Game playing and “manufacturing crises” by “Tea Party Republicans” called out by John Carney
There is a lot to like in this short statement by John Carney on the House Republicans plan to oppose the tax cut extension passed 89-10 by the Senate.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Representative John Carney (D-DE) released the following statement tonight after House Republicans announced their intention to vote down a payroll tax cut extension passed overwhelmingly by the Senate:
“Tomorrow, House Republicans intend to vote down a payroll tax cut passed overwhelmingly by Senate. Tea Party Republicans are playing games and manufacturing crises.
“The bill passed by the Senate isn’t perfect, but it ensures that middle class families don’t receive a tax hike in January, and it gives us time to pass a broader package. I hope that House Republicans come to their senses — and soon.”
“Tea Party Republicans are playing games and manufacturing crises.” That pretty much hits the nail on the head.
“I hope that House Republicans come to their senses — and soon.” This honest and direct acknowledgment that REPUBLICANS have lost their sense is a water shed moment. What Carney did here was simply state an obvious truth without feeling the need to tart it up with the sheepish and phony “bi-partisanship” which requires every mild critique of Republicans to be paired with the rejoinder that Democrats are also “part of the problem.”
Republicans are the problem. The more Democrats say it, the better.
Perhaps your Dems4Kovach game worked. Carney has been sounding like a fighting Dem lately.
Maybe. The statement gives a hint that he has this sensibility in him, but I think he hasn’t acted on that impulse because he probably gets a lot of contact from constituents who get all their info from Fox News.
I don’t want this thread to turn meta – but I’ve changed my thinking about what blogs can do for the 547th time, and I think they can punch a hole in the protective bubble under certain circumstances.
It is a baby step, but one that is very welcome from Carney, especially the calling-out-Republicans part.
A harder step will be for Carney to call out Republican policies when his own party is advancing them. But you have to crawl before you can walk, I guess.
I still get depressed about the “not perfect” part though. Step back a moment, and consider this spectacle of Democrats bargaining with Republicans for tax cuts.
And I hate that Democrats are buying into the discredited idea that tax cuts create jobs. We’ve been fighting that for 30 years and now we are peddling it.
What makes the Senate version suck is the two-month time limit, guaranteeing another drama-queen moment early next year, plus the pipeline thing.
If we are going to make Republicans sweat over this (and they are), I’d rather make them sweat over a clean long-term extension.
This payroll tax issue is the perfect opportunity for Democrats to play Chicken all the way to the end this time.
Maybe someone with good sum-it-up skills can explain this without making fun of me…. the state dept has said that if there is a deadline for the shit-spigot, (pipeline) it will actually stop it’s progress. This bill contains a deadline. I at least dont want to be able to put tar from canada right into the gulf of mexico. this is a good thing right?
Hillary did say that. We’ll see what Hillary is made of now.
@Jason, blogs dont do anything but blah blah blah and you should be going out and yada yada yada, unlike some people who just narf narf narf…. also, Israel abortion guns Protack
Isnt she also on track to retire in 2012? or was that just speculation…. it’s hard to keep it separate these days.
““The bill passed by the Senate isn’t perfect, but it ensures that middle class families don’t receive a tax hike in January…”
I thought that sounded familiar, and now I remember where I heard this before. This is the same Democratic logic that delivered tax cuts to the rich last December.
In less than two years, Democrats have devolved from “making sure the rich pay their fair share” to “making sure nobody gets any tax increase.”
Remember we gave up a millionaire’s surcharge for this Senate bill.
If we want to decouple middle class cuts from cuts for the rich, the middle class is going to have to take a tax hit, and fight to get it back later.
The majority of people were for single payer or universal Health care and the Dem’s didn’t act. The majority of the people are for making the wealthy pay their fair share and the Dem’s didn’t act. Wall Street and the Bankers rob us and get a bail out with our money and people lose their homes and Eric Holder sits on his hands while this theft continues. Mean while congress continues to deal in inside trading which takes advantage of the rest of us.
