What I Learned From NPR This Morning
by tristero
I turned on NPR and they were reporting about the stimulus billl. What I heard was what sounded like a consensus of both reporters and Republicans - ie, all sensible people - that:
1. The House stimulus bill was an "embarassment."
2. The Senate bill was not much better.
3. Republicans are trying their level best to salvage the situation from almost certain disaster.
4. Tax cuts are the only stimulus proven by economists to work.
5. Democrats had basically agreed to help Republicans in any way they could in their efforts to save the country.
Now, the questions I have to ask are these. The blogosphere knows the fix is in and is screaming bloody murder, of course. But we hardly matter to the MSM. Where the fuck are the top Democrats? And why aren't they complaining about this disgracefully biased coverage? The only Democrat I recall quoted in this report was some non-entity who basically said he'd do anything he could to help the Republicans seize the initiative on fixing the economy.
Clearly, the top of the party has learned zip in the past 8 to 10 years or so. I think it's time to work seriously to replace them. This isn't a progressive vs. centrist issue, this is a competence issue. The current crop of Democratic leaders in Congress simply appear incapable of standing up to the malicious wackiness of Republicans. It is more than demoralizing. We live in exceedingly dangerous times and we simply cannot afford to have Republicans' mad ideas continue to be injected into the mainstream discourse without vigorous objection.
This simply has to stop.