Open

20101205

Creatures of Light and Darkness




All I ever really needed to know I learned from gaming:




Posted by Ben Trovato :

3 comments:

  1. Quinty12/6/10, 4:25 PM

    Well, like many another pundit, would be or not, I would like to advise President Obama on what he can do regarding the tax cuts. It appears rather simple and obvious to me, so I'll pass my advise along. Is President Obama reading?

    Okay. The Senate already voted on tax cuts for the middleclass which the Republicans filibustered because they weren't extended to the rich.

    Fine and well, That shows where the Republicans are.

    So let all the tax cuts expire, let them all go up on everyone in January. Then what?

    Why, come back to the Congress on January 2 or 3 with a bill which will extend the cuts to the middleclass. Without including them for the rich.

    The tax cuts will all be gone by then. So let the Republicans vote against the new extended cuts for the middleclass. Let them offer a filibuster to protect the interests of the rich.

    And let them win. And let them live with the results of their victory.

    And in a month, return with another bill which will extend tax cuts to the middleclass. And let the Republicans filibuster them again.

    And do that over and over again.

    Get the idea?

    Do the Republicans want that kind of attention, that kind of focus on their tax reduction policies? Can they finally be shamed into voting for an extension for the middleclass? When the beneficiaries they're fighting for are so obvious?

    That's called poker, that's called fighting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Quinty12/8/10, 8:15 AM

    Actually, taxation will be in the hands of the Republicans then. House Ways and Means will have a Republican chair, complicating the situation.

    What the Dems could have done is maneuver the Repubs into appearing as if they put the interests of the rich above the middleclass and unemployed. That they do, needless to say, is pretty blatant. But while those who claim the Republicans can't be "shamed" into relenting (for they have no shame) they certainly can be hurt. Even if they are shameless they still want to win elections. And appearances are important to them. Rubbing their priorities in (by Obama of course - if he would!) could have consequences at the polls.

    Experienced Democratic pols in the Congress claim this has worked before. That a few Repubs finally tear themselves away from the pack to vote for continued unemployment benefits. And if the only choice for tax cuts would be approving them for the middleclass (and let's not forget the poor) while not actually giving a damn, as in shameless, they don't want to be hurt when they run again. Pressure, pressure was what was required. Obama doesn't seem to know the meaning of the word.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Quinty12/8/10, 11:06 AM

    And, of course, there's the small matter of adding nine hundred billion to the deficit.

    Now I don't want to sound paranoid, because we all know the Republicans have only the best intentions. That they're all true Constitutionalists and freedom lovers who hate socialistic big government programs. So they would never use this added nine hundred billion as an excuse to cut government programs in the future. Right?

    Well, Obama is saying watch how tough I will be down the road. Right. We've only seen round one. Obama has shown us how tough he is by hitting the mat. But when we get to round five or eight and the issue of funding gov programs comes up the Big O will find the funding, in spite of giving the Repubs an added nine hundred billion in deficits to hang before his nose. That's called "planning ahead."

    I guess he made things tougher on himself only to show how touch he can be.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)