The Sordid Story of The Stimulus

Arlen $pecter has written an article for the Washington Post, trying to convince us that he is acting responsibly in supporting the $timulus Package.  Here are some of his asinine points:

• I am supporting the economic stimulus package for one simple reason: The country cannot afford not to take action.

• Failure to act would be devastating not just for Wall Street and Main Street but for much of the rest of the world, which is looking to our country for leadership in this crisis.

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the proposed cuts "do violence to what we are trying to do for the future," especially on education. 

• This proverbial half a loaf beats no loaf by a mile.
  

My response:

Dearest Arlen,

Your argument for the "stimulus" is incoherent.  Let me help.  This bill is 88% pork and 12% stimulus. If you were being perfectly honest you would tell us that you simply do not know what impact this bill will have—no one does. If you were being perfectly reasonable, you would admit that a trillion dollar spending spree will likely do more harm than good. 

Because of the tremendous impact their decisions have, physicians take the following oath: "...first do no harm." I know that Senators aren't held to the same high standard, but maybe you should think about these words as you go forward.  You say we "cannot afford not to take action."  Fine.  But here's my question...can we afford to make things even worse?

Perhaps your thinking is being shaped by considerations regarding your chances of being re-elected next year. You don't want to be labeled as a "do nothing", do you?  I can sympathize, but please put your concern for the future of this country ahead of your political ambitions.

I think you're digging your own grave.  Conservatives in your state are going to be sorely disappointed with you. Liberals will know that they can get more of what they want from a real Democrat.  Let's frame the discussion this way: why should Pennsylvanians vote for you when they could have someone who is more honest about his political and ideological affiliations?

Audio Update: Hannity interviews Republican Arlen Specter on his support for the spendulus package.  h/t: M

Other Thoughts

• Pork = stimulus?  Obama is having a hard time selling his stimulus package, not for lack of communication skills, but because his stimulus package is a lie.  Sweet little lies are easy to sell.  This lie is neither sweet nor little.  

• Obama espouses all of the worst political ideas of the last 100 years.  How could he not fail?  If he is re-elected in 2012, it will be because he will have been successful in one single thing: shifting the blame.
  

More

We have nothing to hope for but hope itself.

Jesus took a handful of loaves and two fish and fed 5,000 people. Barack wants to take a trillion pieces of pork and feed it to a handful of Democratic Party interest groups. 

The New Great Communicator … Isn't

Somehow this week, unbelievably, Obama and the Democrats seem to be losing the spin war. There are the worrying poll numbers.

50 De-Stimulating Facts

The great French economist Frédéric Bastiat called politics “the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.” But who pays for the state bailout? Savers will pay to bail out spenders, and future generations will pay to bail out the undisciplined present.

Ruin Your Health With the Obama Stimulus Plan

Health-care reform “will not be pain free.” Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them. That means the elderly will bear the brunt.

Obama's Remarks at Press Conference

"The strongest democracies flourish from frequent and lively debate, but they endure when people of every background and belief find a way to set aside smaller differences in service of a greater purpose."  Translation: Sign the bill or I will trump you.

10 questions for Obama

Mark Sanford clearly explains why the stimulus is a very bad idea: 

h/t: American Thinker