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Mr. President, Please Don't Stimulate Us

by Scott Ott for ScrappleFace · 39 Comments · · Print This Story Print This Story

NOTE: ScrappleFace editor Scott Ott writes columns at Townhall.com, here’s a glimpse of his latest, and a link to read more…

Expect bi-partisan support of a new “emergency economic stimulus package”, proposed by President George Bush this week. The Democrats will tweak the details, add more spending and shove in a few projects that couldn’t pass on their own merit. The two parties will come together to “rescue” an economy that teeters on the brink of…shall we say, less aggressive growth?

The stimulus package, of course, echoes one of the great ideas that brought down the former Soviet Union — the idea that the centralized government has a big panel of buttons and dials before it, that simply need to be manipulated in the proper sequence in order to “jump start” or “stimulate” the economy.
READ THE REST AT…
http://ScottOtt.Townhall.com
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Tags: Non-Satire · Townhall

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39 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Scott Ott // Jan 18, 2008 at 9:09 am

    [Note: Townhall.com, at this hour, appears to have server problems which may prevent your immediate access to Scott.Townhall.com. The vast IT staff at ScrappleFace.com has already conducted high-level talks with the person who answers the phone at Townhall.com and has received assurances that the nation's finest IT professionals, or at least those who don't already work for ScrappleFace, are on the task. If the issue lingers, our editorial board will meet to determine whether it would violate our core values to post Scott Ott's Townhall column in full here at ScrappleFace.com -- The Management]

  • 2 Ms RightWing, Ink // Jan 18, 2008 at 9:44 am

    Scott

    I travel over to the site every so often, but Fred Thompson hasn’t moved in ages. I welcome a new article to stimulate my, whoops, there I go stealing the thunder.

    When the experts finish with Town Hall send them over here so I can get my DVD drivers re-installed. sigh

  • 3 JamesonLewis3rd // Jan 18, 2008 at 9:49 am

    Exactly, Scott-Teetering on the Brink of what exactly?

    I think printing money for the sake of cramming already stuffed corporate coffers in order to make us folks feel good is problematic.

    Frankly, I don’t see “feel good” as a Constitutional imperative for the Executive Branch. It is not the job of the Executive/Legislative/Judicial Branches to micro-manage every aspect of my life.

    I don’t see this how this action “…..form[s] a more perfect Union, establish[es] Justice, insure[s] domestic Tranquility, provide[s] for the common defence, promote[s] the general Welfare, and secure[s] the Blessings of Liberty…..” in any positive sense whatsoever.

    This is reminiscent of the Global Warming Mania, if you ask me.

    Don’t get me wrong, I’ll spend it if they send it.

  • 4 Libby Gone // Jan 18, 2008 at 10:09 am

    JL3,
    Global warming mania? I know its a fact when I read this: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7009739004
    Bush controls the weather and the economy.

  • 5 JamesonLewis3rd // Jan 18, 2008 at 10:29 am

    BRRRRR!!!!!

  • 6 JQ // Jan 18, 2008 at 10:32 am

    Scott, you have got an awesome knack for words, and an even more incredible ability to keep perspective. I’ve never seen the Townhall site before today, but I’d have to say that your straight editorials are at least as enjoyable to read as your satire.

    I especially liked the December piece on Thompson. I only hope that the folks voting in the primaries are able to see through the election smoke-and-mirrors to recognize a real candidate when they see him. Unfortunately, judging by the states we’ve already seen vote, that doesn’t look like it’ll happen. It’s discouraging to hear the talking heads already referring to Thompson as just the guy who’s draining votes from Huckabee.

    Still, there’s always South Carolina.

  • 7 debass // Jan 18, 2008 at 11:48 am

    Don’t stimulate me bro!

  • 8 Hawkeye // Jan 18, 2008 at 1:18 pm

    Hey Scott,
    Excellent work. You musta been a journalist at one time or sumptin’… :wink:

  • 9 boberinyetagain // Jan 18, 2008 at 2:31 pm

    Good stuff as always Scott!

