AMERICAN CONSERVATISM IN 2008 AND BEYOND

Not everything that everyone Right of Center says or advocates is an unstoppable slide into Socialism, man.

Cycloptichorn

Well, since, in your reply, you have given us a demonstration of the point I made, it isn't necessary to make any additional effort.

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Not everything that everyone Right of Center says or advocates is an unstoppable slide into Socialism, man.

Cycloptichorn

Its nice of you to admit that.

the act of a stupid (or "numb" to use POM's term) mass

georgeob is supposed to be smart???

then why did he write this???!!!

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the act of a stupid (or "numb" to use POM's term) mass

How can anyone confuse the words stupid with numb? If george's limbs suffer from diminished circulation because of the way he sits and, to use the vernacular term, begin to "fall asleep," does he say his legs are stupid? If he sprains his ankle and applies ice to it, does he say his ankle has become 'stupid' when he reaches the point at which it stops hurting?

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Tens of thousands of low-income workers lost their jobs Thursday as a stimulus-subsidized employment program came to an end

About half the jobs were summer employment for youth and the rest were for disadvantaged parents. Each state configured its initiative differently. Some covered all the workers' wages for a few months, while others paid for a portion of their salary.

With the program expiring, many of the adults have been told not to report to work anymore. And it won't be easy for them to find a new position at time when the unemployment rate continues to hover at 9.6%

Bad timing for the President, more ammo for the repubs...

http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/30/news/economy/subsidized_jobs_program/index.htm?hpt=T2

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Tens of thousands of low-income workers lost their jobs Thursday as a stimulus-subsidized employment program came to an end

snip

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About half the jobs were summer employment for youth and the rest were for disadvantaged parents. Each state configured its initiative differently. Some covered all the workers' wages for a few months, while others paid for a portion of their salary.

With the program expiring, many of the adults have been told not to report to work anymore. And it won't be easy for them to find a new position at time when the unemployment rate continues to hover at 9.6%

It does not sat that in the CNN article.
It says that "federal officials" havent reauthorized it.

But either way, its still bad timing for the President and more ammo for the repubs to use on the campaign.

September 30, 2010

R.I.P, TANF EMERGENCY FUND.... Readers probably got tired of my reports on one of the most effective federal jobs programs in recent memory, but it was my hope the Senate would find a way to keep it alive. As usually happens when counting on the Senate, those hopes were in vain.

At issue is the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Emergency Fund, which should have been one of the most popular programs in Congress. A key component of the Recovery Act, the fund subsidizes jobs with private companies, nonprofits, and government agencies, and has single handedly put more than 240,000 unemployed people back to work in 32 states and the District of Columbia.

Governors, including Mississippi's Haley Barbour (R), have sung its praises, and urged its extension. In July, CNN called the TANF Emergency Fund "a stimulus program even a Republican can love."

Except, Republicans didn't love it. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) led the floor fight this week, and was even willing to accept a compromise: instead of a year-long extension that Democrats had requested, Durbin sought a three-month extension, at a cost of just $500 million, in order to keep the fund alive through the end of the year. Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) refused to allow it.

"The majority has known this program was going to expire at the end of this month all year and has taken no steps to reauthorize this important social safety net program," said Enzi, who blocked Durbin's request for "unanimous consent" for a reauthorization.

Enzi either isn't very bright or he hasn't been paying attention. Dems first tried to reauthorize the TANF Emergency Fund in March, but Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) blocked it. Dems tried again earlier this month, but Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) blocked it. Dems tried again this week, but Enzi blocked it.

Regardless, what difference does it make when and how often it's come up? If Enzi agrees that this is an "important social safety net program," then why the hell did he feel it necessary to let it die?

This isn't some academic exercise -- by killing the measure, Republicans will force thousands of Americans out of work. The House approved an extension of the program (twice) but the Senate GOP just didn't care. As a result, the TANF Emergency Fund comes to an end tonight at midnight. Thousands of layoffs will begin quickly, and continue as we get closer to the holiday season.

And we'll once again face an ironic dynamic: Americans will get frustrated with Democrats over more job losses, instead of the Republicans responsible for killing an effective program that kept tens of thousands on the job.

Indeed, in a sane political world, the death of the TANF Emergency Fund would be a pretty big scandal, and Republicans would have been afraid to kill an effective jobs program with an unemployment rate near 10%. Instead, the GOP is counting on being rewarded by Americans for taking steps like these, and polls suggest that's exactly what's going to happen.

Republicans will keep asking, "Where are the jobs?" and no one seems inclined to answer, "Your party got rid of them."
—Steve Benen 1:25 PM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (32)

It has been widely speculated that President Bush and the GOP fell into widespread disfavor and lost majority control of Congress when they abandoned basic conservative principles.

It is a given that most American liberals didn't like President Bush to begin with and didn't vote for Republicans for Congress either. Therefore, it can be concluded that the GOP lost power when it violated those issues most important to their base generally imbedded in an ideology known as modern Conservatism.

As a replacement for the "Bush aftermath" thread which is drawing to a close, perhaps this thread could be a place where we could discuss where conservatives got it right, where we went wrong, what we need to do to regain the confidence of the Conservative base, and other GOP/Conservative issues.

This could be Goldwater's time.