4 for 2010?

House Republicans are starting to pull together an agenda for 2010. It’s not as sweeping as the Contract with America, or, even, Six for 06. But if you’re a small businessman with a commercial real estate problem or a company wondering how you’re going to pay for mounting unemployment insurance costs — than this plan’s for you. Once, you know, they figure out solutions and all (and we’ve seen some false starts from Cantor before). Also, I’m not 100% on point 4: this seems to be part of the business of governing. Better to do something than nothing, no?

Update:
For those interested, here is the document given to me laying out the four GOP principles.

Subscribe to Jay Newton-Small on Facebook
Related Topics: 2010 elections, eric cantor, republican, strategy, 2012 Election, Congress, Economy, Republican Party
  • Latest on Swampland

    From left: AP; ABACAUSA

    The Phony War: Obama and Romney Are Debating Character, Not Policy

    More than five months from Election Day, the back-and-forth about Mitt Romney’s record at Bain already feels played out. Unfortunately, there’s good reason to expect the campaign continues in this vein indefinitely. Neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney are terribly interested in dwelling on policy platforms. Romney’s plan to slash spending and keep taxes low on the wealthy isn’t especially popular, at least not at any level of detail beyond a blithe promise to shrink the deficit. Meanwhile, Obama’s signature first-term achievements, like health care, the stimulus and Wall Street reform, are all unpopular or tricky to sell. (The Dodd-Frank bill is the most popular of these, but hyping it means offending wealthy donors.) So what we’re getting instead is a superficial duel about character–and, worse, one that’s based on the largely false premise that the better man can better “manage” the economy back to health.

    Obama Administration Blocks Global Health Fund To Fight Disease In Developing NationsHuffPost Politics

    Audacity of Dope: Tales of a Toking Teenage Obama

    We knew Barack Obama smoked weed in high school because he wrote about it in his books. What we didn’t know, until Buzzfeed posted these choice nuggets (I’m so sorry) from David Maraniss’s new book on the President’s younger years, were the giggle-worthy details of his “Choom Gang” lifestyle, which are right out of a buddy stoner flick. Obama and his friends drove around the lush Hawaii countryside, hot-boxing their VW bus and re-upping with a long-haired pizza-tossing dealer named Ray, whom Obama thanked in his yearbook “for all the good times.”

  • palininatowel

    Considering some of the spelling and grammar errors I saw on many of the Tea Party signs, Kantor may be better served to dumb it down to from four points to one:

    Obama is a socialist, America-hating Kenyan Muslim and we MUST stop him!

  • pafro

    “Cantor admits the group has yet to come up with any solutions, but they are meeting over the next few months to hear from experts and to hammer out concrete proposals.”
    Greetings. I am a traveler from the future and I come bearing Cantor’s proposals. They are as follows:
    1. Get rid of unemployment insurance and replace it with something called ‘Tax cuts for the rich’.

  • deconstructiva

    Thanks, Jay. Please write in more often. Kudos for stating the blinding obvious – the GOP has no solutions! When you noted Cantor’s change in tone, what caused this – recent events alone, your tough questions, did you catch him off guard (hope so!), or something else? Is he trying to bypass HC entirely (HC as du jour, trying to skirt unified opposition, no alt. plan)? I’ll help him out – don’t try to solve all four “big problems” with tax cuts alone, k? Does he really want an inclusive party or just the “image of being an inclusive party” (think the NY-23 House race infighting)? Any more you can tell us?

  • deconstructiva

    …and Jay, speaking of NY-23, will YOU or others go up there to cover this? This could be a genuine GOP mutiny – even Lovely Sarah is involved (she’s backing the conservative third candidate). Speaking of Sarah, which one of the Swamp reporters will review her book? Will you interview her again? (sim. to pafro’s good stuff, I’m also pondering REAL problems / solutions; will post soon) Thanks!

  • freeinpa

    When was the last time a welfare recipient hired a single worker?

  • Paul-no not that one

    ADM has thousands of employees.

  • Art Pepper

    What if you’re a small-business owner wondering how to provide health insurance to his/her employees?