    $800 each eh? So, government largess or not if we all go out tonight and spend $800 on something then all will be right with the economy?

    The thinking boggles the mind.

    Reagan St (I couldn’t make that up!)
    That sounds like a prosperous place to live

  • 10 boberinyetagain // Jan 18, 2008 at 2:33 pm

    Maybe I could use the $800 as a downpayment on a home with a low interest loan…

    Prolly not

    Meade morning

  • 11 woodnwheel // Jan 18, 2008 at 2:38 pm

    On the subject of Fred Thompson, RCP has a piece by American Thinker’s Rick Moran entitled “The Anti Soundbite Candidate” that discusses (among other things) Fred’s tax plan. I recommend both Moran’s piece and the WSJ editorial he links to.

  • 12 boberinyetagain // Jan 18, 2008 at 3:21 pm

    Poor Mitt, we knew him well…

    chinese ronan

  • 13 gafisher // Jan 18, 2008 at 4:33 pm

    JL3 Re#3 — careful with that loose talk about “… stuffed corporate coffers …” or you’ll give the Dems more class-envy ammo.

    The only “economic stimulus” we need is for government to get out of our pockets and get out of our way.

  • 14 gafisher // Jan 18, 2008 at 4:45 pm

    ww Re#11: Rick Moran is too pessimistic. Fred could pull it off by sticking to his principles while the others stumble over their rash promises and implode.

  • 15 prettyold // Jan 18, 2008 at 7:46 pm

    No George, I have a headache.

  • 16 camojack // Jan 18, 2008 at 8:06 pm

    Show me da money!

  • 17 prettyold // Jan 18, 2008 at 9:39 pm

    Please Don’t Stimulate Us, President Bush

    To:

    Please Don’t Talk About Me when I’m Gone

    Please don’t stimulate me, President Bush,
    Thank you, but money from DC just makes me blush,
    A permanent tax cut would fix everything real nice,
    Don’t get us deeper in the hole,that’s my advice.
    Government’s spending more than enough,
    Things aren’t that tough,though Dems like to whine,
    They’ll shove in earmarks and some pork ,
    So they can go home and shine,
    Don’t let ‘em,
    Throw this package in the toilet and flush,
    Please don’t stimulate me ,President Bush.

  • 18 prettyold // Jan 18, 2008 at 9:43 pm

    Nothin’ could be finah ,
    Than Fred Thompson in Carolina,
    Tuesday Mornin’

  • 19 mig // Jan 19, 2008 at 7:15 am

    Nothing more stimulating than selling JDAM guided-bomb technology to our Persian Gulf friends which are likely to receive air-defense upgrades, new fighter aircraft, combatant ships and patrol boats and common data-link systems that should improve their ability to cooperate (with us, we hope) in wartime.

  • 20 upnorthlurkin // Jan 19, 2008 at 2:41 pm

    If any of y’all see Algore around, could you send him up here? We’re shooting for -8° for a high today! Couple that with a brisk breeze out of the NW at about 15mph and it’s a tad chilly! I’d really like to introduce him to the phenomenon we call winter! Plus, I think the hot air constantly emminating from his pie hole could help us out!!

  • 21 JamesonLewis3rd // Jan 19, 2008 at 6:44 pm

    If you’re unfamiliar with a weekly feature of NewsBusters called “NewsBusted”, it’s kind of funny-2.5 minute video.

  • 22 gafisher // Jan 19, 2008 at 7:05 pm

    upnorthlurkin Re#20 — this time of year they call it “climate change.” I’m on the warm side of Lake Michigan: we baked in temps nearing 15 today, and I read [here] that Greenland risks losing its “Tropical Paradise” status.

    reCaptcha figured out the stock market: “drains speculators.”

  • 23 prettyold // Jan 19, 2008 at 7:34 pm

    Will all you folks please breath toward Green Bay tomorrow? It is supposed to be 2 degrees and -8 degrees windchill.You would have thought it would warm up ,all the TV and Radio stations have all their sports guys are there ,and you would think that much hot air,would do something. I hate to think of all those nice young men getting frost bite,can anyone say “Ice Bowl”?
    If Wisconsin had only had their Primary this weekend,it would probably be about 35 degrees.

    wv—original cautiously—The way that cold hard ball will be handled tomorrow.

