Stiff 'Em

Joe, while I agree with you in principle, I'd hate for my district to suffer just because we're saddled with an *sshat like Michael McCaul. Because of Delay's redistricting, we poor souls in Austin, TX were split up and dumped in neighboring republican districts.
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We didn't vote for him, we don't support him and he doesn't support us. In fact, during the last congressional campaign, he didn't even campaign in Austin.
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I don't think the people of this district should be penalized. That said, our district isn't hurting nearly as bad as many other places in the US and they should get more help anyway.
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Just always good to remember that decent people are marooned in some of those red districts in spite of ourselves.

"s little money as humanly, legally possible should go to their districts."

IDIOTIC. The money should go where needed and most useful without any regard for the vote of who represents the locality. There are other ways consequences can flow to the Republicans besides this kind of vindictive insertion of revenge fantasies into matters of economic life and death. Get a moral compass and use it.

Oh, and Eric Cantor can bite me. What an immature jerk.

Seriously, what is wrong with you? These are real people in crisis not some pieces on a chessboard in a fantasy game. You are sick.

All you are going to see are Republicans running as fast as they can, with bags of money, shouting insults at the "commie" who gave it to them.
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The clueless socialist and thoroughly unqualified community organizer not only has Field Marshall Joe Klein extolling his august military expertise, but now he has Field Marshall Klein saluting his fundamentalist redistributionist-inspired "Obamajobs".

As to the points raised by pourmecoffee and fourlegsgood, another way, beyond stiffing their districts, that the GOP might be held accountable would be if pundits abandoned "consensus" or "centrism" or "bipartisanship" as moral lodestars, substituting an evaluation of the soundness of a party's proposals.
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(Ie, write about the irrelevant, flailing, hopelessly extreme, inappropriate, tone-deaf, and puerile national GOP, in Time magazine, over and over again. GOP governors are not as insane, btw).

Joe: my initial reaction was: put the boot in. But, on reflection, I want the money to go wherever it will do good. I want our citizens to get help they need no matter their political affiliation. I read that Jindal is thinking about refusing help. Well: I will wait and see. The people of Tenn. are Americans: if they can be helped, let's see that they get some.

All of us...should hope that...the Obamaloans--to 9 million homeowning families, announced today--have the desired effect.
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Joe Klein:
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Yes, we should all hope that the Obama housing plan has the desired effect. And while I take your point that many Republicans do not hope for the success of this plan, I'm confused as to the source of your numbers:

* Posted on Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Will lenders go along with Obama's housing plan?
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By Kevin G. Hall | McClatchy Newspapers
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The Homeowner Stability Initiative, which Obama unveiled in Phoenix, seeks to address one of the triggers of the global financial crisis: the 2.3 million U.S. foreclosures last year that are protracting the housing crisis and helping to drive down home prices across the nation.
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Specifically, the Obama plan seeks to provide low-cost refinancing for as many as 5 million Americans. It seeks to help delinquent or at-risk borrowers get their mortgages modified so that no more than 31 percent of their income is tied up in their mortgages. And it provides financial incentives to lenders and even a new insurance program to promote more mortgage modifications.
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Like the failed efforts under the Bush administration, however, the Obama plan doesn't compel banks and other lenders to modify troubled mortgages. Instead, it provides a menu of incentives that may or may not prove sufficient.

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, and I believe that "hope" is the operative word, since Obama's plan fails to actually mandate that banks modify their mortgages to fit economic reality (instead of financial institutions continuing to foreclose as usual). I guess we'll be hoping for a lot of (as yet un-demonstrated) wisdom on the part of banks, as we see in the coming weeks and months whether or not they decide to respond as the Obama Administration hopes the banks will to a "menu of incentives".
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From what source did you arrive at almost twice the number cited by McClatchey, Joe Klein?
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Where did the number "9 million homeowning families" come from?

A dumb idea, but understandable. (Me, I wish we could tell the Confederate States that we've had a change of heart about that secession thing.)
But Obama might take a play from Bush's book and make sure that his name and the Democratic party's seal are all over aid to the states, although in a less tacky manner than Bush did (those $600 tax rebates that were presented as if they were a personal gift from CuckooBananas).

I would settle for some intellectual honesty in this debate. Right now the Republicans are doing their typical double speak crap and the msm still allow them to open their mouths and contribute.
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When we were focused on stimulus the GOP said that without doing something about housing the stimulus plan was pointless. Now that he is unveiling a housing plan the latest talking point is that the banks wont go for this... They wont loan if bankruptcy courts can reduce principal blah blah blah. Oh did I mention that Jamie Diamond just came out and said he thought the plan was a good one?

"Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said the government's new housing plan was “comprehensive” and would help the bank modify more loans.

“The plan is good and strong, comprehensive and thoughtful,” Dimon, 52, said in an interview today. “I think it will be successful in modifying mortgages in a way that's good for homeowners.”

What, are you trying to fill up your Idiocy Quota for the day?
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So just because Arizona has McCain and Kyl, all of my teacher friends should eat sh!t and die for some sort of retribution that makes you pundits happy?
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It may be hard to realize, but it's actual people who are suffering out here. It's not the dumb sh!t Senators who would feel it, it's all us Little People.
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Do you not think that their votes will be held against them in the next election? Do you not think that an effective campaign can be organized to attribute the stimulus benefits to the Democrats?
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Go to hell, pundit scum.

Jindal's governor of Louisiana. I know the people of the district deserve the money even if their Rep didn't vote for it, but damnit. Their should be consequences to the Congressional GOP's grandstanding in regards to this stimulus bill. It pisses me off to no end that these same rep/sen who didn't give 2 shitake mushrooms about their districts when they voted no (yes, I'm talking to you Rep Cao of New Orleans), will still be given the benefit of the doubt which they do not deserve.

Myself personally, I have decided to make it my mission to make sure that my friends/family/neighboors in New Orleans and beyond know that they are getting this assistance despite of... not because of their elected officials.

And if Jindal refuses the money, I'm sorry, but even as a New Orleans native, I hope there are devastating consequences. It seems like the only way elected officials actually do things without political cover is when there are no other options.

Sorry, but I don't think that these votes will matter in the next election, particulary if the economy improves because Americans tend to have short attention spans when things are good. Now if things go south, because as a good number of economist say the stimulus bill is not large enough, of course the American people will blame Obama, not the Republicans who helped to water down the bill and then decided to vote against it.

There are ways to exact a political price, which I guess is what JK is driving towards, short of screwing people for the "feel good" of it.
Elections come to mind.

Wow, Joe! textee and Cliff both think you suck!

My evil twin would love to see the politicians stiffed, but the real me doesn't want the people to suffer, so I guess there should be another way. This is where the media could really do an important thing by highlighting all the help that real people are getting in the districts or states of these dodos.
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This morning NPR interviewed two Republicans one of whom voted for Obama and one who didn't. Both thought he was doing well, they supported him, and hoped for the best. Far from the usual Repub interviews. More of this kind of thing please.

SZ looks like the NYT, using the White House numbers, agrees with McClatchey.
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In fact, the number of homeowners that the White House estimates will be helped by the refinancing part of the plan — between four and five million — includes many who are not now underwater.
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http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/obamas-housing-plan-who-will-benefit/

Even with the change Joe made to the post, it's still wrong. The decision about expenditures should be made on the merits. That's the change for which I voted.

FT - that's how Klein knows he's doing a good job, when he manages to piss off a liberal and a conservative at the same time.

What is it about domestic policy that makes JK so simple minded?
I learn from his Mid East writings but almost never from anything else he produces.

Well, I guess your desire to punish some people for being ignorant enough to elect the likes of Rick Perry outweighs your admission about the pathological Beltway provincialism of your peers among the commenters. I understand where you're coming from, I'd like to make this country into a donut shape myself, then again, I'm one of those liberals who live in a liberal enclave of a red state, so I get the anger. If there was a way to punish the ignorant white trash of this country without hurting everyone, I'd sign on, but there isn't.

No wind farm for Cantor? Then why is he being such a blow hard? tsk tsk, such a waste...

Wait, what am I thinking? Of course Klein doesn't care about teachers, he thinks the solution to inner city education is to stop paying them so much.
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But seriously, how stupid do you have to be not to realize that needed infrastructure like highways go across red states? Or that red states like Oklahoma and Arizona are great places for wind and solar power?
How can you not understand that, as a nation, we function as a network, and a blighted region in Arkansas can affect the rest of us? Look at how the devastation of the South in the Civil War still plagues us.

Huffpost reports that the House GOP members, who had so many wonderful things to say about the stimulus package was wending through the Congress, are now trying to take advantage of it. Politics 101 dictates the following: They should pay the price for their latter-day Hooverism. As little money as humanly, legally possible should go to their districts. (Add: Since most of the money in the bill is guaranteed to those who are hurting--i.e. people who are unemployed--regardless of location, the pain would be marginal. Eric Cantor shouldn't expect a wind farm in his district.)
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Joe, We all say silly things. We all make mistakes. A simple apology is all that's needed. But it really is needed.