    Oh that’s right — in America you can just go to the emergency room.

    global warming may be [one of] the topics du jour

    If the GOP were truly forward looking, they’d embrace the science and join the 21st century on this issue.

  • sacredh

    Sarah and Levi are fighting again today and tossing around body slams.
    .
    JNS: Hint hint. We’ll get off Mike’s back if you throw us some red meat on Sarah. Sarah’s complaining about Levi throwing meat around too.

  • gysgt213

    “When was the last time a welfare recipient hired a single worker?”
    .
    Lets see I thing these welfare receipent have.
    .
    Aerospace Corporation
    Aerovironment
    Advanced Integrated Systems
    Aivea Corporation
    Alliant Techsystems
    Allied Container Systems
    Allied-Signal Inc.
    AM General Corporation
    American Petroleum Institute
    Anteon International Corporation
    Applied Research Associates Inc.
    ARINC
    Argon ST
    AV-Optimal Defense Consultancy Service
    BAE Systems plc (U.S. subsidiary is BAE Systems Inc.)
    Ball Corporation
    Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.
    Bath Iron Works
    Battelle Memorial Institute
    BBN Technologies
    Bechtel Corporation
    Berico Technologies
    BDM Corporation
    Blazeware Inc.
    Black Knight Technology Inc.
    Boecore
    Boeing Company
    Boeing Sikorsky Comanche Team
    Boeing SVS
    Booz Allen Hamilton
    British Nuclear Fuels Limited
    Brogden Enterprises, Inc.
    CACI International Inc.
    .
    That’s just a few.

  • deconstructiva

    …yeah, Sarah complaining about Levi’s meat. Oh, what we missed out on by electing Obama. Yeah, the world’s getting safer now, but the only other drama we could’ve had would be an Edwards presidency. But he’d probably tell his WH Press Secretary to zip it already.

  • sacredh

    The GOP embrace science? Sacrilege.

  • sacredh

    Levi claimed on tv that Sarah refers to her child as “My retarded baby”.

  • spob

    JNS, your snark on point 4 is silly. Investment depends on some certainty of the business environment. No certainty, and capital will go elsewhere.
    .
    This is not rocket science.

  • deconstructiva

    …wow, that’s a cold remark. I wonder what else he’s holding back.

  • deconstructiva

    In a rare ‘serious’ move, I’ll help out Cantor free of charge – Dude, I’ll type slowly so you can understand: you’re addressing the wrong problems. Commercial real estate? Unemployment tax? Deficits? Uncertain biz environments (whatever that is)? Ha! Your REAL four problems are unemployment, foreclosures, banking, and HC. HC / insurance costs / coverage / lack affect working and unemployed folks. You love the free market? Create a 100% private market that covers everyone, no exceptions. Good luck. Put everyone back to work. That raises revenues for both govt. / biz and helps reduce deficits, reduce unemploy. tax loads (if we’re working, UE benefits don’t have to be paid out, right?), and calm biz environments. Working folks can also pay mortgages. As for mortgages / banking, banks are sitting on capital / slow to lend and squatting in foreclosed homes (sometimes literally, see link) / slow to sell them. Move their butts already. Don’t forget the huge derivatives market that built pyramids of nothing from those bad mortgages …then crashed the banks and AIG. That market has to be reigned in, at min. through a transparent exchange (ala NYSE / NASDAQ) – no shadow markets. Got it, Cantor? http://www.cnbc.com/id/32800279
    .
    …thoughts, Jay? thx

  • spob

    http://www.anncoulter.com/
    .
    The guilty pleasure that is Ann Coulter

  • spob

    Principals or principles?

  • grape_crush

    Hilarious! This:

    Thus far they have identified four key areas in which they believe their opponents are vulnerable: the ongoing credit crunch in the commercial real estate market, the looming costs of unemployment tax increases on states and businesses, the massive budget deficits and what Cantor calls an uncertain environment that Obama’s ambitious agenda on health care, financial reform and climate change is creating for the business community.

    is followed by:

    “The essentials are the same: these are the issues that are impacting Middle America that are being ignored by the majority…” says Dick Armey, a former Republican House majority leader.

