A couple of words for GOP leadership

Two, in fact. I'll let you guess what they are.

President Barack Obama is coming to the Capitol this afternoon to curry favor with congressional Republicans. But it appears GOP leaders have already made up their minds to oppose his $825 billion stimulus plan.

House Republican Leader John A. Boehner and his No. 2, Whip Eric Cantor, told their rank-and-file members Tuesday morning during a closed-door meeting to oppose the bill when it comes to the floor Wednesday, according to an aide familiar with the discussion. Boehner told members that he's voting against the stimulus, and Cantor told the assembled Republicans that there wasn't any reason for them to support the measure, according to another person in the room. Cantor and his whip team are going to urge GOP members to oppose it.

But Steve Benen asks a really good question: If all the enticements and compromise Obama and Democrats in Congress have made in an effort at bipartisanship are met with nothing but hostility from GOP leadership, can we forge ahead with a better, less compromised bill? One, for instance, that helps states keep the ranks of the unemployed from misery and one that values the health of poor mothers and their children?