It’s nothing but a power play
What’s going on here? Having taken Boehner’s sword, and then his shirt, Obama sent Geithner to demand Boehner’s trousers. Perhaps this is what Obama means by a balanced approach.
He pretends that Boehner’s offer to raise revenue by eliminating deductions rather than by raising rates is fiscally impossible.
But on July 22, 2011, Obama had said that “$1.2 trillion in additional revenues . . . could be accomplished without hiking tax rates, but could simply be accomplished by eliminating loopholes, eliminating some deductions and engaging in a tax reform process.” Which is exactly what the Republicans are offering today.
You’ve heard of situational ethics. This is situational mathematics. …
Such nonsense abounds because Obama’s objective in these negotiations is not economic but political: not to solve the debt crisis but to fracture the Republican majority in the House. Get Boehner to cave, pass the tax hike with Democratic votes provided by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and let the Republican civil war begin.
Blowback
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Pretty much true.
The media is complicit in this and our enemy.
The media is the root of most of our problems including the election of Obama.
We can’t just whine. We need to organize an opposition. Tens of millions of Tea Partiers buy shares of Comcast for example and turn it conservative without using the word conservative.
Hot Air undermines itself buy labeling itself as conservative. You lose half the battle that way.
Organize or die.
GardenGnome on December 7, 2012 at 9:00 AM
Cowed by the media and worried about risking their lifetime political career. That’s why Obama can get so far with Boehner.
Dongemaharu on December 7, 2012 at 9:00 AM
Pass all his tax cuts and tell him “no more debt ceiling raises” He can either keep raising taxes or cut programs from here on in.
Even the press cant blame the republicans for future tax increases cause by his refusal to make cuts.
Bensonofben on December 7, 2012 at 9:03 AM
Good news on the MSM dying a slow, painful death!
Night Owl on December 7, 2012 at 9:07 AM
From Tilly in the Jindal thread:
Make it financially detrimental to stay in Congress more than a couple of terms.
Fallon on December 7, 2012 at 9:15 AM
If the word ‘conservative’ is so frightening to a potential recruit that they run away in fear, they weren’t going to be much use in any case, being both cowardly and brainless.
sharrukin on December 7, 2012 at 9:16 AM
I’m not saying the word conservative is a slander to be avoided. I’m saying if you label yourself you instantly lose half your audience.
Don’t call yourself anything other than a news site, because that is what you are.
CNN doesn’t call itself liberal for example and enough low information voters don’t see it. The second CNN says what they are then they lose people who don’t want to be partisan.
GardenGnome on December 7, 2012 at 9:27 AM
My larger point is that if we don’t actually organize and fight we get destroyed.
How are we fighting together right now against the media?
Fighting as individuals is not as strong as fighting together.
GardenGnome on December 7, 2012 at 9:29 AM
I am sick to death of the defense that “Obama took the other side in 2011″. That is sheer politicking, and does not speak to what is TRUE.
The Dems and Obama have gotten away for MONTHS with the pants-on-fire LIE that “the math doesn’t work”. If deductions are lessened or removed, then the taxable income goes up, and so does the tax revenue.
Why can we not simply explain this in simple terms that reasonable people can understand? Demonstrate the simple math.
That said, we are still going to have to give in on the matter of a token tax increase on the “rich”. It’s political suicide to do otherwise. But let’s get what we can in exchange for it.
connertown on December 7, 2012 at 10:05 AM
It will not happen. The Republican/GOPe has every incentive to fail. They are by and large progressive. It is what happens to bureaucracies, they become taken over by a certain type of people. Their end goals are the same as the Democrats. Destroy conservatism, collect power, rule instead of govern.
astonerii on December 7, 2012 at 10:20 AM
This is actually the best idea I’ve seen from conservative punditry on how to handle this situation. If Republicans let the Bush tax cuts expire, the media will hammer the Republican House them for it and blame them, the Republican House, and the American people will see that and nod their heads in agreement that the Republican House wanted this to happen. Do note that it was the Republican House that did this, and not glorious leader Obama.
But it’s a trap, and the media will play right into it because they can’t think more than one move ahead.
The new House (still held by those intransigent Republicans, mind you) will convene, and reauthorize the Bush tax cuts in full (ummm….Republican House?) and then DARE Democrats to vote against it (wait, the House is full of Democrats, I’m pretty sure). If Republicans look like they want to newly cut taxes, and SOMEBODY let the old ones expire, it must’ve been the party that isn’t supporting the tax cuts, THE DEMOCRATS.
Thus, blame shifts from R to D for the fiscal cliff in retrospect, and the media will be partially responsible for solidifying that notion among the electorate.
mintycrys on December 7, 2012 at 10:29 AM
Krauthammer gives multiple reasons why Obama has proven himself to not care about taxes or the economy. The Republicans should seize on every one of those and mock Obama mercilessly for his hypocrisy. The Republicans will be blamed by the media and the left, but there’s no reason why they should have to take all the blame. They should persistenly remind everyone that:
– Obama’s budgets have been rejected by both houses of Congress every time, even when both houses of Congress were controlled by Obama’s own party
– The Senate has been under Democratic control during Obama’s entire first term, and has yet to pass a budget … even once.
– Obama called the Simpson-Bowles commission together to find ways to control the deficit, then completely ignored their results
– Obama is rejecting tax reform to eliminate deductions that he himself proposed a year ago
– Obama’s claim to raise taxes on the wealthy would accomplish almost nothing even if it actually worked. And it won’t work, because the tax hikes will themselves depresss future earnings
– Obama has shown himself completely unwilling to cut a penny from the budget
There’s a lot more that can be said about Obama’s unserious approach to the budget. And these things should be said repeatedly, until the media is getting furious every time they get
brought up.
Not only that, but the media’s attempts to cover for Obama should be held up to repeated ridicule.
tom on December 7, 2012 at 10:31 AM