    So, the issues impacting Middle America the most are (1) not being able to easily get a loan to purchase commercial real estate, (2) unemployment tax increases – not unemployment itself, (3) the budget deficit created when they had control of the government, and (4) the feelings of the business community.

    Oh, yeah. Go with that; it smells like a winner

  • 53_3

    I think the four points that box in the GOP are, as they’ve clearly demonstrated:
    .
    1. This isn’t our America!
    2. Tax Cuts for the Rich!
    3. Long live HCICs! Death panels are ok as long as bean counters and CEOs run them!
    4. The racial divide is good for politics, keep it up!

  • 53_3

    Sorry, spob.
    .
    When you look at who benefits from the GOP’s talking points, and who would benefit, there’s no question, at least in mind mind, it’s principals

  • 53_3

    Isn’t Dick Armey the Freedomworks guy, the same Freedomworks that was taking big donations from supporters that Racheal Maddow exposed?
    .
    Thought so…

  • http://forgottenlord.livejournal.com forgottenlord

    If you want evidence that welfare can provide billions of dollars to the economy, look no further than the richest woman in Britain and former welfare recipient, JK Rowling.
    .
    On a similar note, how many lives have been saved from a personal bankruptcy or starving to death so that they could then go on to lead a productive, helpful life and aide the national economy over the long run? The answer is a lot.
    .
    That said, I do have two questions to ask that I actually don’t know the answers to but really should be the only factors on deciding whether welfare is a problem or note: “What percentage of welfare recipients are permanent recipients – that is, what percentage of recipients have stopped looking for work and have opted to spend the rest of their life on welfare?” and “Is that an acceptable level?”
    .
    The extreme right will always say the number is too high since it is never 0 and therefore it allows people to be lazy. The extreme left will always say the number is fine since we should help people regardless of whether even a vast majority of users are abusing the system. For everyone in between (and that is probably 95% of the country), your question is absolutely useless.

  • 53_3

    Reminds me of how the banks want to give, what, 32 billion in bonuses to CEOs instead of paying 50 billion back in TARP money.
    .
    So how many employees did Chase hire, freetopee? How about Bank of America?
    .
    I mean, hells bells freetopee, why didn’t they just divvy up a billion or two for those nitwits and give the govenment back 30 of that 50 billion they got?
    .
    Naw! Hell, no, freepeee would say, that would be interfering in the market!
    .
    Klonk…

  • 53_3

    Has everyone forgotten that Welfare reform happened fourteen years ago?
    .
    How long can the GOP beat that dead horse…

  • 53_3

    It’s rocket surgery…

  • Ivy_B

    Not to mention former Swampland guest poster – we all remember how well that went.

  • grape_crush

    Not just that, 53_3…once upon a time, he was a Swampland blogger!

    Look at the healthy components of our health care system. What they have in common is a large measure of independence from government subsidies and price regulation. For example, eye surgery centers, fertility specialists and cosmetic dental surgery. Costs have fallen dramatically, innovation abounds and safety improves.

    There’s plenty of time to comparison shop when you are in the ambulance on the way to the ER.
    .
    What an a$$hole.

  • rustyreturns

    Actually there will be yet a 5th point for disucssion before 2012.
    .
    5. The bankruptcy of the United States.
    .
    Yes ladies and gentlemen. Our esteemed Democrat Leadership, with President Barack HUSSEIN Obama as THE LEADER of this ill-fated party has bankrupted us in less than 10 months.
    .
    God only knows what the next 3 years will bring us?
    .
    Oh yes, ownership by China!!
    .
    Enjoy libtards!!

  • spob

    OK, that’s funny.

  • spob

    http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28848.html
    .
    What the hell is the matter with these morons?

  • spob

    Jay when you’re on Hardball, you can discuss this:
    .
    http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/10/024827.php
    .
    Is Hilary a moron?

  • rustyreturns

    More MoveOn.Org propaganda!
    .

    “Dear MoveOn member,
    For months, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has been under intense pressure to drop the public health insurance option.

    But on Monday he defied insurance lobbyists, political pundits, and conservatives of both parties by announcing that he’ll include a public option in the Senate floor bill.

    That’s the kind of courageous leadership we need for victory on health care. But the fight’s not over yet: Sen. Reid is still under fire from conservatives, including some in his own party, who will stop at nothing to kill the public option.

