So if a bush supporter said this, what reply would kick them in the ass?

[rjx]

Tax cuts for all americans....highest home ownership rate ever...two despotic regimes on the scrap heap.

They also said "al qaeda disrupted while fleeing afghanistan". But that one is easy for me to rip apart.

Thanks for any help :)

[shraby]

1. The average tax cut

was around $300.00. How much more are Americans paying in property taxes, fees, etc. in a years time to make up for local tax losses due to job cuts and factory closings.

Don't know about the "highest home ownership rate" but I know a ton of houses in my area are for sale and have been for the last year.

"Two despotic regimes on the scrap heap" is actually a misnomer. Iraq is a total mess with no end in sight and Afghanistan is fast becoming the same way. Not to mention the fact that Afghanistan's main export is poppies.

[rjx]

2. Thanks for the reply

Come to think about it, more and more houses have been for sale in my area too.

[Carolab]

5. The housing market is a house of cards.

When interest rates rise, and more jobs are lost, more will fall. Foreclosures are on the rise...and remember, the bankruptcy bill doesn't let people off the hook. Lots of people are selling now while they can still get the equity out. Many have refinanced to the hilt.

Check THIS out:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/06/19/housing_foreclosures_expected_to_rise/

[Blotto]

10. Do spiking home prices have anything to do with that?

[Kathy in Cambridge]

22. Does the worst economy since Herbert Hoover have anything to do with that?

[wli]

3. war zones are not effective removals of despotic regimes

[madeline_con]

13. But a RW idiot thinks...

Saddam being in jail means "end of story".

I'm not sure how any of them can make the same type of statement about AFG with a straight face. ???

I guess Hamid Karzai means "end of story" there.

[Dinger]

19. Wasn't That $300 An Advance?

I thought it was.

[bluestateguy]

4. reply

On the tax cuts: many people's tax cuts will be wiped out b/c they will be pushed into the alternative minimum tax, which has not been revised since 1969. Others are seeing their tax cuts eaten up by higher gas prices, home energy bills, higher property taxes (states like California, especially) and being forced to pay more for health insurance by their employers. Here in Texas, I will likely be paying another 75$ a year in overall taxes because the legislature is raising sales taxes and cutting property taxes, which is great if you own an expensive house, while renters are SOL.

That stat on homeownership only refers to people who 1) have a mortgage, and do not actually "own" their own home, and 2)the raw number of people who "own" homes, not the percentage of Americans. Of course that number is going to almost always go up! There are more people entering adulthood.

Two despotic regimes? The jury is still out on that. That the Taliban and Saddam were tyrants is not to be contested, but of course this Administration still maintains very warm relations with dictators in other countries like Uzbekistan, Kazakstan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Russia, by the way. is a more tyrannical country today than it was when Bush became president.

Here is the central problem. Conservative issues just seem to soundbite better than liberal issues. We on the Left like to write long academic treatises and do big expensive studies. That may all make for good scholarship and policy analysis, but it also bores a lot of people. Hence, conservatives can more easily soundbite their issues into slogans and demagogic soundbites.

[madeline_con]

14. "... bores a lot of people ..."

Or, it flies over their heads like an F-16 at a NASCAR race.

They can't understand all those big words. Only having to look 2 up - "despotic" and "regime" - is easier for them. :dunce:

[O.M.B.inOhio]

6. a few sugestions

Tax cuts for all Americans? If you max out your credit card, does that mean you got a raise? The debt will bite. Only if your income is over 200,000K (?) does this mean more dough in your pocket. States, counties, cities, and families are absorbing the burden, and the $500.00 bribe I got is just a dent in my recent debt.

Two despotic regimes? I'm glad to see the Taliban out of power. Of course, we didn't have to bankroll them, but that's another rant. The conditions that allowed them to take over? Long, futile occupation by a superpower. Put Saddam on trial for crimes, but we've killed more innocents than that despot. And services modern societies take for granted are not available, like common medical interventions for complecations in pregnancy, so the rate of death in childbirth has risen (NYT ?).

Remember the vengeance many Americans felt after 9/11? We've killed 30 times more Iraqis. Remember the lines at military recruiting offices? Now tell me the enemies of the U.S. are weakening.

Well, that's some ideas.

[Carolab]

7. The Taliban ISN'T out of power. They rule Afghanistan.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050716/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistantalibanattacks_050716131803

[O.M.B.inOhio]

8. thanks for the article. nt

[madeline_con]

15. "I'm glad to see the Taliban out of power."

I missed that news item. Do you have a link? ;)

[Carolab]

9. Also, refer him to the TRUTH about Iraq as told here.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1936044

[rjx]

11. Thanks for all the info!

I appreciate it.

[madeline_con]

12. "Tax cuts for all americans...."

We got our check, too. $400 wasn't enough to buy us off!

[katusha]

16. tax cuts?!?!

more like borrowed money.
the national DEBT(not the defecit, but the actual amount of money we owe to china and others that is drawing interest) has grown OVER 2 TRILLION dollars since bush came to town and what have we gotten for that 2 trillion dollars? anything? what have we not gotten for that money?
a strong economy
osama bin laden
a lower trade defecit
a secure iraq
affordable health care
a secure afghanistan
al-qaeda
relief from global warming
energy independance
stronger, better education system...
and on and on

as near as i can tell the only things we got from that money has been more abstinance education, a never ending war, and stronger fines for showing janet jackson's boob.

and higher profits for haliburton of course.

ask your friend how much the interest is on 2 trillion dollars every year? at the current fed funds rate around 3% that is 60 BILLION dollars a year just on the amount of money that bush has increased the debt!!! and it is still growing at a rate of 1.64 BILLION per DAY!!!

[TomClash]

17. Here's more help!

Bush Administraton: Lowest economic growth rate since the 1950s - Lowest job creation rate since the Great Depression.

1,765 American soldiers killed. 42,500 American soldiers wounded, diseased, mentally ill. That's in Iraq alone.

No reconstruction in Iraq. Control only of Kabul in Afghanistan. Looks at lot like colonialism.

One more: Tax cuts financed by borrowing from COMMUNIST CHINA. That should send them into a frenzy!

[kiki]

18. "Two despotic regimes on the scrap heap..."

...and one on the rise.

Freeptard's problem is that he has to live in this new one; just tell him you don't want to hear any bitching when he realises this fact.

[Son of California]

20. easy

your kids will pay for that tax cut out of their ass.

yeah but what actual percentage of the population owns their own home, the pop keeps growing so that growing number could easily be offset by the growing size of our population

two big, bloody messes, with no end in site.

[Puzzler]

21. If think...

... in Afghanistan's case, the one despotic regime was replaced by several despotic regimes (not counting the US). To the best of my knowledge, different areas of country are essentially ruled by powerful warlords, with the exception of Kabul, which is under US puppet control.

-P

[Toots]

23. Largest economic turn around in US history

Largest debt in US history. Largest deficit in US history. Crime rates escalating in every state. Largest number of bankruptcies in US history. Most polarized America has been since Civil War. Most secretive government in US history.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

24. Don't forget largest number of foreclosures since the Depression