Republicans Too Impressed with Themselves, Solving Colorado Spring's Fiscal Problems

Maureen Dowd
Kathleen Parker

"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat." - Will Rogers

Congress overwhelmingly voted to keep those earmarks in the current appropriations bill, decidedly giving John McCain a slap. Even though President Obama also ran against earmarks, for some reason he is going to let these all slide by. In today's White House press conference it was mentioned that this bill pretty much was dealed out during last year, and in the future the President will have more control over limiting earmarks. Maybe members of Congress should be taxed on the amount of campaign contributions they receive from lobbying groups...

Political Animal reports and comments on the results of an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll: "Congressional Republicans are apparently under the impression that they're doing everything right. They're sticking to their far-right principles, refusing to cooperate with President Obama, embracing message discipline, and taking orders from right-wing radio hosts. They are, as Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) recently put it, "Back in the saddle."

As it turns out, they've impressed themselves far more than they've impressed the country.

After Barack Obama's first six weeks as president, the American public's attitudes about the two political parties couldn't be more different, the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds.

Despite the country's struggling economy and vocal opposition to some of his policies, President Obama's favorability rating is at an all-time high.... By comparison, the Republican Party -- which resisted Obama's recently passed stimulus plan and has criticized the spending in his budget -- finds its favorability at an all-time low.


But those reservations notwithstanding, the NBC/WSJ poll is bound to bring a smile to the faces of White House staffers. Obama enjoys a 68% favorable rating and a 60% approval rating, while 67% feel more hopeful about his leadership. In one of the more interesting surprises, the number of Americans who believe the U.S. is headed in the right direction has jumped from 26% to 41%, despite the severe economic conditions.

And perhaps most importantly, the overwhelming majority of the public doesn't blame Obama for the state of the economy (sorry, Wall Street Journal editorial page), and two-thirds of the public believe the president has at least a year before he's responsible for it.

As for the minority party:

Just 26 percent view the Republican Party positively, which is an all-time low for the party. That's compared with 49 percent who have a favorable view of the Democratic Party.

In addition, a combined 56 percent say the previous Bush administration deserved "almost all" of the blame or a "major part" of the blame for the partisanship in Washington, and a combined 41 percent say the same of congressional Republicans. [...]

Also, the public overwhelmingly believes the GOP's opposition to Obama's policies and programs is based on politics: 56 percent say they're trying to gain political advantage, versus 30 percent who say they're standing up for their principles.

Finally, Americans don't seem to have confidence in the Republican Party when it comes to the economy. By a 48-20 percent margin, they think the Democratic Party would do a better job of getting the country out of the recession.

Republicans, Hart argues, "have been tone deaf to the results of the 2008 election... They never heard the message. They continue to preach the old-time religion."

I think that yesterday's bumper sticker bothered the editors at the Colorado Springs Gazette, because today they penned this cranky opinion piece: Live Free or Move "It's hard to imagine a ranking that could be more attractive and meaningful than our close second-place finish as the freest state." It's hard to take seriously a study that  just lists the opinions of the guys doing the study, there is no scientific protocol followed or even a sampling of the population. If you want, I could do the same thing and list Colorado #1 to make you feel better.

Better yet, I have figured out a way to solve our City's financial crisis, not having to lay anyone off, while creating a few more jobs and bringing in lots more tourists. Its so simple, all that we have to do is embrace the gay lifestyle instead of condemning it. After all, now that James Dobson has retired, we have no good reason to be anti-gay.

Here's what we do: raise the filing fee for marriage up to $50 or $100, and start advertising across the country that gays can come here and get married. We can even have the marriages held at New Life Church, which can give them a chance to redeem themselves, and we can even have Ted Haggard be the official Gay Marriage Pastor! Suddenly, couples will flock to our town, stay in our hotels, see our sights while spending their money. We make lots of money in filing fees, plus we put poor old Ted back to work at something he can be proud of.

And, we can give military discounts to support our troops!

And I can market these new bumper stickers:

- Welcome Gays: Your New Life Begins Here -

- Ted Haggard: Will Marry You for a Massage -

Today's late night jokes, notice the new guy:

"Welcome to the first episode of 'Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.' I have been getting so much encouragement. In fact, just before I went on, Rush Limbaugh called me up and said he wants me to fail." --Jimmy Fallon

"President Obama announced that he plans to bring the troops home from Iraq in 18 months. But the troops actually responded and said, 'Thank you, but the economy's better over here, so we're going to stay.'" --Jimmy Fallon

"Did you hear about President Obama's new budget? Actually, Obama will explain it all in his next major address, brought to you by China." --Jimmy Fallon

"Despite the recession, Microsoft is planning to open stores to compete with Apple. Microsoft says that they'll be just like the Apple stores, except the staff will freeze when you ask them a question." --Jimmy Fallon

"Well, let's see what's going on in the world. It was this week in 1854 that the Republican Party was founded with only a handful of true believers. Just like today." --Jay Leno

"Actually, this past weekend, the Conservative Political Action Conference picked Mitt Romney over Sarah Palin in their straw poll to be the next presidential candidate. Yeah. Well, it's kind of interesting. I mean, one is just a pretty face, obsessed with makeup and hair. And the other, of course, is the governor of Alaska." --Jay Leno

"Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was on 'Meet the Press' yesterday. And he said that Barack Obama is more analytical than President Bush. Well, there's a shock, huh? I think Tickle Me Elmo is more analytical than President Bush." --Jay Leno

"During his trip to Ottawa, Canada, President Obama said he was too embarrassed to admit to the Canadians that he'd never actually seen a hockey game, to which the Canadians said, 'Oh, don't worry, we've never seen a black guy.'" --Jay Leno

"Hey, the Obamas are expecting the arrival of the first dog in April. Actually, it's Obama's second choice of a dog. The first dog, he had some tax problems." --Jay Leno