Republicans And The Message War

WaPo’s E. J. Dionne reminds us how the GOP is expert at making its case to the media using clever tactics.  They focus on minor parts of the stimulus package and extrapolate them as though the represent the whole thing.  They define it by repeating over and over again issues that concern less than 1% of the bill.  Obama has been focusing on how the bill enhances health care, education, energy and relief to financially suffering states.  Republicans say it’s a spending plan, not a stimulus plan, but the whole purpose of stimulus is to spend now for greater results later.  Almost half the bill involves tax cuts Republicans want, but that doesn’t seem good enough for them, either.  And they are offering no vision to counter their criticisms of this bill. Republicans object to tax credits for lower income people who the claim pay no taxes, forgetting about payroll taxes, local and state taxes, and a host of other fees, including sales taxes that are disproportionately paid by lower income Americans.

Obama makes his best case in a WaPo op-ed piece, reminding us that it was the failed policies of his opponents that got us into this mess, and that America voted for a change from those ideas (and those people).

Now is the time to protect health insurance for the more than 8 million Americans at risk of losing their coverage and to computerize the health-care records of every American within five years, saving billions of dollars and countless lives in the process.

Now is the time to save billions by making 2 million homes and 75 percent of federal buildings more energy-efficient, and to double our capacity to generate alternative sources of energy within three years.

Now is the time to give our children every advantage they need to compete by upgrading 10,000 schools with state-of-the-art classrooms, libraries and labs; by training our teachers in math and science; and by bringing the dream of a college education within reach for millions of Americans.

And now is the time to create the jobs that remake America for the 21st century by rebuilding aging roads, bridges and levees; designing a smart electrical grid; and connecting every corner of the country to the information superhighway.

Do Republicans have a better message?

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.