Quiz question: "Who in Washington DC is obstructionist, angry, dishonest, and of course extremely partisan?"
If you guessed liberal Senate democrats, congrats...
How did Republicans at least temporarily halt a runaway train to insure that every American who pays taxes does not see an increase? Simple, they got lame ducks, democrats, and independents to join the cause. In doing so they halted a harmful tax increase against 75% of small business in America today.
Oh sure, to hear the Senate liberals explain it, they weren't voting for tax increases against small business. No, they would argue, they were just desiring the steepest tax increase in history against people who OWN small businesses, or file their taxes as an s-corp business which makes their corporate earning vulnerable to the tax increases President Obama seems intent upon hammering them with.
Of course normal people look at this and say, "Hey wait... those people are one and the same."
Of course they are!
But that didn't stop Chuck Schumer, Claire McCaskill, and Frank Lautenberg from whining about the fact that they lost the vote in the Senate to support the President's planned tax hike.
McCaskill cackled, "I feel like I am in the twilight zone. It’s depressing to me that we have gotten to this level of posturing, that they are saying if you do not give people a tax break on their second million, that nobody gets one.”
Of course that's not what keeping the tax rates in place does, but why let Claire get all wrapped up in details, like facts.
The 482 year old Senator from New Jersey, Frank Lautenberg, proffered a commonly used argument, "I had a good business career and I would be entitled to a tax cut for those over the million dollar mark. But I don’t want it. I don’t need it. What I am looking at today, I think, is a great American travesty.”
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That's funny Senator Ancient because I'm pretty sure the majority of small business owners, who are already staring a Health Care Reform mandate in the face for 2011 breathed a slight breath of relief when they saw that you lost the vote on Saturday.
Don't you think its ironic that Senator Lautenberg, for all his protestation hasn't sent a check to the IRS lately--voluntarily, which we know they would take--to just contribute out of the goodness of his heart. I mean if the problem is so big, and he's got money just laying around waiting to be shoveled into the great treasury pie-hole, why hasn't he ponied up?
(Sorry, after further research it was discovered that we had wrongfully estimated Lautenberg's age, falling short by a margin of at least 167 years.)
At least for today there would be no more stealing from those who produce to do something truly ridiculous like say give unemployment benefits for longer than two years to people who are able to work but decline jobs that pay less because "the government will pay me more" not to.
Nothing genuinely scares me more than Congress holding the President's feet to the fire, correcting the economy and finally begin creating jobs, only to have the President take credit for it and cruise to reelection. But I know how the game works--whoever is on call when the economy sputters or grows generally gets the credit for it.
Nope at this point the situation is too bad to worry whether or not President Obama gets credit. The opposition to the maniacal crazy that's been running loose in Congress for the past two years has to be put down. In a pasture with a blanket if necessary. We're talking choked of all available oxygen. And spiking into their faces the pathetic volley they had served up Saturday is an encouraging sign.
It is so if for no other reason than it included Republicans, Democrats, Lame Ducks, and Independents--in other words, America.
We the people are not confused about how the recent elections went. We know Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid are to some extent, throwing victory parties and all. But the message sent was clear--do not raise taxes, create jobs, and get the economy going again.
And the clock continues ticking.
President Obama has lost valuable time and his party has lost complete face. America has voted them down, and is expecting action to be taken.
And now with Republicans, Democrats, Lame Ducks, and Independents all opposing President Obama's desire to implement the highest single round of tax increases in American history, will he listen?
The United State of the Consensus of Americans is waiting Mr. President.
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