EJ Dionne writes:

Obama’s network appearances were planned as a response to a wholly unanticipated development: Republicans — short on new ideas, low on votes, and deeply unpopular in the polls — have been winning the media wars over the president’s central initiative.
They have done so largely by focusing on minor bits of the stimulus that amount, as Obama said in at least two of his network interviews, to “less than 1 percent of the overall package.” But Republicans have succeeded in defining the proposal by its least significant parts.

Admittedly, my media consumption has been sporadic. But this strikes me as sleight of hand by both Obama and Dionne. Republicans have hardly limited their objections to less than 1% of the bill’s expenditures. That makes it sound like 99% of the spending is dedicated to reasonable stimulus. That’s nonsense and Dionne surely knows it. I mean, Olympia Snowe(!) has a list of over $100 billion in cuts. That’s a good deal more than 1% from arguably the Senate’s most liberal Republican.

And here’s John Boehner:

There are some who suggest the flawed trillion-dollar spending bill being rushed through Congress in the name of economic ‘stimulus’ can be fixed by a simple ‘haircut’ that trims a few questionable spending provisions. Those making this suggestion haven’t been listening to the American people, who clearly want major changes in this bill. Dramatic changes are needed to make this a bill worthy of the American people.