    In this critical moment, we’ve got to show that thousands of Americans have his back and are fired up to fight alongside him. So we’re placing a full-page ad in key newspapers on Capitol Hill and in his home state of Nevada with the names of thousands of Americans thanking Senator Harry Reid for his leadership.”

    .
    Yes, please tell ol Harry how much we have his back. At least until we VOTE HIM OUT OF OFFICE

  • palininatowel

    rusty,

    How come you start discussions but run away when asked simple, direct questions about your positions?

    Case in point, yesterday’s discussion of Karzai’s brother and Obama’s Afghanistan and Iraq policies.

    You were pontificating as you so often do on military matters, advocating for more troops in Afghanistan and a continued presence in Iraq. You cited the usual talking points: We’ve been in North Korea and Europe for 50-60 years and so forth.

    So I asked you a few simple, direct questions. And you, as usual, ran and hid.

    So I’ll repost them here to see if you can muster the courage to have an actual discussion on the issue, rather than your typical cut-and-run…

    What in god’s name does a civil war in Iraq have to do with keeping “us safe here at home?”

    Ironic that you bring up Vietnam. How many troops did we have in Vietnam at its peak? Any guess, rusty? And who finally pulled the plug on that epic misadventure?

    As for the same, tired old examples of our bases in Korea and Europe, are you suggesting we commit the same long-term assets to new outposts in Afghanistan and Iraq? Seriously? And how do you propose to continue to pay for those? I know you don’t want a tax increase!Will we get NATO help in Iraq and Afghanistan as we do in Europe? To the same extent?

    I look forward to your answers…

  • arartteacher

    Are you saying that you think we should get out now?

  • palininatowel

    This is taken directly from Kantor’s proposed four-point document. I pray that he does, indeed, manage to make this an official platform piece, because I can only imagine Kantor and the rest of the GOP trying to explain the following to their cement-head, Tea Party base:

    Unlike residential mortgage loans that fully amortize, “permanent” commercial mortgage loans
    typically have a balloon after five years. Thus, about $400 billion of permanent commercial
    mortgage loans must be rolled over or refinanced each year.

    The issuance of commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) has slowed to a trickle,
    eliminating a significant source of permanent financing. Banks have reduced their loan-to-value
    ratios on permanent commercial mortgage loans, while average commercial real estate prices
    have fallen by 39 percent from their peak. Consequently, some owners of commercial real estate
    projects may be unable to inject sufficient new equity to rollover or refinance their loans and thus
    may default at maturity between now and 2012, even though their projects are profitable and
    current on their loans.

    Hilarious. Really has that touch for the common man, doesn’t it? I am certain the folks who were marching around with signs like this:

    Let’s keep the Tea
    Dump the Polititions

    .. will be jumping on Kantor’s bandwagon based on his proven ability to get to the heart of the matter for the average Joe…

  • freeinpa

    paul-no not th & gysgt213:

    Blind ignorance on display once again.

  • apollyon07

    53_3: that’s right, we did have that a while ago, and it undeniably had a very positive impact. I somewhat agree that it is beating a dead horse, because I think it was such a leaping improvement (though of course nothing is perfect).
    .
    One thing that does annoy me with this though is when democrats like Bill Clinton try to claim credit for it, when it was like pulling teeth getting many of them to go along with it.

  • apollyon07

    Not sure if we need any more tax cuts, the Bush ones already worked. And they were, by the way, tax cuts for more than the rich. I can see why much of them were given to the rich though…given that they are the ones paying the vast majority of the taxes.

  • palininatowel

    arartteacher,
    .
    We should get out of Iraq on Obama’s time frame, which is already happening.
    .
    As for Afghanistan, I think we need an exit strategy. rusty pulls the old, “We should stay as long as we have to to keep[ us safe” for both Iraq and Afghanistan. And he backs it up with the usual, “We’ve been in North Korea and Europe for 50-60 years.”
    .
    So the question Is, does he think we need to establish similar long term presences in Iraq and Afghanistan? If so, why? And how do we sustain such a commitment?
    .
    If one wants to argue for sending 40,000 more Americans to Afghanistan, one should also have some idea of how we eventually get out of there.
    .
    rusty argues that Obama risks creating another Vietnam by not sending enough troops. The Vietnam fiasco happened because we didn’t know when to stop sending troops. That’s why I asked rusty if he knew how many troops we had in Vietnam at its peak.

