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DeMint, Sanford leading opposition to Obama stimulus plan
McClatchy via The Beaufort Gazette, Beaufort, SC ^ | 2009-02-04 | James Rosen

Posted on 02/04/2009 9:40:24 PM PST by rabscuttle385

WASHINGTON - Sen. Jim DeMint and Gov. Mark Sanford urged members of the Senate on Wednesday to reject President Barack Obama's economic-stimulus bill, as DeMint introduced a rival measure he said required only tax cuts.

Sanford, in Washington for a Republican Governors Association meeting, asked Republican senators at a Capitol Hill lunch convened by DeMint to follow the lead of House Republicans who voted against the $819 billion stimulus measure last week.

The bill passed the House by a 244-188 margin without a single Republican vote. It would bring South Carolina $3.2 billion, including a $905 million to eliminate a state budget deficit and $830 million to build and repair roads, bridges, schools, colleges, universities, water-treatment plants and other infrastructure.

Sanford and DeMint said they are joining forces in a bid to try to spark the kind of national outcry among conservatives that led to the defeat of a major Senate immigration-reform bill in 2007.

(Excerpt) Read more at beaufortgazette.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events; US: South Carolina
KEYWORDS: 111th; bhostimulus; demint; demint2010; demint2012; economy; marksanford; sanford2012; senate; stimulus; taxes; theamericanoption; ussenate
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To: rabscuttle385

Lesley wants compromise but Demint wants to DESTROY the enemy. I like Demint. Demint/Sanford 2012.


21 posted on 02/05/2009 2:19:33 AM PST by personalaccts (Is George W going to protect the border?)
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To: NVDave

“$1000 per child tax credit? Why should I be subsidizing someone else’s procreation?”

I don’t think a tax cut should ever be considered a subsidy.


22 posted on 02/05/2009 3:35:46 AM PST by rightwingcrazy
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To: rabscuttle385
From the article,

Graham and DeMint joined 16 other Republican senators and representatives at a feisty news conference called by DeMint to denounce the House measure.

Obama launched a direct attack on DeMint and other Republicans who want to stimulate the economy solely through tax cuts.

"Now, in the past few days, I've heard criticisms of this plan that echo the very same failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis - the notion that tax cuts alone will solve all our problems," Obama said.

In a pointed reminder that he won the election, Obama added: "I reject that theory, and so did the American people when they went to the polls in November and voted resoundingly for change."


Obama is still stuck on the "I won" mandate he thinks he has from the American people. He does not have a mandate to throw a trillion dollars worth of wasteful spending that will do nothing to fix the current economic problems.
23 posted on 02/05/2009 4:00:31 AM PST by Girlene (Hey, Repub's: This is an entrepreneurial insurgency)
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To: rabscuttle385

Great. But to quote Doctor and Spock in the episode with the Gorn

“Can he do it?
If he has the time, Doctor. If he has the time.”

The dems are not allowing enough time for the public to catch up and demand it be stopped.


24 posted on 02/05/2009 4:08:40 AM PST by plain talk
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To: Marine_Uncle
I sense more Democrats are getting the message that they should not side with Reid and Pelosi, but become educated on what measures really can be put in place to address this banking and now economic problem.

Democrats (to be fair, most politicians) are more concerned about power and their careers than about what's best for America. They typically have the economic understanding of a two year old. It may be dawning on their tiny little dinosaur brains, though, that if they vote for a bill that makes things worse, the American people may just vote them out of power and a career even it if they have a "safe" seat. We can hope.

25 posted on 02/05/2009 4:14:07 AM PST by Hardastarboard (The Fairness Doctrine isn't about "Fairness" - it's about Doctrine.)
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To: rabscuttle385

It’s pretty obvious that Sanford has designs on running in 2012. I wonder if DeMint is as well? If so, it should make for an interesting primary season.


26 posted on 02/05/2009 4:16:49 AM PST by Non-Sequitur
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To: rabscuttle385; alrea; Canticle_of_Deborah; conservativeharleyguy; freeagle; NonLinear; ...
  
Jim
DeMint
Ping!

Want on or off this ping list? Just FReepmail me.


    Gov. Mark Sanford Ping!



Want on or off this ping list? Just FReepmail me.

27 posted on 02/05/2009 4:21:34 AM PST by upchuck (Get ready for 2009: Pray; Raise/conserve cash; Pay your debts; Pray; Stockpile; Buy ammo; Pray)
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To: Marine_Uncle
I sense more Democrats are getting the message that they should not side with Reid and Pelosi, but become educated on what measures really can be put in place to address this banking and now economic problem.

