubans are everywhere Americans go. (Cigars, not citizens.)  Some are created by rebanding El Ropos, some are made in Cuba perhaps with packaging and parts smuggled from the factories but, again, El Ropos.

I bought an alleged Cohiba in Cd. Acuna that did not show any signs of being fake.  The box from which it came was probably real.  The proof of being fake was with the first taste. Ohmigod, worst cigar I ever smoked.  Well, OK, mayb not the worst, but not even a passable Te Amo.

Hope ya find some real ones!  

"Collective fear stimulates herd instinct and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd." -Bertrand Russell

---

by: parsingreality @ Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 20:37:17 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Thanks for the note, I look forward to your response.

The issues the two of us and I'm sure others will want to debate are fundamentally important.

---

by: Republican 36 @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 13:56:14 PM CST

[ Parent ]

who got tix ?

.
not me.
anybody here ?

were they distributed by one state political party or the other ?
.

---

by: Barron X @ Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 15:12:51 PM CST

It's invite-only.

---

by: RedGreen @ Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 17:19:40 PM CST

[ Parent ]

right. Invitation only.

.
so I rephrase the same question to:

Who got invited ?   Anybody here ?

Who was selected to do the inviting ?
.

---

by: Barron X @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 10:41:37 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Purple Mountains Majesty

This is when Colorado shines forth as the harbinger of a new age.  With our glorious sunshine we can be the shining light on the hill to show the way to renewable and sustainable ways.  Colorado is also symbolic of the children of Israel crossing Jordon and standing on the promised land.  In our case it is the joy after wandering for forty years in the wilderness of Republican ineptitude of discovering that government can indeed be an instrument for good and politics can be about more than the greedy acquisition of power.  God bless America that it finally woke up from the tyranny of the government haters and once again elected adults to lead.  

---

by: Gilpin Guy @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 05:54:41 AM CST

"America the Beautiful"

Let's not forget written by presumed lesbian Katherine Lee Bates in Colorado Springs!  Ya gotta love the irony.

My preferred song for the national anthem.  I like that "Mend thine ev'ry flaw."  Ah, progress!

O' beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.
O' beautiful, for pilgrim feet
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw;
Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law!
O' beautiful, for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine,
'Til all success be nobleness, and ev'ry gain divine!
O' beautiful, for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea!


"Collective fear stimulates herd instinct and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd." -Bertrand Russell

---

by: parsingreality @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 07:39:20 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Do not forget

President Clinton sure hasn't:

The former president said in an interview broadcast Monday on NBC's "Today" show that he believes Obama "is off to a good start." Clinton also said the new president and his economics team handled the controversial stimulus plan well, "given the fact that they had to do it in a hurry." Clinton, who continues to lead a global public service initiative, said he believes the legislation will be "our bridge over troubled waters."

But he also said that had he and his economics team been in office the last eight years, the economy would not have tanked.

While the Cons continue to campaign against Obama at their own peril (here's looking at that old Coot McCain), the people are reminded to remember who it was that actually put our country in such a horrific state. Obama inherited this mess, as Clinton inherited his predecessors.

"Suddenly, it may be cool to be American again" - William J. Kole

---

by: Go Blue @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 08:39:16 AM CST

More political theater from Obama

If this is such a critical piece of legislation, why is he waiting almost a week to sign it--putting his vacation in front of what he claimed was an essential element of our economic recovery.

While the self-rightous liberal bureaucrats villify capitalists for various real and imagined shortcomings, what kind of due diligence did Polis, Markey, Perlmutter, Salizar, and DeGette perform less than 24 hours before voting on the biggest spending bill ever outside of the federal budget?  

Of course this is just another political stunt from a party that could care less about the interests of the productive class who will carry the burden of paying for this legislation.  Hippocrates.    

---

by: Robert Jordan @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 08:55:28 AM CST

A week?

Not quite. The Senate passed the bill late Friday night. This being a three day weekend, Obama is signing the bill within one work day.

And as for the rest of your rant... are you ASs's alter ego?

Lay off the talk radio and join the rest of us in reality for a discussion on how best to revive our economy and rebuild our country. If you Cons keep cheer leading for America to fail, the American people are going to take you serious.

"Suddenly, it may be cool to be American again" - William J. Kole

---

by: Go Blue @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 09:27:08 AM CST

[ Parent ]

You just don't get it

You pick out semantics when the fact of the matter is he sat on this so-called urgent bill while he vacationed, and democrat reps voted for a massive spending package with inadequate due diligence.  

---

by: Robert Jordan @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 10:10:52 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Who doesn't get it?

Your desperate attempt at mountain out of mole hill building shows just how bankrupt your tired old Republican political strategy really is. Obama still riding high in opinion polls. Dem congressional approval far outpaces Republican congressional approval.  Public placing blame for lack of bipartisanship where it belongs; with the GOP.  If this is the best you folks have left to sell no wonder nobody is buying.

---

by: BlueCat @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 11:00:49 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Leadership vacuum

Failure to perform adequite due diligence is not a molehill, unless you are spending other peoples money I guess.

---

by: Robert Jordan @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 12:44:33 PM CST

[ Parent ]

let us know when those WMDs show up

how's that due diligence on a gazillion-dollar war working out for you? Once again, the right-wing is an irony-free zone.

Shall we call the WAAAHHM-bulance?

---

by: bobster1 @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 13:30:51 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Huh?

You were talking about Obama waiting until Tues. to sign the bill. Now you've  switched to "leadership vacuum" and "due diligence".  Let me know when you find something that sticks. According to the polls the GOP hasn't accomplished that yet.

---

by: BlueCat @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 16:23:04 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Roosters coming home

The clowns who opposed the stimulus package are more than happy to receiving the funds from it for their projects. From Republicans Governors like Pawlenty to County Commissioners like Steve Johnson, the Cons postured their ideological wing nuts like yourself and then turn around and admit they need the stimulus -- the funding TO SPEND -- on much needed road repairs, school construction, new energy infrastructure.

What you don't get is that while you think the Eric Cantors and Rush Limbaugh's of the country are right, the other 98% of Americans are laughing at them for being nothing more than irnonic entertainment.

Do a little due dillegence yourself next time before berating anyone on this site.

"Suddenly, it may be cool to be American again" - William J. Kole

---

by: Go Blue @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 12:56:42 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Oh, brother!

Ever see "Planet of the Apes"? The original, I mean. We should stop referring to the rift here as that between "right" and "left," or "red" and "blue," and refer to it as it really is: Gorillas and Orangutans (with Chimpanzees sort of lumped in with the latter). Mindless brutes and sentient creatures; militarists and scholars; inarticulate grunters and eloquent producers of novel ideas. Really, which would you rather be?

It's less an ideological shift than an evolutionary one. Ideas evolve, but not all of their purveyors realize it.

We're all in this story together: Let's make sure that we write it well.
http://www.steveharveyforcolor...

---

by: Steve Harvey @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 20:17:23 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Unlike the august George W. Bush

flying in the middle of the night back to Washington to sign the Terry Schiavo "she ain't dead" bill?  Ahh for the days when ridiculous people did stupid things in a hurry eh Obama hater.

If this is the best you can do Obama hater, you're limper than Rush Limbaugh in Puerto Rico.  "He waited a whole three days to sign the bill.  Boo hoo".

---

by: Gilpin Guy @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 11:15:17 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Folks we may have the 1st case of ODS

at ColoradoPols.  Obama Derangement Syndrome has completely consumed this fool.

---

by: Gilpin Guy @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 12:10:56 PM CST

[ Parent ]