Sweet.
I have a feeling it may be a while before the magnitude of their changed circumstance really sinks in for congressional Republicans. Fortunately, we have a President who is willing to help them understand.
The statement was prompted by Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona , who challenged the president and the Democratic leaders over the balance between the package’s spending and tax cuts, bringing up the traditional Republican notion that a tax credit for people who do not earn enough to pay income taxes is not a tax cut but a government check.Obama noted that such workers pay Social Security and Medicare taxes, property taxes and sales taxes. The issue was widely debated during the presidential campaign, when Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee, challenged Obama’s tax plan as “welfare.”
With those two words — “I won” — the Democratic president let the Republicans know that debate has been put to rest Nov. 4 .
Democratic and Republican aides confirmed the exchange. A White House spokesman said he wasn’t immediately aware of the exchange. The aides who heard the remarks stressed that it wasn’t as boldly partisan as it might sound.
Still, other Democrats echoed the sentiment. As he left the White House, House Majority Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina was asked about Republican complaints that Democrats aren’t listening to what their GOP colleagues have to say. “We’re responding to the American people,” he said. “The American people didn’t listen to them too well during the election.”
Which reminds me:
Can we make a rule that no Republican who eagerly voted for repeated “emergency” budgets for unmonitored Iraq expenditures should be listened to about how the stimulus package is going to run up the deficit?
And can we agree that GOP Senators should be a little humble about how much attention is being paid to Republican ideas on economic recovery, considering that all the attention we paid to Republican ideas on the economy is why we need a recovery in the first place?
Just a thought.