...the "blue dog rats" have to answer to their constituents, they like the Washington lifestyle and the perks...2010 is approaching. Bella and Dingy have stole theirs and have scammed the American people enough to really not care what people think

28 posted on 02/05/2009 4:31:14 AM PST by Doogle (USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated))
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To: rabscuttle385

About time Congress did its job.

http://defendourfreedoms.us/


29 posted on 02/05/2009 5:02:51 AM PST by FreeManN (DefendOurFreedoms.US)
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To: NVDave
There are no capital gains (long or short term) after the past year. Dividends are being slashed left and right.

So much for the benefit from those tax cuts.

You've been getting your economics lessons from Democrats. Investments are about the future, not the past or even the present. MUCH of what has gone wrong so far has been a result of fear and uncertainty about the future. This would indicate a brighter future, thus produce more investments, thus producing capital gains.

$1000 per child tax credit? Why should I be subsidizing someone else’s procreation?

So, a tax cut is a 'subsidy' now? Wow. Barney Frank, is that you?

Marriage tax penalty? Yea, I guess so.

Gee, thanks for being so generous.

Top corporate rates? That might help, but most corporations simply pass along the tax expense.

And if they didn't have to pass them on and prices were lowered as a result, which they would be in a dynamic and competing marketplace, those lower prices would, of course, be a bad thing in NVDave's socialist utopia. Gotcha.

The GOP is missing the boat completely here.

No, you're missing the boat. In fact, you're missing the fact that the boat is now a plane that has flown right over your head.

They’re peddling the same laundry list of stuff they were trying to peddle in the Bush years. They need a new-new thing.

I don't recall this laundry list being peddled, nor do I recall it actually being implemented. In fact, if the GOP hadn't strayed from this and lost their backbone, a lot of this mess could have been avoided.

How about we remove all barriers to repatriation of foreign earnings for US corporations? That could bring as much as $600 to $700 billion back on-shore.

Okay, thank God Barney Frank is gone! Great idea. Adding that to DeMint's plan would be fantastic and would spur a great deal of growth on top of what the rest of the plan would bring. The Dems would demonize it, but Republicans need to stop running from that and confront it head on. May as well use that for practice.

Or how about making targeted tax cuts for small businesses (less than 500 employees), since the majority of all jobs created in the US are from small business?

I guess that sounds good from a populist point of view, but why not make it across the board? I know Barney hates those eeeeeeeevil corporations, but those corporations employ people and make things that even small business people need to run their own business. Help them all out, so they can help each other.

30 posted on 02/05/2009 5:20:01 AM PST by perfect_rovian_storm
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To: rabscuttle385

Sanford sounds more solid than Sarah. Although Sarah is easier on the eyes. Sanford looks ashen.

A Sandord/DeMint team would be like releasing a tasmanian devil against the bureaucracy. I like it.


31 posted on 02/05/2009 5:23:15 AM PST by 1010RD (First Do No Harm)
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To: Marine_Uncle

But only when they are in the minority. In power they transform, like were-pigs, and bury their faces in the govt. gravy trough.

They don’t need a mouth or nose. One trait of a were-pig is being able to breathe through the top of your head. This allows constant gorging without the chance of suffocation. You can only kill a were-pig Republican by voting Democrat or solid-conservative.


32 posted on 02/05/2009 5:26:48 AM PST by 1010RD (First Do No Harm)
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To: rabscuttle385

Cap. gains and corp. taxes = 0.00% That is what they should be as they represent the worst taxation policy. This would repatriate an estimated $300 billion held by corporations overseas for tax reasons and drive capital back into our markets.

Repeal SOX and mark to market (sorry Barry R. it is a stupid rule) and Americans won’t know what to do with their new found wealth.


33 posted on 02/05/2009 5:30:51 AM PST by 1010RD (First Do No Harm)
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To: rabscuttle385
Permanently limit itemized deductions to charitable contributions and mortgage interest, simplifying the tax code

That would destroy every small business in America.

34 posted on 02/05/2009 5:31:14 AM PST by P-Marlowe (LPFOKETT GAHCOEEP-w/o*)
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To: rabscuttle385

What the current gang of political thugs now in control are attempting is the equivalent of an economic “Pearl Harbor” attack on America.

In that same sense, it’s already too late to stop the initial devastation and loss, so it’s time to “awaken the sleeping giant” (the American people) and fill US “with a terrible resolve”, not just to defeat this particular plan, but to take the war to these people and destroy them, since they have clearly shown that working with them simply means surrender.


35 posted on 02/05/2009 5:51:55 AM PST by tarheelswamprat
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To: rabscuttle385; Man50D
The FairTax is what we really need.
36 posted on 02/05/2009 6:07:53 AM PST by foxfield
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To: rabscuttle385

Now we can see who the leaders are.

BTW, has anyone heard anything from McCain lately??
LOL!

