47 House Democrats oppose letting the Bush tax cuts expire
The media has been trying to claim that the Tea Party is splitting the Republican party apart and that the Tea Party might split the Republican vote thereby ensuring the re-election of some of the very people that they are protesting against.
While this might be true to an extent, I do not believe that it is as big a problem for many of the Republicans as the media–and the Democrats–hope it is. The Tea Party has managed to weed out some of the undesirables in the party and those Republican voters who do no necessarily associate themselves with the Tea Party will still head to the polls and pull the lever for the Tea Party candidate.
But while the left is trying its best to hype up this rift within the Republican party, they seem to be ignoring a growing rift between House Democrats and Barack Obama.
This growing rift within the ranks of the Democrat party is over the issue of whether or not the Bush tax cut on the rich should be allowed to expire as scheduled at the end of the year or whether they should be extended.
Barack Obama and the Democrat leadership favor letting the tax cuts expire on the people making over $250,000 while extending the tax cuts to those that fall beneath this threshold. The problem for party leadership is that more and more Democrats in the House–who incidentally are facing tough re-election bids–are beginning to break away from the president and party leadership and are calling for at least a temporary extension of all the Bush tax cuts.
Last week I wrote a post about 38 House Democrats who publicly stated that they supported a temporary extension of the Bush tax cuts but today the news got even worse for Barack Obama and the Democrat leadership as 47 House Democrats sent a letter to Nancy Pelosi saying that they support extending the Bush tax cuts.
Here is part of the text from the letter:
Raising taxes on capital gains and dividends could discourage individuals and businesses from saving and investing,” said the letter, dated Friday and released Tuesday. “We urge you to maintain the current tax rate for both dividend and long-term capital gains taxes
These 47 Democrats sound quite a bit like Republicans all of a sudden. Isn’t that the same argument that Republicans have been making all along?
What I find interesting about this is the fact that so many Democrats are now finally admitting that cutting taxes on everybody helps the economy. They are finally willing to admit that when people who make money are allowed to keep their money they can reinvest it and put it back into the system, which is to the benefit of everybody.
Knowing this, why is it ever a good idea to raise taxes–even in a good economy–if raising taxes discourages people and businesses from saving and investing, as these 47 Democrats have admitted it does?
Suddenly now–in an election year, with the polls showing the Democrats facing a potential bloodbath in the midterm elections–some Democrats are shifting towards the right in an attempt to appear as fiscal conservatives, but I find it hard that anyone is going to believe them at this point in light of all they have done in the last two years.
The truth is that the Democrats like to use class warfare to gain votes during an election campaign, so they rail against the evil rich and tell the voters that they understand their pain and promise the voters that if they are put in power they will make the rich pay their fair share, but then when it becomes more beneficial for them–as it is now–they turn on their previous position and begin to claim that they are the fiscally responsible ones–they can’t have it both ways and the voters are beginning to tire of this game.
As the election draws closer, more and more Democrats are distancing themselves from Barack Obama and his policies, but we all know that if it were not for these peoples’ support of the president over the last two years he never would have been able to pass his radical agenda. These Democrats are just as guilty as Barack Obama and the people are not going to forget it in November–no matter how much they try to distance themselves from the president and no matter how much they try to sound like Republicans.
They had their chance and the American people are rejecting them.
America's Watchtower 
I think this is just election year politics. I don’t believe for one minute that these Democrats actually buy what their shoveling. They know the mood of the nation and they’re playing to it. If this was a non-election year these same 47 Democrats would be in lock step with Nancy Pelosi and her progressive gang. They would need to be or they would not be appointed to any good committees. This is all politics Steve. Its Democrats running as Republicans again in the hopes they can snow the American people one more time.
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I agree, if this were not an election year I doubt whether these Democrats would break party ranks. But this does show us how far Barack Obama has fallen in the eyes of the American people that so many Democrats feel they must break rank when they promised to let these tax cuts expire in the first place.
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The Bush tax cut should be voted up or down prior to the November mid-terms. Politicians are rarely timid when it comes to spending hundreds of billions of Americans’ hard-earned money. Who has the courage and fortitude to exhibit their convictions during an election year? Unfortunately, many have demonstrated cowardice and wanton disregard for the wishes of the American people. It is obvious that they fear the up or down vote because that vote would be a career changer for some. Most citizens realize that it was politicians from both sides of the aisle who were responsible for decimating the American economy. See “Squandering America” at http://www.christianretirement.com Now is the time for truth telling, integrity, and courage of conviction. Our economy has complex problems. Out-of-control spending must cease. Assuredly, taxes will rise in the future. As Arends concluded: “…Deficits, after all, are merely deferred taxes.” However, mid-recession tax increases seem ludicrous.
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Steve, does the letter limit the demands of those 47 to just holding back increases in dividend and long-term capital gain income? If so that is vastly different from blanket support of the Bush tax cuts for those above the $250,000 income level. And I would have to agree with those 47. Raising tax rates on the salary/bonus income of the wealthiest Americans is appropriate since a very low percentage of that income helps economic growth; but raising long-term capital gains and dividend tax rates would definitely lead those same wealthy imvestors to reconsider economic investments. They are correct in their stance here but I think you may have misrepresented their position.
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The article I linked to specifically stated dividends and capitol gains, but ut did not mention anything about bonuses. Even if it is true that these same 47 Democrats still agree with taxing bonuses I do not see how that affects my argument about vulnerable Democrats breaking with the president and sounding more like Republicans. I was highlighting the fact that there is a growing rift in the Democrat party.
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It’s pre-election posturing, nothing more. Some folks will act moderate for a vote or two to save their fat backsides, then it’s back to lib as usual.
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I agree with you, we cannot trust that Democrats have finally seen the light on this issue, but it is interesting how much like Republicans they sound now. I hope that people take notice of the way Democrats are talking now compared to the way they governed over the last year.
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