and a perfectly developed argument. The GOP is "gone fiddlin" at this point. OUT TO LUNCH.

Obama's doing mostly terrific things, within and without the expected log jams we knew they'd roll at him. Keep chugging on.

You've got to wonder what these weeks would have been like with a President McCain (or any other GOP captain of industry) at the helm. What on earth would they have used for solutions, and how much further would we have had to fall?

... "Even privileged children in America are attending rodent-invested schools, people, and it really has to stop." ...

should be :: Even privileged children in America are attending rodent-*infested* schools, people, and it really has to stop.

The last Rasmussen polls indicate there's a lot of work to be done to convince Americans that the stimulus package really is the way to go. Obama is certainly trying to do this, but until I see the results I'm not sure what to believe. Conservatives will certainly try to take advantage of anything that looks like lack of experience or weakness on his side--he'd better watch out.

I have to hand it to New Haven CT mayor John DeStefano and the parents of one magnet school in Our Town. Spurred by the parents to do more than just patch the leaks, DeStefano got state money in 1995 to rebuild one school. In the process he discovered that there was a huge amount of money out there, but nobody had been interested enough and persistent enough to go for it. In the last dozen years, EVERY SINGLE PUBLIC SCHOOL in New Haven has either been completely renovated, completely rebuilt, or is well along in the pipeline ("shovel ready") for rebuilding. Each one has been individually designed by top architects, and the historic buildings that were structurally sound have been saved and brought back to life. And it's not just bricks and mortar; the schools have been thoroughly reorganized, reformed, and revitalized. It's not perfection, and much more needs to be done, especially with parent outreach, but what a difference has been made by a pioneering group of parents and a mayor who was ready to listen and then run with the energy. Check it out at http://www.nhps.net/about/schoolconstruction.asp.

Pelosi isn't the true victim of sexism so much as just flat out contempt. She became despised the very moment she said that impeachment was off the table. She and her Congress had the chance to enact change in America, instead of simply failing to do so she refused. Of course she's sabotaging Obama... she's sabotaged democrats everywhere, why discriminate?

The Republicans lost the election, yet still intend to control the agenda. Before there can be any bipartisanship, they must first be made to understand that they LOST THE ELECTION! Voters are looking for change, and maybe they were hoping for bipartisanship, if possible, but as the Republicans have shown in the past few weeks, adopting any plan other than more trickle down tax cut bullshit is tantamount to shutting them out of the "debate."

They are royally pissed now that the Democrats insist on having a contrary view. Tax cuts are the only prescription they know, and don't seem to care that they just don't work. I think Obama seriously underestimated Republican recalcitrance on this point. I think he assumed that somewhere within them lurked at least a tiny shred of incipient love for their country, that they would finally agree that solving our problems would be of primary importance, and that ideological debates could wait for after the fire was out.

How wrong he was, but as a failing it's not really so bad. It's not such a crime, assuming good of people. However, these negotiations have made it clear where Republican loyalties lie, and it is not to this country but to their failed policies. I am still open to bipartisanship, but the Republicans need to be humbled. Beaten down if you will, until they sue for peace. And when that happens we should put aside the urge to gloat and welcome them back.

Yes tax serfs! You will support the Porkulus Bill or we will incarcerate your children in fire traps called schools.

This is just the usual tax predator ruling class riff that if you do not let us tax you more we will cut firemen and police and trash collection.

In DC, a Democratic controlled city by the way, the city government let the "public" schools deteriorate to the point that some were found to have only 1 working men's room and 1 women's room for thousands of students. They neglected to replace lead water pipes in the government water authority's distribution system and even threatened to fire an environmental scientist who started to go public back in 2004. But the huge influx on property tax money DC was taking in during the real estate boom did get spent: on a new baseball stadium and a new convention center and higher salaries for bureaucrats.

Funny how Demwits have been saying they were going to fix our deteriorating state monopoly schools for decades, and have spent drastically more on them, but without improving them. More money for bureaucratic administrators who campaign for the political class; less choice for parents. But the schools continue to produce less and less educated students. However Joan got her kids into a special magnet school. And Michelle Antoinette got the Odumba princesses into Sidwell Friends, a private school, for $39,000 a pop, instead of the decayed public school at 21st and K Streets NW a tax serf living near the White House has to send their kid to. That photo op of Michelle Antoinette visiting the common children yesterday was priceless. Maybe she fed them cake?

I suppose Senator Vitter already has the diapers he might need to help him in a filibuster.

It's only been eight years since Bill Clinton left office, and you idiots have grown so resentful that you'd rather play partisan politics than worry about what your stupid debt bill will do to the economy.

Popular support for the bill is lacking because it's a bad idea. No amount of politicking by Obama will change that.

If you want to get behind this ragbag of a bill, go right ahead. You'll be paying for it in two years. Ironically, your attempt to play partisan politics will doom your party.