Thanks For Stopping By

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Krugman says the Dems -- and the little guy -- got punked in the stimulus deal.  And another bad sign: Reid is only referring to it as "a first step," suggesting he wasn't much involved.  As he told The Times:

“The secretary of the Treasury has understood, the president has understood, the speaker has understood that when it comes over here (to the Senate), we are going to take another look at it.”

Harry, you left the barn door open!

Anyway, I was studying newswire pics of the deal announcement (featuring Pelosi, sandwiched between the House Republican leader and the Republican Treasury Secretary), already thinking they looked overly one-sided, when the story of the deal hit the NYT on-line, led by the pic above.

Hmmm, and double hmmm.

The billion dollar question here is how much the real estate informs the politics.  In other words, if the White House is red and the House and Senate are blue, why is it this bipartisan effort is going down at the House minority leader's office?  Is the message in the geography that, once again, in avoiding a turf battle, the Dems have ceded their own?  And then, as if to highlight the power play, Paulson, oozing with authority and holding down the center, controls a whole hallway, while Boehner gets to hang out next to his title banner and name plate, while Nancy (otherwise know as "anonymous")  lacks any standing of her own.

Stimulus Gone Bad (Krugman/Opinion - NYT)
image from: Bush and House in Accord for $150 Billion Stimulus (NYT)

(image: Brendan Smialowski for The New York Times.  January 25, 2008.  Washington.  nytimes.com)