1.  All House Republicans vote against stimulus bill. 

After President Obama traveled to Capitol Hill for meetings with GOP members of the House, his spokesman, Robert Gibbs, predicted: "I think we will have Republican support for this bill."

He couldn't have been more wrong. 

Every single Republican in the House voted against the $819 billion economic stimulus bill, saying it was loaded with pork that would do little to jump-start the economy or create jobs.

Typical GOP criticism of the bill was from Houston Congressman John Culberson, who said it "contains massive expansion of multiple federal programs that are utterly unrelated to stimulating the economy."

And Congressman Pete Olson, newly elected to the seat formerly held by Tom Delay, warned, "You still cannot borrow or spend your way to prosperity,"

Only 11 Democrats joined the 177 Republicans in voting "nay," while 244 Democrats voted "yea."

The Washington Post reported that the "Senate is expected to consider a separate bill next week, which could carry a price tag of nearly $900 billion, with a goal of sending a final version to Obama's desk by President's Day," February 16.

2.  Obama and Democratic leaders attack Rush Limbaugh. 

In his meeting with House Republicans, President Obama picked a fight with the talk show host, warning the GOP legislators, "You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done." 

And the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has launched an online petition against Limbaugh at http://www.dccc.org/page/petition/rush  The group also sent an email to supporters, urging them to "Stand Strong Against Rush Limbaugh" by donating to the DCCC.

That kind of publicity is very likely to substantially boost Limbaugh's already high listening audience.  Some observers have speculated that Obama and the Democrats have done this deliberately.

Bloomberg's Hans Nichols observed, "Every super hero needs an arch enemy.As the President would go about the business of saving the country, there needs to be somebody or something that stands in his way."

Jay Homnich writes in the American Spectator, "Who can they use as the symbol of party extremism?  By now it has become quite clear how they have solved this problem.The Democrats have appointed none other than Rush Limbaugh."

And in Time, Joe Klein wrote, "I was disappointed that President Obama even acknowledged the existence of Rush Limbaugh.He has become an embarrassing anachronism.His crapulous invective only has the power to stigmatize his allies now."

It would appear that many liberal commentators and Democratic politicans listen to Limbaugh and are upset by his messages.