The house of 'no'

Sure they rigged up a fancy campaign to brand the Dems the "party of no" (my suggestion back then was for the Dems to take it back and start calling themselves the "party of know"... it didn't take), but is there any real truth to that charge?

Here's a shot of the GOP-speak from RNC Communications Director Brian Jones (back from the dead and completely estranged from the Stones): "President Bush’s State of the Union presented a positive agenda for keeping America safe and preserving Social Security, but the Democrats have defined themselves as the party of 'no' in responding with obstruction and pessimism..."

Sure, if you don't look at the facts, at the votes, which Bob Geiger has conveniently done. Geiger writes: "if you want to talk about a downright un-American agenda, here's what the Republican party has said 'no' to since the middle of October:

• Money to provide for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. (Twice)
• Increasing the maximum Federal Pell Grant award by $200
• Providing additional funding for title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
• Increasing appropriations for Head Start programs
• Additional funding for part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
• Funding for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program within the Health Resources and Services Administration.
• Increasing appropriations for after-school programs through 21st century community learning centers.
• Providing a 6-month transition period for coverage of prescription drugs under Medicaid for the elderly whose drug coverage is to be moved to the Medicare prescription drug program.
• Amending title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide the authority for negotiating fair prices for Medicare prescription drugs.
• Establishing a national commission on policies and practices on the treatment of detainees since September 11, 2001.
• Providing enhanced eligibility for retirement pay for non-regular service members in Iraq
• Amending the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide tax benefits for areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma.
• Repealing certain tax benefits relating to oil and gas wells intangible drilling and development costs.
• Reinstating for millionaires a top individual income tax rate of 39.6 percent, the pre-May 2003 rates of tax on capital gains and dividends, and to repeal the reduction and termination of the phase out of personal exemptions and overall limitation on itemized deductions, until the Federal budget deficit is eliminated.
• Sense of the Senate amendment concerning the provision of health care for children before providing tax cuts for the wealthy.
• Tax increase on incomes in excess of $1 million to eliminate child poverty.
• Providing an additional $500,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2006 through 2010, to be used for readjustment counseling, related mental health services, and treatment and rehabilitative services for veterans with mental illness, post-traumatic stress disorder, or substance use disorder.