  • freeinpa

    You mean the “decided” falsified science that has been falling apart under inspection? The one liberals tried to rush through under “crap and tax”?

    Every idea liberals have wilt under even casual inspection of the truth.

  • shepherdwong

    “…here is the document given to me laying out the four GOP principles.”
    .
    They’re lying. Anyone who’s been paying attention (and isn’t an idiot) knows that the GOP has only one principle and that’s to roll back and prevent the regulation or taxation of our corporate owners. That’s what they mean when they say “government is the problem”. Everything else is a lie.

  • sacredh

    He said that he was sitting on some information that would “really hurt her” but that he wasn’t going to spill the beans. I love those two. You know she’s going to wind up waiting in an alley for him with a baseball bat.

  • freeinpa

    R.I.P. USA 1776-2009

  • sacredh

    They pay a vast majority of the taxes because they control a vast majority of the wealth.

  • freeinpa

    Individuals, companies et al should be run by government because they have shown they can run what???

    NOTHING!!!!

    Check out Amtrak losing nearly $500/passenger going from Texas to California. Or the post office or Cash for Clunkers where it cost taxpayers $24,000/car. All paid for by the people liberals love to bash

  • freeinpa

    The simple answer is they are liberals but how DARE you question there patriotism. Now go ahead it spray paint the Koran and watch the outrage!

  • freeinpa

    sacredh

    “Levi claimed on tv that Sarah refers to her child as “My retarded baby”.

    Actually she was referring to Levi! Amazing you folks mock news sources like Fox or Washington Times but will quote a nimrod who is literally selling his ass.

  • sacredh

    Levi says that is how Sarah has referred to her baby in private, not about him. I believe that was on CBS. Sarah came back in the press and denied it and then claimed how sad it was that “someone” was selling their body for money. I just read it this morning on AOL.

  • grape_crush

    O-nay eeding-fay the olls-tray, okay-ay?

  • Paul-no not that one

    “One thing that does annoy me with this though is when democrats like Bill Clinton try to claim credit for it”
    .
    Stupid Clinton claiming credit for a bill he signed!

  • sacredh

    Speaking French is so elitist.

  • freeinpa

    53_3

    You continue to get dumber by the day.

    http://www.thedeal.com/dealscape/2009/02/finance_layoffs_nyse_jpm_bac.php

    Here you can count up the job losses at Bank of AMerica and JP Morgan, but you don’t have enough fingers and toes.

  • kbanginmotown

    ank-thay oo-yay, ape-gray ush-cray!

  • slapsgiving

    Heres one for ya. Which one of these stimulates the economy more and creates more jobs:
    .
    1 guy with 50 million dollars to spend
    .
    or
    .
    1 million people with 50 dollars to spend.
    .
    The answer is obvious and is the reason whatever economic theory you can come up with to justify tax cuts for the rich does far less for the good of the country than empowering the middle class.

  • deconstructiva

    Sacred, here’s the first part of Levi’s interview –
    http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5432885n&tag=related;photovideo

  • Cliff

    The four GOP principles for ’10:
    1. Tax cuts
    2. No homos
    3. No Mexicans
    4. Coal plants

  • sacredh

    A variation
    .
    1. NO! Mine!
    2. Homos no mo’
    3. Only if they work cheap
    4. F*#k the carbon footprint. It’s cheap.

  • sacredh

    Thanks for the link. I really am starting to like Sarah. She’s a dumber better looking version of a cousin that livens up holiday get togethers.

  • ohiolib

    Just ignore rusty. Even if he ever made up his mind whether he was for or against HC mandates, it’s Thursday. No feeding the trolls.

  • ohiolib

    Ah yes, you mean all this falsified science?

    http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalwarming.html

    http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/index.html

    http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/

    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091019162929.htm

    http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/global_warming_worldbook.html

    I know it’s no feed day, but I want to laugh hilariously at freeper when he says something like “typical liberal idiot who got off his meds.” and can’t answer the question.