  • 24 JamesonLewis3rd // Jan 19, 2008 at 7:54 pm

    Huckabee has announced that he is dropping out of the race, acknowledging that what America really needs is Fred Thompson as the Republican Presidential Candidate winning by a Phenomenal, All-Time-In-The-History-Of-The-World Record-Breaking LandSlide in November.
    :shock:
    [he was channeling me as he spoke meekly into the microphone]

  • 25 JamesonLewis3rd // Jan 19, 2008 at 7:57 pm

    NYG MUST LOSE!!!!!

  • 26 Fred Sinclair // Jan 19, 2008 at 8:32 pm

    I believe that Government stimulation of the American economy should be a major priority!
    (1) Major, massive, gigantic, gargantuan tax cuts across the board married to (2) equal sized slashed cuts in “entitlement programs”.

    Thaat would be genuine ’stimulation’. Anything else would be what in Texas is called - “Bullfeathers!!!” (or something on that order)

    But since it works 100% of the time and the reverse fails 100% of the time - the liberals would torpedo any such an attempt. Since they are totally invested in failure (at any cost).

    Heirborn Ranger

  • 27 gafisher // Jan 19, 2008 at 8:38 pm

    Rep. Duncan Hunter has withdrawn from the campaign. (I believe JL3’s #24 is a joke, given Huckabee’s strong position in the S.C. primary.)

    Hunter is a good man and worthy of higher office. I’d like to see the two greatest pro-life, pro-liberty, pro-Fair Tax (a.k.a. Pursuit of Happiness) conservatives work together.

    …………………… Huckabee-Hunter 08! ……………………

  • 28 JamesonLewis3rd // Jan 19, 2008 at 9:14 pm

    Yes, I should have added a disclaimer that it was merely wishful thinking on my part…..

    Fred must hang-in at least through March 4 when we have our primary around here. He’s just gotta. He’s the only one who’s not “performing” or “insane” .

    ±258 days until Election Day.

  • 29 JamesonLewis3rd // Jan 19, 2008 at 9:18 pm

    Practical versus Pragmatic

  • 30 Darthmeister // Jan 19, 2008 at 10:18 pm

    This is a very stimulating topic.

    B-R-R-RUTAL: MIDWEST LOCKED IN DEEP, DEEP FREEZE…
    More evidence of Global Warming.

    PAPER: Clintons’ dinner tab in Vegas came to $1,530…
    Yeah, but what did they tip? Probably an autographed pair of Bill Clinton’s Arkansas underwear that he wrote off on his taxes.

    MSNBC Hosts Continue To Laugh At Republican Speeches…
    Yep, objective, fair-minded journalism at work. At least they aren’t out assaulting, raping, murdering or molesting children.

  • 31 Ms RightWing, Ink // Jan 19, 2008 at 10:33 pm

    11 degrees in tropical Ohio heading for 2 degrees this evening. Right now we are at -5 windchill.

    Think I will stay inside, but I kinda wanted to go out and howl at the moon.

    Nite all

  • 32 prettyold // Jan 19, 2008 at 11:09 pm

    Nite MS RW,
    Nite John boy

  • 33 JamesonLewis3rd // Jan 20, 2008 at 5:55 am

    If Edgar Allen Poe hadn’t keeled over and died in 1849 he would have been 199 yesterday.

  • 34 gafisher // Jan 20, 2008 at 7:58 am

    JL3 Re#33: “If Edgar Allen Poe hadn’t keeled over and died in 1849 he would have been 199 yesterday.”

    Are we sure he died?

    (reCaptcha: “wanting disposal.”)

