Joe should just change his registration to Republican.

If Joe wasn’t confusing his talking points with FoxNews, he’d be able to articulate that the stimulus is a two-year strategy to stop the free-fall and rebuild the foundations.

Does Joe realize we’d be looking at 12% to 15% unemployment without it?

Specter brought 2 Republicans to pass the stimulus. Joe’s statements show his lack of conviction. He never could have done what Specter did to pas it.

Isn’t he saying that they oversold how quickly it would work? Isn’t that true?

Did I miss the part where he said he regrets his votes and didn’t think it was necessary? He’s defended the stimulus over and over. The guy has even been hitting Specter for weakening the stimulus for months.

Diano is the one eating up Toomey’s spin like some amateur.

David,

I’d believe you if I could look around at all of the sustainable jobs the stimulus has created. The only problem is they don’t exist and the administration has to rely on reports from citizens of congressional districts that don’t exist in order to sleep at night. The only thing I see when I look around is young people with no hope of getting a job.

Kevin-
You have to be kidding!
“Hope’s not a strategy” is a MAJOR Republican talking point. Look at the t-shirts and bumper stickers:
http://shop.cafepress.com/hope-is-not-a-strategy

Sestak’s “Plan B” appears to working as Toomey’s campaign manager after Specter wins the primary.

Sestak also said:
“There’s no such thing as a shovel-ready job.”

This is just plain stupid (politically and on the facts). There were plenty of immediate road maintenance projects (even things like installing guard rails) that had came back from the dead as a result of the stimulus. These projects employed the very blue collar construction workers that have been suffering the most.

Sestak’s claim that Specter weakened the stimulus is also bogus. The simple truth is that the original untrimmed bill wasn’t going to pass at the bigger number. Specter got the bill to a point where he could bring two more Republicans on to pass it.
Specter deserves credit for getting it passed. Specter’s CONSISTENT position is that he thought without the bill, we’d be headed into another Great Depression. Specter didn’t “oversell it”.

This is just another example of Sestak having no Democratic core and maybe some payback to Obama and Dem establishment for not supporting him over Specter. This proves that the party was right to back Specter.

We cant afford someone like Joe that gives a “tone” of giving up on this. When the chips are down we need someone to roll up their sleeves as opposed to play right into Pat Toomeys hands and not even know it.

Way to be a downer. Unemployment is a lagging indicator, but I think that’ll be on the up and up by early next year. Otherwise, we’re already seeing positive growth in GDP, housing, etc.

Greg K-
I agree that jobs are a lagging indicator and should start to pick up soon. I think it’s foolish for any (real) Dem to cut and run on the stimulus when we are starting to see results. Doing it with a “hope” slam just makes it worse.

There seems to be some truth to the statement that the stimulus was oversold. It also seems to me that the stimulus bill could have been better drafted.

Aside from all of the extraneous “Christmas tree ornament programs” added to the bill (driving up the cost), there were not sufficient review standards for receipt of the money to assure the production of immediate job creation. Thus, we can’t truly measure how successful the legislation has been.

To the extent that Sestak is being honest and observing that it was not a perfect bill, he is to be applauded for his candid remarks. It is the basis for improving future legislation. Toomey will twist and misrepresent whatever either of his opponents (Specter or Sestak) say.

Nice to see a Democrat being honest for once. What’s next, somebody is going to come out and claim that Obama might not have “saved or created” a million jobs this year? That would be raaaaaaacist!!!!

Sounds to me that Sestak is trying to play both ends against the middle. He is trying to run to the left of Specter, saying Specter is not a true Dem. But then he makes these sly comments to bash our president (“hope is not a strategy”).

I’m a Democrat who is still on the fence between the two candidates and I have to say that statements such as these are pushing me into Specter’s camp.

There ARE such thing as “shovel-ready projects” (not “shovel-ready jobs” as Rep. Sestak said) — the problem was that Washington SIMULTANEOUSLY wanted speed on getting money out to create jobs AND rigorous oversight to ensure that no money was wasted.

You just can’t have both — and that’s one of the things that Washington politicians really don’t understand about how things work at the local level. (And I would include both Sen. Specter and Rep. Sestak in this category).

Let’s face it: the stimulus wasn’t the best-crafted legislation in the world, but politics is the art of the possible, and without (in my opinion wrong-headed) concessions to the conservative Ds and the ladies from Maine, it wouldn’t have passed.

At this point, most economists agree that the stimulus provided badly-needed economic activity at a time when private companies were not making outlays. It also gave confidence to the overall economy.

I would like to see Rep. Sestak clarify his remarks.

BerksWoman-
You are beginning to see the difference between the Wizard of Sestak and the man-behind-the-curtain.
With regard to Afghanistan, Sestak’s for a troop increase and Specter isn’t. Sestak campaigned in 2006 as a “warrior against war”, but has consistently voted pro-war. He abandoned his CAMPAIGN (as opposed to his real, but unstated) position on timetables and accountability when he voted to give Bush a blank check on Iraq.

Sestak voted for warrantless wiretaps and Telecom immunity, too.

You are correct to observe Sestak’s run to the Left. However, if you look at his track record, he’s been more of a Blue Dog (even voting against the Dems on funding Cheney’s office).

Until Specter got into the race, Sestak was leaning more to the Right. He’d been appeasing Republicans in his districts, and expanding his appeal to PA conservatives outside his district. Specter is the one that forced Sestak to the Left.

flynnbw-
I’m sure that when the economy improves, Sestak will “clarify” his remarks to make it look like he never lost faith in Obama or the stimulus or hope.
To me, part of the genius of the stimulus was that it’s stretched out. It’s like giving a thirsty person a few barrels of water. He’s not going to drink them all at once (as the GOP thinks). Having a sustained supply until he can dig his own well brings stability.

I agree with you that without the concessions, the bill wasn’t going to pass. I think Specter deserves plenty of credit for his experience in knowing where the “sweet spot” was to peel off some GOP votes. Sestak criticizes Specter for knocking money off the package, without Sestak understanding that 90% of a loaf is better than none.

With unemployment rates rising it will tough for any incumbent who voted for the stimulus package to say it was successful. That especially holds true in Democratic Primaries, where recent polls have shown more Democrats are unemployed than GOPers. I think the Democratic base is restless about any jobless recovery and Sestak hears them.