GOP says no deal on tax cuts

[Elmore Furth]

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

WASHINGTON - Republican leaders in Congress on Monday backed away from a possible compromise with the Obama administration over extending expiring Bush-era tax cuts, committing both sides to an election-year battle with huge stakes for the economy.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and others distanced themselves from a statement Sunday by House Republican Leader John A. Boehner that he might agree to let tax relief for the wealthiest Americans expire, as President Obama wants, if that's politically necessary to save middle-class tax cuts.

By the end of the day Monday, Boehner issued a statement dropping his suggestion.

Democrats have a card to play as well. Should Congress fail to act, the reductions will expire for everyone, opening Republicans up to accusations that they killed a tax cut because it did not benefit the wealthiest Americans.


Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20100914_GOP_says_no_deal_on_tax_cuts.html

[LawnKorn]

1. I knew the Party of NO would come through

Those Republicans sure showed Boehner when he strayed off the ranch.

With a resounding "NO", everybody wins! ... oh wait, everybody actually loses.

[maddogesq]

15. If you have a Boehner that last more than 4 hours...

call the doctor, or in this case, Planet RNC. The comedy of this has provided much laaughter from my direction.

Let us hope the Goops cintinue to eat their own going into November.

[ET Awful]

2. The last sentence you quoted says exactly what should be done.

Introduce a bill extending the cuts for the middle-class and let Republicans publicly vote to NOT extend tax cuts for most Americans.

Works for me.

[Nancy Waterman]

8. Absolutely right. Let them expire

And craft the exact bill we want, much more targeted to actually help the economy, then dare the GOP to not vote for it, and blame them for taxes going up: "holding the middle class tax cuts hostage". Obama's phrase is perfect.

[ET Awful]

9. That takes too long. I'm saying before the mid-terms, introduce a bill that will

extend the cuts ONLY for those making under the $200k mark.

That forces Republicans to play their hand, they can either vote against extending tax cuts for the middle-class or vote to NOT extend the cuts for their wealthy donors.

If they vote against it, it hurts them in the mid-terms, if they vote for it, they risk pissing off their donors. Either way, it's a win for us.

[DCBob]

3. threaten to let them expire..

I suspect enough GOPers will cave on this one to pass it.

[quaker bill]

4. Why do you think

this issue was planned and scheduled for this session? The Democratic Party, being in control of the agenda, could just as easily brought this up last year or six months ago. They have wanted to run on this issue.

Boehner had a moment of lucidity, saw the trap, and suggested a way for the republicans to avoid it. This was apparently not well received by his rank and file. Now hopefully they do go to the mat in defense of the wealthy. Reid should bottle up the session with a real fillibuster, make them get up and explain, over and over, why it is that the vast majority will suffer a tax increase in defense of the wealthy, who have clearly not created jobs with the 1.3 trillion dollars in tax cuts they have already received, because if we just give them 700 billion more, they finally will....

Actually the census has some interesting data just reported. In fact, the 1.3 trillion dollars and more did go to create jobs, unfortunately for us, roughly 3.2 trillion dollars left the US to create jobs, mostly in China and India, and a few other low wage locales...

This issue, properly framed, precisely captures the essential problem of conservative economic theory. In a globalized market investments are readily off-shored and our fiscal policy is as likely if not more likely to improve the employment situation in foriegn economies than our own. This is exactly what has happened, China saw 20 percent growth at the same time our labor market actually shrank by 0.4 percent. There were actually fewer people working in the US the day Bush left than there were when he walked into the Oval office door. This has not happened ever before in the history of tracking such things. It is time we run and run hard on this.

[cosmicone]

6. It was good strategy but

the democrats will as usual pull defeat out of the jaws of victory.

The repubublican spin machine is already portraying the wealthy as "small business owners" who will have to lay off people if this tax cut was not extended and the Koolaid drinking Faux crowd is buying it.

If democrats had any kind of strategy, they would have gone to the media first, spun it their way and THEN brought the issue to the congress floor.

[quaker bill]

19. It remains the best strategy available

Republicans were always going to spin it toward their sacred cow "the small business owner". They always have spun things in this direction. What they never to is admit the actual truth, small business may create the most jobs, but if so, in that employment in this sector is not growing, they also create the most unemployment. If anything else were true we would all be working for small businesses by this point.

Sacred cows are what they are. There is nothing particularly special or noteworthy about "small business owners" except for the fact that they have not figured out how to become "large business owners".

[groundloop]

5. Now if the "liberal" media would just stop framing this as Democrats choosing to raise taxes for all

Sadly, it seems that most Americans just don't understand this. For the most part it feels like the republicons attempt to claim Democrats want to raise taxes is working. Our leaders need to be all over the news getting the truth out there.

[johnfunk]

7. Flip-floppers!

But I'm waiting for Dems to start talking about the "Obama Tax Cuts" and "Obama sign the biggest single year tax cut in US history into law in 2009."

[pampango]

10. You knew this was coming as soon as Boehner sounded semi-sensible on Sunday.

Didn't take long for the repubs to walk back from that semi-sensibility. :)

[MikeMc]

17. 100% right

And Schieffer didn't ask Boehner about it 4 times to pin Boehner down. He was helping Boehner to lie to the American public, kind of like how l'il bush said 'See, in my business, you have to repeat things over and over again, to sorta catapult the propaganda'.

[opihimoimoi]

11. Sheer Frustration, Desperation drives the GOP into madness Macaca territory

Is this the Death Knell???

[TomCADem]

12. Watch The Corporate Media Give McConnell A Free Pass On How To Pay For It

It is amazing that the Republicans are getting relatively little flack for holding up tax cuts to the middle class for the benefit of the rich.

[gtar100]

13. Why bother asking.

The party of No lives up to its shame.

[Jester Messiah]

14. Then they expire. Either way the poor widdle millionaires lose.

Somebody needs to explain the concept of a lose-lose situation to the Boner. You can either lose with minimal damage, or you can lose in a huge blaze of failure. He should accept the merciful way out that Obama has offered, it's not like there won't be time to fleece the middle class again later.

[bc3000]

16. Wow, a win-win issue for the democrats! Watch them lose it.

from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/14/gop-policy-proposals-from_n_716052.html

"a proposal to extend all the Bush tax cuts (including those for the wealthy) was supported by just 29 percent of respondents."

Democrats should be beating the republicans over the head with this non-stop.

[Dappleganger]

18. Obama should have said fuck 'em from the very beginning.