Obvious Dem Strategy: Make them give back the tax cut....

[Junkdrawer]

The government spends monies given to it in the form of taxes. If Dubya wants $87 Billion for Iraq, taxes need to go up, not down.

Of course they will resist: IT WILL SPLIT THEIR BASE. But that is exactly what we should do. We should make Dubya say to his wealthy contributors: So what will it be? Tax Cuts or Pax Americana?

[nannygoat]

1. Excellent point, Junkdrawer.

I'm going to include that in the phone message to my reps when I call today.

[denverbill]

2. I made a post suggesting the same thing.

If this war is REALLY important to Bush and conservatives, then put your money where your mouth is and FUND it our of your own goddamned pocket. The chickenhawks are too cowardly to fight it themselves, and they are too cheap to pay for it themselves.

They steal our children to fight it and our children's future to fund it.

[Cocoa]

3. I'd love to see this

I'd rather this be demanded by people who supported the cuts in the first place, even by republicans. That removes the sense that people opposed to the cuts are taking advantage of Iraq to get a "re-do" of the tax cut votes.

[RobertSeattle]

4. Yes - pay for the war with real money (taxes)

not shove it into our children's laps via deficits.

[Junkdrawer]

5. We'll see if I'm right, but it looks like the Dem leadership...

has been setting this up for a while. Biden in particular has been egging Bush to "pony up to the bar" for a while now. And once Bush finally mentioned a number, Biden was the first to suggest:

"I think the American people are ready to sacrifice to win, and I think if we went back to the American people and said, 'Look, the very wealthiest among us, we're going to postpone your tax cut a year or two to pay for this,' I think they would embrace it," he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/09/07/bush.reax/index.html

[Liberal Veteran]

6. The vast majority would accept that....the top 10 percenters

on the other hand would scream bloody murder about it.

(and yes it's a generalization, but it seems as though the fat cats these days are the living embodiment of the cliche "the love of money is the root of all evil").

[LoZoccolo]

7. The problem then is...

...that the top ten percent seems to be able to easily convince people that either they won't have any motivation to provide more jobs without a tax cut, or that it destroys the percieved meritocracy in this country.

[Liberal Veteran]

8. Well no....the real problem is that....

...the top 10 percenters as it were have FAR FAR too much influence over our elected leadership.

When my own state representative fed me the line that the reason our IT jobs are moving to India is because US workers haven't maintained their education and skills, I knew he was merely parrotting the line corporate interests had given him.

[Junkdrawer]

9. Absolutely they would scream. Looters - that's what the Nobel Prize...

winning economist called them. But if I'm trying to put the collar on you, I'll say publicly "Of course you would love to donate to this cause.."

[Cheesehead]

10. Here's the message I sent to my Congressman

Tom Petri (R-WI) early this morning:

The President's new request for $87 billion in supplemental appropriations for the Iraqi quagmire is not reasonable or affordable given the state of the economy and current tax policy. I suggest a rollback of the recent tax cuts on dividends and estates to finance any further occupation and rebuilding activity associated with this ill-advised endeavor.

The drive to war was clearly based on the PNAC theory of American hegemony rather than any clear or immediate threat to the safety of the citizenry. Continued blind support of administration policy on this topic will negatively impact the electability of incumbents as the truth is revealed in the upcoming campaigns. I suggest you take a leadership role in opposing perpetuation of this misguided policy.

Sincerely,
xxxxx

I sent it via Congress.org and had it posted on their site.

[Junkdrawer]

11. Good letter..

:thumbsup:

[Cheesehead]

12. Thanks for the compliment and the thread!

:kick:

[ignatius]

13. And, in addition, full disclosure of where every

damned penny is being spent. The party of personal responsibility needs to show some.

[Clete]

14. A little off topic, but I woke up this morning with chills.

I think that this is a preliminary softening up of the people for the next two steps. Bush can't give back the tax cut to the wealthy. This amounts to him stabbing his major supporters in the back, or at the very least breaking his promises, like his father had to do after the "read my lips--no new taxes" speech.

The extreme right wing has been wanting to eliminate all entitlements. Social Security and Medicare are the biggest ones. I believe they will try to push through deep funding cuts in both of these programs, in effect getting their money and gutting the two programs into being ineffective and therefore ripe to be cancelled.

The second salvo of the speech last night was the need of additional troops. By going to the UN begging, but still being arrogant enough to demand control of the command, tells me they believe the UN, and especially members France and Germany, are not going to accept the terms. This opens the need to bring back the draft.

Maybe I am being a Cassandra, but it seems possible to me.

[SoCalDem]

15. This "Smash & Grab" administration will not give anything back

and they are not done yet.. Until they have "driven a stake through the heart" of social security, medicare, and public education, they will not be "done"..

Once they have "killed or severely disrupted" those three programs, we will be totally at their mercy, and that's right were they want us.. Dumb, jobless, broke, sick and hungry...that's their plan for 'Murka... If we are totally under their almighty thumb, there will be no effective challenge to their leadership.. Look at Latin America.. That is their ideal model.. A country full of peasants, all too busy scratching for a living to boot them out.. A few countries who have actually succeeded in overthrowing the oppressors, are having "special attention" paid to them by our very own CIA..

They are counting on the lethargy of the average citizen as much as they are on their "master plan"..

Most "Murkans" are proving them correct..:(

[John_H]

16. This could work...maybe

It's only fair that the richest one percent do something to contibute to the sacrifices Chimpy said we'd all have to make.
Poor and lower middle class soldiers are paying with their lives. If we believe chimpy that the war on terra' hurt caused the recession, then millions of americans are sacrificing their jobs. Why shouldn't those who make a million dollars a year sacrifice a coiuple of percent of their copious incomes?

Here's the problem: Being right doesn't always help you win. Can we fend off the obvious charges: that the Dems are "obstructing" giving the "troops what they need"? Remember, the hoes are going to be on their side, reporting their accusations "straight." The cable shows will put on Dems who want to spend the money along with Rethugs who want to spend the money.

I think the key is to turn the tables: Chimpy want everyone to sacrifice from those doing the fighting to taxpayers not yet born--everyone except his campaign contributors, that is? Can we make this work given the media situation and the Dem turncoats who will inevitably buckle? I don't know.

[Junkdrawer]

17. If Dems get their act together and start singing the same tune...

it's a slam-dunk. And your first paragraph makes excellent talking points.

[Booberdawg]

18. I'd love to see those tax cuts stopped dead in their tracks

The majority of American people didn't support them anyway. At the very least what hasn't been enacted yet can be put on hold or abolished.

The Rebub pundits would wail about it being a tax increase but that is bullshit. It's just preventing a tax CUT that has not been given yet.

I am absolutely sick about the deficit and the cost of this war. 87 Billion JUST FOR THE NEXT YEAR. As I listened to the news this morning, the first Gulf war cost a total of 9 Billion. I also heard someone opine that the costs for this Iraq war is 3 times more than originally estimated, and that it is costing 6 Billion a month, not the already obnoxious 4 Billion I had already thought.

We were running a surplus only a couple years ago. *sigh* I am just sick.