Carney posted the same message on his Facebook page and even took on a few people who said he was dropping the ball by supporting the Senate-passed bill.
Talk about political game playing. Republicans voted down this measure, but in a way that allows them to say they didn’t.
Let’s remember that what Carney is disappointed about is that the GOP won’t take a deal that gave them 90% of what they want.
It takes two to tango. For whatever reason, Democrats won’t fight for their supposed principles. They prefer to give REpublicans most of what they want, then turn to the audience (us) and say, “Can you believe how unreasonable they are?” IN other words, they’re not doing any of this for us. They’re doing it for themselves and their electoral prospects.
This isn’t a “baby step” by Carney. It’s the next step in a carefully choreographed dance.
I agree with your point on Dems strategy and how suck ass it is. I disagree with regard to Carney. In the context of all of his past statements about how BI-PARTISANSHIP RULZ!!, this represents some movement on his part.
The answer for the Democrats would be to be on the offensive for once. But that would not be “bi-partisan” and so they would be seen as “part of the problem” by the wise DC villagers who pass judgement on this stuff.
Also – Obama does not give congressional Dems much to be on the offensive about.
Sadly, Geezer’s kabuki theory is probably the correct one. “Kabuki” is usually the correct explanation with this Congress and President. I can’t think of an example of any honest battles that were fought and won or lost.
Ultimately both parties are now firmly behind trickle-down economics and “no tax increases for anybody, ever.”
Still, Carney’s latest statement is better than his alternative (which we have heard very recently).
“Ultimately both parties are now firmly behind trickle-down economics and “no tax increases for anybody, ever.”
Sad because all of that failed jibber-jabber was resoundingly crushed at the polls just a few years ago.
“but it ensures that middle class families don’t receive a tax hike in January…”
We are all hostages now. Permanently.
The way to end this hostage crisis is to let the hostages feel their chains so they become acutely aware they are hostages, and start fighting back.
That’s why I’m for tabling the payroll tax cut and expiring ALL the Bush tax cuts.
I’m in agreement with Winston Smith when you start to talk about us proles getting some class consciousness. I just don’t see it happening. We’ll be fighting about who has the nicest chains, or making grand pronouncements about how the 1% can’t be chained because they are such noble job creators.
No my friend Mr. Puck, I’m feeling rather hopeless this year.
The message is that if we don’t let the 1% continue their looting, the middle class might get a tax increase. Well comparing those two evils, I’ll take the tax increase, thank you very much. I’m tired of my elected Democrats letting Republicans run rampant in my name.
Got it. Won’t work. The destruction of Social Security genie is out of the bottle. The only thing we can do is cut taxes and shrink government now. Prosperity through Austerity
Everything else makes job creators cry, and all goodness flows from the benevolence and happiness of job creators. They thirst for sacrifice as lustily as the most bloodthirsty pagan gods of yore.
Barclay’s analyst: Failure to pass payroll tax extension likely drop GDP by 1.5 percentage pts
If you believe tax cuts create wealth let’s cut it to zero.
If you really want to know what financial experts think about payroll tax cuts, go ask one if it would be a good idea to cut your 401(k) contributions so you can go shopping.
The one thing I have never heard from these “job creators” is how much their taxes will have to be cut before they create one job that pays, say, $40K a year.
And, as we well know, whatever that figure is, if you give the “job creator” the choice between using the money to create a job or to keep it for himself, he’ll keep the money.
For that answer we must consult Creedence Clearwater Revival:
Force Republicans to pass tax cuts? “Oh no Senator Reid, pleaae don’t throw us into that briar patch!”
I do like the idea of Republican disarray though (see the link). I guess there are forces working that I don’t fully understand.
Once again Democrats are promising to stand firm. We’ll see, but if Democrats ever wanted to play Chicken to the end, this is the issue to do it on.
