Who Will Be the President’s Straw Man Tonight?

Who Will Be the President’s Straw Man Tonight?

MARCH 24, 2009

Even the Washington Post has reported on the President's use of straw man tactics to scare away criticisms of his policies.  Despite the fact Republicans have repeatedly offered better solutions:

$786 billion so-called stimulus

President's Straw Man
"There seem to be a lot of folks... who just believe that we should do nothing." (Washington Post, 2/11/2009)

Republican Better Solution
Republicans offered an alternative that created twice the jobs at half the cost compared to the President's plan. (republicanleader.house.gov)
 
$410 billion omnibus loaded with wasteful spending

President's Straw Man
"Opposition is always easy. Saying no to something is easy." (Washington Post, 3/12/2009)

Republican Better Solution
Republicans called for a resolution that would have checked the growth of government spending and eliminated thousands of wasteful earmarks. (www.gop.gov)
 
A budget proposal that spends, taxes, and borrows too much

President's Straw Man
"...they've [Republican Party] just decided ‘we're going to be against whatever the other side is for.'" (Louisville Courier-Journal, 3/24/2009)

Republican Better Solution
Republicans call for a budget that protects jobs, lowers taxes, provides universal access to affordable health care, and ends taxpayer bailouts. (www.gop.gov)

So what can we expect from the President tonight?

The American people should be on the look out for even scarier straw man tactics as the President defends his proposals to:

    Spend $3.6 trillion in the next fiscal year
    Add roughly $1.4 trillion in new entitlement spending over the next 10 years
    Raise $1.9 trillion in new taxes
    Increase the national deficit to $1.8 trillion for this year alone
    Accumulate more than $9 trillion in deficit spending over the next 10 years