  • 35 Darthmeister // Jan 20, 2008 at 10:31 am

    gafisher,

    “If Stalin hadn’t keeled over and died he would probably be one of the Democratic candidates for president!” Darthmeister, 2008

    In a smoke-filled backroom: “Look, Joe, just moderate your police state abuses and your penchant for pogroms and go a little further left by being a little more pro-abortion and pro-homosexual marriage and the White House is yours! We’re already in substantive agreement about national collectivism and socializing healthcare, industry, and the American educational system. You could make the Democratic Party a tour de force into the forseeable future! But don’t worry, we won’t call you a liberal, Americans hate that word. You’ll be known as ‘progressive socialist’. ALL HAIL THE STATE … once we’re in control!”

  • 36 Fred Sinclair // Jan 20, 2008 at 11:02 am

    Ther’re at it in full force. On channel after channel, I’m seeing heavy saturation of pitches showing 1 in 7. photos of heartstring jerking sad faces of poor people in dire straits, suffering disease and assorted ailments including death, because one out of every seven Americans don’t have ANY health insurance. The fact that there is money in many cases to equip them with i-pods, i-phones, blackberries cell phones and Wii isn’t mentioned. Just the fact that they are poor (in the world’s richest Country) and have no insurance is their whole sob-story in a nutshell.
    Looks to me like an attempt to brainwash the public into ‘feeling’ strongly enough for these pathetic folks, that some viewers will be swayed in the next push for Federally funded “National Health Care”.
    Make no mistake, they’re not going to let this matter lie and die. It will be a matter of re-introducing the bill again and again - year after year, after year, chip, chip, chipping away; like a sculptor’s mallet and chisel, with a block of marble.
    Then one day in maybe ten or fifteen years Hillary’s National Health Care Plan will become law and we’ll be in the same awful mess that Canada, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Cuba, etc. are in now.

    The Socialist/Communists don’t think or care about this afternoon or tomorrow, They think in terms of 5 - 15 - 20 years from now - and they are agonizingly slow and incredibly thorough. The Liberals are like termites, in that left unchecked they will continue their destruction until the house collapses.

    Liberals are America’ s greatest enemy, not the Muslim Extremist (aka Terrorists). One has only to look at what they have done to America and American values in only 50 years. From the days of “Leave it to Beaver” and “Father Knows Best” to “Sex In the City” and “Will and Grace”

    It’s been a long 50 years and I’ve lived through all of them. “Christian Bashing” is now the only recognized and accepted form of discrimination. We can no longer try to co-exist with the satanic evil of liberalism than we can co-exist with house filled with termites.

    So far, to date, I know of no other solution to termite infestation than to call the exterminators. We have a choice, we can decide to do nothing and wind up like the Cubans as they to escape their slavery by risking life and limb to get to a different country; or we can begin voting these enemies out of office and standing politically incorrect, but firm as we denounce lifestyles that subvert the American Family. (i.e. Homosexuality and Abortion to name only a couple).

    Our forebears took this country by force of arms from the British, We then had to defend the America from Succession by force of arms, Force of arms in the 20th century kept America free. Now we face an even greater challenge that will in all likelihood require once again the force of arms to protect America.

    The good news is that we’ve got more guns than they do! We must pray that once again God will be with us in our conflict for America, American Families and The American Way of life!

    Heirborn Ranger!

  • 37 JamesonLewis3rd // Jan 20, 2008 at 11:02 am

    It’s the late arrival of 1984. It’s all horrorshow. I’m stocking up on supplies.
    [just imagine President Ron Paul--abbastanza bizzarro, i miei amici--but.....who knows?]
    Am I [going] mad!?!
    :shock:

  • 38 JamesonLewis3rd // Jan 20, 2008 at 11:22 am

    Maybe it’s because I was weened on EAP and Vincent Price back when $0.50 would get me a ticket to a double feature (w/cartoons & stuff & no adverts except for the Beloved Concession Stand) and enough junk to eat till we (usually my brother) spewed. Then the anxious rush home to re-read The Pit and the Pendulum while the images were still fresh in my prepubescent mind’s eyeball.

    They call us “Boomers” nowadays. I loathe it as much as “Old School” . It’s like somebody’s slowly ramming a red-hot ice pick in my ears.

  • 39 JamesonLewis3rd // Jan 20, 2008 at 11:24 am

    * into my ears

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