The GOP payroll tax cut proposal as viewed by the party of gorilla dust

posted at 12:38 pm on December 2, 2011 by Howard Portnoy
[ Politicians ]   

Jay Carney, President’s Obama’s laugh-a-minute propaganda minister, is a man of few words—at least words that make sense. David Nakamura of the Washington Post chronicles Carney’s reaction to the Republican plan for financing an extension of the payroll tax holiday:

‘Pick your metaphor,’ Carney said at his daily briefing Thursday while dismissing the GOP proposal … as a showy, but ultimately shallow alternative to Obama’s plan. ‘Window dressing or gorilla dust.’

Nakamura spends the next 400 words puzzling over the obscure phrase gorilla dust, which he ultimately traces back to one-time spoiler candidate Ross Perot. Excellent idea for a press secretary: Use figures of speech that no one will recognize.

Actually, it’s a perfect idea for a press secretary to Barack Obama, who himself tends to speak in tongues when communicating. Here is Obama’s own reaction to the GOP alternative:

Tonight, Senate Republicans chose to raise taxes on nearly 160 million hardworking Americans because they refused to ask a few hundred thousand millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share. They voted against a bill that would have not only extended the $1,000 tax cut for a typical family….

The comment is vintage Obama, which is to say pure straw man argument peppered with a favorite meme, this month’s flavor being fair share. The GOP has espoused support (if for political reasons) for extending the payroll tax cut. They are thus notseeking to “raise taxes on nearly 160 million hardworking Americans.” The bone of contention between the parties is not whether to extend the cut but how to pay for it.

So what did each of the parties propose? The GOP plan called for freezing the pay for federal workers for an additional three years, trimming the federal workforce by 10%, and forcing high-income earners to pay more for programs such as Medicare. The Democratic plan was “the usual”—i.e., raise taxes on the wealthy.

It is understandable that the Democrats would balk at the Republican proposal, which fails to conform to their worldview, where more government means better government. But why feign righteous indignation over what is just the latest example ofan inability of divergent minds to meet?

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