Dr. Blackwell's BLOG

  Watchdog group Think Progress released a not-too-surprising yet head-shaking report today. While economist and economic researchers are indicating the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Stimulus Bill) has put the American economy back on-track and created millions of jobs, Republican politicians hoping to make strides in November continue to brand the stimulus as wasteful government spending, all the while spending every dime of the money given to their districts. Many of the Republicans have even lied, claiming funds spent didn’t come from the stimulus package. Here’s some highlights from the reports’ findings:

– Top Republican Senate Recruits Are Stimulus Hypocrites: As ThinkProgress reported, Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE), a candidate for Senate, touted over $5 million in stimulus programs he voted to kill. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL), the GOP nominee for Senate in Illinois, signed a letter urging Gov. Pat Quinn to provide “Recovery Act (ARRA) funding to expand the Illinois Community College Sustainability Network.”– GOP Leadership Leads The Way In Hypocrisy: Although he regularly slams the stimulus as a waste while in DC, McConnell has returned to Kentucky to take credit for stimulus programs, even taking time to request more funds. ThinkProgress attended two job fairs held by Cantor, where we found dozens of employers able to hire directly because of the stimulus. Indeed, even Boehner’s office released a statement boasting that the stimulus will create “much needed jobs.”

– The Audacity Of Hypocrisy Knows No Bounds: Many opponents of the stimulus have been quite brazen with their ability to try to claim credit for the program. For instance, Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) spent the morning of July 28th railing against the stimulus, yelling “Where’s the stimulus package? Where’s the jobs?” on the House floor. On the same day of his rant, Kingston’s office sent out multiple press releases bragging that he had secured hundreds of thousands in stimulus funds to hire additional police officers in his district. Other stimulus opponents, like Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) — who has called the stimulus a “trillion dollar debt bill” — have printed out jumbo-sized ceremonial stimulus checks to present to local communities to try to garner positive press.

The report concludes: “Individually, over half of the entire Republican caucus has hailed nearly every aspect of the stimulus as a success — from infrastructure funds, to food programs, to education grants. But politically, admitting its success might harm the GOP’s chances in November. So with Republicans fixated on winning politically, they have focused on deceiving the public by calling the stimulus a failure, while pretending successful programs aren’t stimulus funded.”

While I wish I could say this is surprising, nothing over my lifetime has ever made me expect anything less from the Republican “leadership.”

  Despite the need for progressive and forward-thinking policies which will improve America’s Republican-ravaged economy and get the country back on-track, 52% of the voters in Massachusetts handed Republican Scott Brown the Senate seat vacated by the late Edward Kennedy on Tuesday. With 93% of precincts reporting, Scott was beating Attorney General Martha Coakley 52% to 48%, giving Brown enough votes to declare a victory. With the win, Republicans now have the 41 Senate seats needed to place major roadblocks to the important policies, including healthcare reform, the Democrats and President Barack Obama have worked so hard to pass. While the defeat creates challenges for the Democrats, it should not be interpreted as a major conservative mandate from voters; Coakley lost by only 4% and her loss is largely seen as her failure to run a good campaign. Nonetheless, the United States just took a GIGANTIC step backwards.