Here are the names of the rethuglicans in the House who just gave the finger to 160 million Americans:
Adams
Aderholt
Akin
Alexander
Amash
Amodei
Austria
Bachus
Barletta
Bartlett
Barton (TX)
Benishek
Berg
Biggert
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bishop (UT)
Black
Blackburn
Bonner
Bono Mack
Boustany
Brady (TX)
Brooks
Broun (GA)
Bucshon
Buerkle
Burgess
Burton (IN)
Calvert
Camp
Campbell
Canseco
Cantor
Capito
Carter
Cassidy
Chabot
Chaffetz
Coffman (CO)
Cole
Conaway
Cravaack
Crawford
Crenshaw
Culberson
Davis (KY)
Denham
Dent
DesJarlais
Dold
Dreier
Duffy
Duncan (SC)
Duncan (TN)
Ellmers
Emerson
Farenthold
Fincher
Fitzpatrick
Fleischmann
Fleming
Flores
Forbes
Fortenberry
Foxx
Franks (AZ)
Frelinghuysen
Gallegly
Gardner
Garrett
Gerlach
Gibbs
Gingrey (GA)
Gohmert
Goodlatte
Gosar
Gowdy
Granger
Graves (GA)
Graves (MO)
Griffin (AR)
Griffith (VA)
Grimm
Guinta
Guthrie
Hall
Hanna
Harper
Harris
Hartzler
Hastings (WA)
Hayworth
Heck
Hensarling
Herger
Huelskamp
Huizenga (MI)
Hultgren
Hunter
Hurt
Issa
Jenkins
Johnson (OH)
Johnson, Sam
Jordan
Kelly
King (IA)
King (NY)
Kingston
Kinzinger (IL)
Kline
Labrador
Lamborn
Lance
Landry
Lankford
Latham
LaTourette
Latta
Lewis (CA)
LoBiondo
Long
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
Lummis
Lungren, Daniel E.
Mack
Manzullo
Marchant
Marino
McCarthy (CA)
McCaul
McClintock
McCotter
McHenry
McKeon
McKinley
McMorris Rodgers
Meehan
Mica
Miller (FL)
Miller (MI)
Miller, Gary
Mulvaney
Murphy (PA)
Myrick
Neugebauer
Noem
Nugent
Nunes
Nunnelee
Olson
Palazzo
Paulsen
Pearce
Pence
Petri
Pitts
Platts
Poe (TX)
Pompeo
Posey
Price (GA)
Quayle
Reed
Rehberg
Reichert
Renacci
Ribble
Rigell
Rivera
Roby
Roe (TN)
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rogers (MI)
Rohrabacher
Rokita
Rooney
Ros-Lehtinen
Roskam
Ross (FL)
Royce
Runyan
Ryan (WI)
Scalise
Schilling
Schmidt
Schock
Schweikert
Scott (SC)
Scott, Austin
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Shimkus
Shuster
Simpson
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Southerland
Stearns
Stivers
Stutzman
Sullivan
Terry
Thompson (PA)
Thornberry
Tiberi
Tipton
Turner (NY)
Turner (OH)
Upton
Walberg
Walden
Walsh (IL)
Webster
West
Westmoreland
Whitfield
Wilson (SC)
Wittman
Womack
Woodall
Yoder
Young (AK)
Young (FL)
Young (IN)
It’s more important to drink the tea than it is to cut taxes for the middle class.
The WH statement that comes out in the next hour or so will be telling.
Prediction – Groundhog Day:
1. Obama tells Congress to get back to work and forge a compromise.
2. Senate leadership works out an even more Republican-friendly version of the bill.
3. Biden is dispatched to pimp the new bill to uncomfortable Senate Democrats.
4. Obama flies overseas while the bill is on the Senate floor.
5. Obama returns to sign the bill.
And I thought I was jaded.
How can you not be jaded when top Democrats are saying things like this:
When you believe “no tax increases for nobody nohow” there is no telling what other crazy stuff you might agree to to get it.
The hostages must be saved from tax increases at all costs!
Truthteller: Perfect! There is really only 1% difference between the two corporate parties.