    This ought to get your started. Or is NASA also a bunch of Socialist Communist Muslim Kenyans?

  • abdullah69

    The four principles for GOP 2010 are -
    1. Me

    2. Tax cuts for me.

    3. Guns for me.

    4. Enough weaponry to make the rest of the world look like me.

  • Cliff

    abdullah, I’m not disagreeing with your platform planks, but I feel they leave the critical issues of homos and Mexicans woefully unaddressed.

  • sacredh

    I suppose that in a pinch we could have a plank about Mexican homosexuals. The real worry and an issue of vital concern is the possibility of republican representatives abandoning their wives and mistresses for a same sex partner. Everybody’s going to be wanting a Log Cabin.

  • sacredh

    If you spend the night in a log cabin does that mean you’re a “real” American?

  • sacredh

    It’s not easy being me. There’s alot of irresponsibility involved.

    Off for a road trip. Have fun folks.

  • rustyreturns

    palin:
    I will attempt to satisfy your desire to know why?
    .

    “What in god’s name does a civil war in Iraq have to do with keeping “us safe here at home?”

    .
    First and foremost I do not agree with your assumption, and that is all it is that there is a “civil war” in Iraq. While I will not say the potential in the furture for such an occurence could happen, I believe that it is far to early in the entire scope of things to pre-judge as you are doing with the events in Iraq.
    .
    Secondly, I do believe we have invested a lot of treasury and lives lost in Iraq. Right or wrong, I for one do not want to see those lives lost in vain. I also do not believe it would be in our best interests in the US to allow this country to again fall into the hands of a dictator or some other enemy. If that means keeping our military in Iraq, with fully functioning bases of operation, so be it. As I said previously, we have done so in other countries for the past 50 or 60 years after a war, what is the difference. If we had to choose, I would close bases in Europe now, and put those funds into bases in Iraq if I had the decision to make.
    .

    “Ironic that you bring up Vietnam. How many troops did we have in Vietnam at its peak? Any guess, rusty? And who finally pulled the plug on that epic misadventure?”

    .
    There were over 500,000 troops in Vietnam at its peak in that specific conflict in 1968/1969. At least that is what I remember having been there myself at that time. Who finally “pulled” out those troops was none other than Richard Nixon, and in my mind when the US population went sour on Vietnam, and could not stomach the war any longer, he had no choice but to end the conflict.
    .
    My correllation to Vietnam to Afghanistan is simply, that we went into Vietnam under Johnson primarily. That was the Administration in power at that time. Johnson also did not have the stomach to really fight that war, just the same as Obama is now doing. Johnson also had pressure on him to pass major legislation domestically, just as Obama is now under. The Vietnam War quickly got out of control for Johnson. Many poor decisions were made because his focus on domestic issues out-trumped the War in Vietnam. This I fear is history repeating itself yet again with Obama. He has way too many things that he is fully incapable of handling. Time unfortunately will prove me right on this observation, and we shall see yet again another Republican come into office to clean up the mess left by the Democrats currently in power.
    .

    “As for the same, tired old examples of our bases in Korea and Europe, are you suggesting we commit the same long-term assets to new outposts in Afghanistan and Iraq? Seriously? And how do you propose to continue to pay for those? I know you don’t want a tax increase!Will we get NATO help in Iraq and Afghanistan as we do in Europe? To the same extent?”

    .
    What is more expensive, palin? Lives lost in America or taking the fight to the enemy on their own turf. THE number one job of the Federal Govt is the protection and safety of its people. At least that is my interpretation of the constitution. Is that how you also see it?
    .
    If our own safety, and the well-being of our citizens are at stake because we need to fight an enemy, then other social programs should come second. Cuts need to be made in those social programs in order to fund the military. Period.
    .
    No one can tell me that there isn’t enough “PORK” and waste in the federal budget alone that would fund what we need to do to protect our citizens. If it means cutting a project from Hawaii Sen Inouye so that the pet project he has to save the Hawaian $hit fly is cut, so be it.
    .
    I appreciate the time you shall take to read what I have written, palininatowel.

blog comments powered by Disqus