The trends are down in “strongly approve” and up in “strongly disapprove”.

Republicans Like GOP’s Conservative Direction, Democrats Don’t
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/republicans_like_gop_s_conservative_direction_democrats_don_t

And, what Bob Beckel (Dem Strategist) says the Republicans did right:

Democrats Beware of Michael Steele
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/02/democrats_beware_of_michael_st.html

And, what has Michael Steele been up to? He’s cleaning house. Probably a good first step:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0209/Resignations_at_the_RNC.html

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Following the unanimous Republican opposition to the economic stimulus bill proposed by and House Democrats, the GOP has narrowed the gap this week on the Generic Congressional Ballot.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone surveys found that the Democrats’ lead is down to four percentage points–42% of voters said they would vote for their district’s Democratic candidate while 38% said they would choose the Republican (see crosstabs).

A week ago, the Democrats enjoyed a seven-point lead.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/congressional_ballot/generic_congressional_ballot

Friday, February 06, 2009
A Rather Modest Observation, Really [Victor Davis Hanson]
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NDlhYWEyNzdjNGI1ZTNhYzJjOTUxNDEzYzg5ZGQ2MTA=

1. Average number of initial applications for unemployment insurance
2. Number of manufacturers’ new orders for consumer goods and materials
3. Speed of delivery of new merchandise to vendors from suppliers
4. Amount of new orders for capital goods unrelated to defense
5. Amount of new building permits for residential buildings
6. The S&P 500 stock index
7. Inflation-adjusted money supply (M2)
8. Spread between long and short interest rates (the yield curve)
9. Consumer sentiment
10. Average weekly hours worked by manufacturing workers

Any Government practices and/or stimulus that doesn’t drive these items in 2009 won’t lead us out of the recession in 2009.

——————

Dems warn leaders to resume regular order

excerpt:

A group of more than 50 House Democrats has penned a letter to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) imploring him to “restore this institution” and see that the House returns to a “regular order” process of legislating.

The letter, signed by a large number of the conservative Blue Dog Coalition and the centrist New Democratic Coalition, has not yet been sent. Members are still gathering signatures in an effort to send the strongest signal possible to all top House Democrats that the caucus is up in arms over the top-down method of legislating employed by Democrats since late last year…

…Since last year, many senior House Democrats — many of them subcommittee chairmen — have grown overly frustrated with how only small and select bands of legislators have been responsible for writing bills, such as the $700 billion Wall Street bailout as well as much of the $819 billion economic stimulus bill.

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/democrats-warn-leaders-to-resume-regular-order-2009-02-02.html
————-

I also heard on the news that a bunch of blue dog Dems have been complaining that they had their arms twisted into voting for a bill they didn’t support.

TO ALL:ANNOY YOUR CONGRESS PEOPLE IF THIS DISTURBS YOU!

I have a little different take on who is running this show. Still think he was ‘placed’. I read and watch commentators say over and over that Pelosi and Reid stole this thing from him as he was trying to reach across the aisle. Not from what I have seen. That’s what they want you to think so they keep him squeaky and constantly ‘reaching across’. Nope, my opinion is that this did not happen without it coming straight from the White House. This is Obama’s baby.

Watch what he is doing, instead of his lips moving. There is quite an extensive list at this point of his signings. Quite a scary fellow and if he was not my president, I would have to say he was anti-American.

BTW, I can’t find a single phone being answered on either side in the Senate.

A short recon of whatÂ’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day…so check back often….

“Japan’s rural areas have been paved over and filled in with roads, dams and other big infrastructure projects, the legacy of trillions of dollars spent to lift the economy from a severe downturn caused by the bursting of a real estate bubble in the late 1980s. During those nearly two decades, Japan accumulated the largest public debt in the developed world — totaling 180 percent of its $5.5 trillion economy — while failing to generate a convincing recovery.

“Now, as the Obama administration embarks on a similar path, proposing to spend more than $820 billion to stimulate the sagging American economy, many economists are taking a fresh look at Japan’s troubled experience.
…
In the end, say economists, it was not public works but an expensive cleanup of the debt-ridden banking system, combined with growing exports to China and the United States, that brought a close to Japan’s Lost Decade. This has led many to conclude that spending did little more than sink Japan deeply into debt, leaving an enormous tax burden for future generations.

Et tu, Brute Times ?

In Burnham’s case, politics certainly played a large role in his work. Last year, the Times of London revealed that George Soros provided almost half of Burnham’s funding for the study. Soros shoved millions of dollars into his highly vocal opposition to the war and George Bush, funding Democrats and the Democratic Party in their efforts to unseat Republicans over the last three election cycles. His contribution of less than $100,000 to Burnham’s efforts were chump change, and bought him the propaganda he needed.

The truth is Obama is flailing.

If they want to just do the short term stimulus, they could cut out 80% of the bill…and they could cut some taxes. That would probably help more than all of this.

As for energy independence, I am all for that but the vast majority of the money in this bill has nothing to do with that. Besides, Obama does not even support offshore drilling.