Republicans think tax issue can save them in November

[DeepModem Mom]

LAT: With a Tax Rallying Cry, GOP Tries to Drown Out Woes
By Mark Z. Barabak, Times Staff Writer
April 9, 2006

Burdened by an unpopular war and divisions over immigration and other issues, Republicans are turning to an old standby — taxes — to unite the party and boost its prospects in the midterm elections.

From Washington to Sacramento, strategists say the issue can help put the GOP back on offense while energizing Republican loyalists, whose turnout is crucial to the party's November success.

"Tax issues are a fundamental divide between Republicans and Democrats," said Carl Forti, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. The GOP effort to make President Bush's tax cuts permanent "is going to be a big issue in House races" nationwide, Forti said.

But some political analysts question the potency of the tax issue — particularly among independents and swing voters — at a time when polls suggest Americans are more concerned about the war in Iraq and healthcare costs, among other priorities.

"I don't get any sense there's some incipient tax revolt out there waiting to happen," said G. Terry Madonna, a pollster and political scientist at Pennsylvania's Franklin and Marshall College. The state is home to what may be the country's premier U.S. Senate contest, between Republican incumbent Rick Santorum and Democratic state Treasurer Bob Casey Jr....

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-taxes9apr09,0,5871035.story?coll=la-home-nation

[rzemanfl]

1. After gas, how much of the tax cut do you have left? Minus a

bunch. I would love to see the Repukes use this fraud as the centerpiece of their campaign-tax cuts for millionaires, yeah, that'll get 'em. Throw the bums out and make the rich pay their fair share.

[MADem]

2. Well, there IS a tax revolt about to happen...but it doesn't go the GOP

way. People have started to figure out that Monkeyboy gives ya three hunnerd bucks o-'yer own money' but your LOCAL taxes are going up at three times that rate. So that three hunnerd bucks, if ya haven't spent it on gas within a month after you get your refund, will go to increased fees for your license or registration, increased grocery costs, increased property tax expenses, increase fee-based school services for yer kids....and all the while, the federal government, far from being drowned in a bathtub, has grown to King Kong-like proportions during the reign of the Monkey.

[Nomen Tuum]

7. Hmm, not a single mention of THE DEFICIT REVOLT?

Let them BS all they want to about Tax Cuts. If the Democrats have any guts they'll sling back all the Red Ink the Nazi Republicans have poured in the last six years!

[MADem]

12. What a novel concept--paying one's bills!!

The GOP is the party of immature children. Most children in homes where the parents aren't living hand to mouth don't understand the concepts of PAYING for things like the roof over their heads, the electricity, the heat that warms them...there is a period of time when they just don't understand the concept of money. The GOP is like that--they're like whining kids in the shopping cart, reaching and screaming for that chocolate bar, and sobbing hysterically if they can't have it.

Time to put the GOP in the NO CANDY aisle....

[C_U_L8R]

3. Idiot republicans

haven't figured out that they are being taxed at the gas pump,
and the cash register and a thousand other places.

When are these dimwits gonna realize that Bush is picking their pockets????

GEEEEZ

[NanceGreggs]

5. But they ARE realizing it ...

... thus Bush's plummeting poll numbers.

The biggest problem for the GOP right now, IMHO, is that you can lie about all kinds of things - the war in Iraq, wire-tapping without warrants, mis-use of intelligence, etc. - but the one thing you CANNOT lie to the American citizenry about is THEIR OWN LIVES.

You can't tell people who are out of work that unemployment doesn't exist. You can't tell people whose prescription medicine is no longer covered that the new prescription drug program is working in their favour.

And you CAN'T TELL people that tax cuts are the answer to their problems -- especially when they got a tax break of a paltry hundred bucks or so while the Dick Cheneys of the world, along with Big Business, Big Oil and Big Phrama, got a break worth MILLIONS!

WAKE UP, GOP - the country is on to you. You're just too DAMNED STUPID to realize it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. And here is what will doom them:

gas prices

the war in Iraq

bombing Iran (if it happens)

the incompetence in the WH

the deficit

failure to 'reform' Social Security

Tom DeLay

Jack Abramhoff

Duke Cunningham

etc

etc

[Warpy]

6. That's why Democrats need the WAGE issue

it's the one thing the pubbies have no answer for, since they're the ones exerting the most downward pressure on wages so low they'd be laughable if so many people (mostly women and childre) weren't being so badly hurt by them.

Any Democrat who doesn't campaign on this massive wedge issue is a fool. 87% of people across both parties know that minimum wage needs to be raised--a lot. This IS where the center is.

At least mentioning offshoring would be a nice gesture, too, but I know it's probably too much to ask at this point.

[Nomen Tuum]

8. INDEX THE MINIMUM WAGE NOW!

If we index Social Security and SSI benefits against inflation for those not working, we should also index the minimum wage by the same amount for those who DO work!

[MadAsHell]

9. Lets see more tax cuts for ....

the wealthy while we are at war and over 2350 of our kids dead, many for lack of armor ...

and record budget deficits, and a newly minted $9 trillion debt ceiling ...

That sounds like pretty good campaign strategy ...

[Brigid]

10. Riddle Me This . . .

What can the Republicans say about taxes when they've run up a record deficit to finance the Iraq war? :banghead:

[AndyA]

11. Energy costs alone have eaten up the Bush tax cuts

Personally, I'd rather pay higher taxes and have less expensive gasoline, electricity, natural gas, smaller credit card payments, and someone WITH A BRAIN in The White House.

All of those far outweigh the tax cuts for the wealthy, which the average American doesn't see anyway.

Dems need to drive home the reason we're in this shape is 100% due to the Republicans mismanagement of the country. They've run it like a Roman Holiday, and everyone will suffer because of it.

[SheilaT]

13. The real question is,

will the Democrats take ownership of this issue as they should?

Too many people don't really understand to what extent they get little or no tax cut if they are working class, while the rich folks get a huge cut in their taxes. And to the extent they notice local taxes go up, they're more likely to demand those taxes be cut than to understand exactly why they've gone up.

For a very long time now such things as: "It's your money, you should keep it" have been bantered around without anyone really explaining why we pay taxes, and what our tax money goes for. "Welfare queens" have been presented as the reason taxes are so high, with almost no mention of how much money our defense system sucks up. Those few rich people whose hip replacement is paid by Medicare are likewise shown as a drain on the system, rather than a true accounting of how Medicare (not to mention hip replacements) have made life better for so many. And that's even with all the real flaws in Medicare.

The Ben Cohen thing about oreo cookies and government spending is something everyone should see. It should be adapted for use during the coming campaign. Here's a link, for those who don't know about it: http://www.truemajorityaction.org/oreos/