And I was disappointed to learn that Sarah Palin had nothing better to do than to insert herself into the Texas governor’s race by endorsing the lesser of two weasels, Rick “The Hair” Perry.


37 posted on 02/05/2009 6:12:42 AM PST by Redbob (W.W.J.B.D.: "What Would Jack Bauer Do?")
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To: rabscuttle385
You really do have psychological issues.

You've taken a stand-alone story, positive on its own merits, and fouled it up by tying it to your irrational, anti-McCain, fetish.

Seek professional help.

38 posted on 02/05/2009 6:21:32 AM PST by Cedric
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To: perfect_rovian_storm

Yea, yea. Nice dogma.

Now here’s some hard facts of the here and now from the Church of What Is:

What is here and now is that dividends are being slashed, stocks are going to zero, we’re now having to contend with talk of bank nationalization, etc. We’re now in an environment where such previously safe companies as Dow Chemical, with a dividend history of steady, growing dividends back to 1912, are faced with having to cut their dividend. Even utility stocks are not completely safe dividend plays any more, as Goldman Sachs is now warning investors to hedge utility stocks out to 2010.

There are plenty of people who are selling out of stocks because they can see the handwriting on the wall. There are no cap gains to be had, and unless you’re a short-term trader like me, there aren’t about to be gains to be had. Neither the GOP nor the DNC is about to give traders tax cuts. They want to keep people as victims of the “buy-and-hold” scheme of picking the investors’ pockets.

Go look at how long it took the stock market to recover from 1933 onward, or in the 1970’s - and now project that onto the current environment. There’s going to be no stimulative benefit from playing with tax rates on cap gains for years and years to come.

Remember, the object here is to create liquidity in the economy and increase GDP as a result of this “stimulus” — not pursue some dogma. The GOP is completely missing this boat. The CBO has come down against Obama/Obey’s plan, but the CBO’s previous scoring on some of these tax-cut ideas backs up what I’m saying: they have little stimulative effect.

The BEA GDP release for Q2 2008 shows what happened to the last “stimulus” from Bush: People put it into savings, by and large. There was little to no “stimulus” from handing people that one-off rebate.

Hence, this is why job creation and wage growth must be targeted. Everything else is just noise. The US consumer is shutting their wallet - quickly. Look at the auto industry, for example: everyone says that “if Detroit would only build cars that the US consumer wants to buy.... blah, blah, blah.”

OK, so how does that explain Toyota’s sales being down about 30% y-o-y, or Honda being down 23%+ Y-o-y? It doesn’t.

The US consumer being tapped out — now that explains both Detroit’s falling sales and Toyota/Honda/Nissan sales plummeting quite nicely.

The US auto industry is doomed - this year - without stimulating job creation and wage growth. Offering people these laundry lists of recycled pap ain’t gonna get the job done. The GOP needs to focus directly on the task at hand, and quit trying to load up their legislation with their past laundry lists, like the marriage penalty or child tax credits, which are basically sops to social conservatives. Those won’t create jobs. The majority of jobs in the US are created by small business - that is undeniable and well documented. Target those businesses.

The first-time unemployment claims out this morning show that it is time for the GOP to get their head out of their plush posteriors and get serious about this. At some point very soon, the US consumer is going to shut down for a long time to come because everyone (including government employees in tapped-out states) is going to start wondering if their job is safe. The GOP has a chance to show some leadership, but only if they come up with proposals that none of the Obama administration’s economists or think-tank can dispute are stimulative. There are tax cuts that are stimulative and significantly so and the GOP needs to offer up a clean package of just those tax cuts, because the DNC isn’t going to accept them.

The GOP, in the end, needs to have offered up a package of cuts and spending that scores well, so that even if it is rejected, and the Obey/Obama plan results in nothing but more misery, the GOP is on solid ground come 2010.

Thanks to the Congress and their stupid “Buy American” component of the “stimulus” bill, we’re now quite possibly looking at a trade war. The business press in the EU is aflame with furious rants about this provision of the legislation, even as countries in the EU are trying to tamp down their own trade unions and calls for protectionism. If this legislation goes through with a “Buy American” clause in it - even if it contains some footnoted caveat that it is “subject to previously negotiated trade agreements” - the footnote won’t appear in the European press. The GOP has actually picked up points abroad for opposing the “Buy American” nonsense — it is the first time in three months of non-stop Obama adulation abroad that the foreign press is copping a clue who the adults are over here.


39 posted on 02/05/2009 6:25:22 AM PST by NVDave
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To: Redbob

McCain offered up an amendment last night to the “stimulus” package to remove the “buy American” clause.

It was defeated.


40 posted on 02/05/2009 6:27:10 AM PST by NVDave
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