Well, the paraphrase for the day, at least. President Obama responding to Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), asking whether or not they can find more middle ground on tax relief:
Obama says tax relief for some working families must come from payroll so even families who don’t pay income taxes get relief and they will spend it.
He said “feel free to whack me over the head because I probably will not compromise on that part.
Obama said that there will be time to beat him up and a time for politics. He said I understand that and I will watch you on fox news and feel bad about myself.
More of that, please. Shorter Barack Obama: “You’re likable enough, Rep. Camp.”
(via)
Zzyzx
Yes that’s been cracking me up for an hour now :)
KCinDC
I just heard Camp on NPR claiming that Obama wanted to give people "refunds" that were more than they paid in income and payroll taxes. I’m assuming that was just a lie.
Camp was also whining about how Republicans got no input into the bill and so he didn’t expect Republicans in the House would vote for it. I suggest that if he’s going to say Republicans didn’t get any input and won’t vote for it, then all provisions that are the result of Republican input should be stripped out before the vote.
Reed
Tax cuts for small businesses is okay with me, if that represents the extent of Obama’s concession to the obstructionists. But if he does anything to keep larger corporate tax cuts in place, or even thinks about making Bush’s cuts permanent, well… maybe Ron Paul won’t be such a bad choice in 2012.
Show some backbone, Democrats!
Zifnab
@KCinDC:
Good point. We wouldn’t want to turn him into a liar.
Zifnab
I love this because he’s actually turning "an opportunity to beat up on the President" into some sort of bargaining chip. "Ok, you can martyr me in front of a national audience now, but after that you’ve got to concede on these legislative issues."
Talk about your rope-a-dope.
James in NJ
Is anybody else thinking of the old saw:
"Please don’t throw me into that briar patch!"
Obama’s playing these fools like a fiddle.
demkat620
Yeah, that was good. I liked that. I liked it alot.
I still don’t get what the repubs hope to gain from this circus. As far as I can tell they are still running on the Karl Rove "just win the day’s news cycle" plan.
I forget, how’d that work out for them?
new day rising
I still can’t get over the fact that we now have a president who speaks English.
Vince
it must be hard for repubs. Obama can mock them so effectively with such little effort.
NonWonderDog
Man, the Republicans just don’t understand how fucked they are. Tweety just had a segment with Pat Buchanan and some right wing radio host I’d never heard of about Obama’s call-out of Rush Limbaugh. They all agreed that it was a horrible mistake to elevate Rush Limbaugh, and that the consequence of Obama’s comment was to make Rush Limbaugh the titular head of the Republican party.
That’s right. They said that Obama inadvertently labeled Rush the head of the Republican party, and that this was a mistake on Obama’s part. They flat-out said that Rush only says what all Republicans are thinking, but are too afraid electorally to say…and that therefore getting Rush’s words into the open would be bad for Obama.
I’m still laughing.
kay
@KCinDC: @I just heard Camp on NPR claiming that Obama wanted to give people "refunds" that were more than they paid in income and payroll taxes. I’m assuming that was just a lie
It could be true, but it’s unlikely. To qualify for a refundable tax credit you have to work. That’s all. The earned income tax credit is a refundable credit. It’s a big success, as an anti-poverty measure. It’s been around for 25 years.
If the credit is set at, say, 500 dollars, you get 500 dollars, whether you paid 500 in payroll or not, but, you have to be working to get it. I like it because it’s going to be spent, so is a direct stimulus. Obama is selling it as "everyone, even the lowest wage workers, get a tax cut".
Andrew
I like this Obama fellow. It seems like he’s got promise. One day, he’ll definitely amount to something.
Tom Hilton
Or as Bernie Ohls would say, "I’m bleeding internally."
Paraphrase of the week (or maybe month or year or term) is from Barbara O’Brien, on Obama’s meeting with the Republicans the other day:
But of course they didn’t understand; they don’t even get that they’re currently at the kids’ table.
John Cole
@Tom Hilton: I linked to that O’Brien post in another comment thread. What kills me is how much of a jerk do you have to be to get called “obstructionist assholes” by a practicing zen buddhist? That is like being kicked in the junk by Ghandi.
kid bitzer
at some point during the campaign, the obama people started a concerted effort to discredit fox news.
i think it is brilliant. it’s a necessary part of the denazification, the purging of the old regime. fox news works hand in glove with the rnc, and is no more an independent news outlet than pravda was under the soviets.
there will be plenty of papers and channels criticizing obama, come what may. but fox news has played a particularly pernicious role in the last decade as a propaganda outlet, and it must be discredited.
sgwhiteinfla
You can bet that Bill O and Hannity’s heads will be exploding tonight. If I was a sadist I might actually tune in to watch it. People that are saying President Obama shouldn’t elevate these people just like Limbaugh are totally missing the point . He isn’t elevating them, he is MARGINALIZING them. Along with every wingnut in Congress that dares parrot their bullshit.
amorphous
@NonWonderDog: /hoping this is true
Zifnab
No. You’re wrong.
The EITC scales up and down depending on your income and the number of dependent children you file. So simply making $5 / hr for a week and quitting won’t get you the full $500 credit. Peak performance of EITC occurs when you are making approximately the poverty line minus the credit in income. So for single individuals with no dependents, that’s around $8.5k / year and can net you around $700. And for an individual or family with two dependents that’s around $26k / year and can net you around $4k.
Once you start making more than the peak EITC income, your EITC credit decreases at the rate of about a quarter for every extra dollar you earn. So its still worth it to make extra money, but you aren’t as big a drain on the system as you would be if you were making less.
This is in contrast to the $1000 child tax credit which you receive per child, flat – unless you are making more than $150k / year, at which point it decays in a similar fashion.
gwangung
I think zifnab is correct, but this is a Good Thing, no matter what.
kay
@KCinDC:
Better explanation:
"These pay people taxes – payroll taxes, gas taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, airline taxes and many others," said Austan Goolsbee, Obama’s senior economic adviser. "They are workers."
Refundable tax credits are for the working poor, and they’re effective. They’ve been effective for 25 years. Everyone knows they’re effective, even the sainted Ronald Reagan liked them.
I don’t think we’re permitted to say "poor" these days, so Goolsbee is dodging it, but, they’re for poor people.
Mazacote Yorquest
I watched West Wing this morning with my baby twins, who kept me up all night. In between nodding off I saw the "Shutdown" episode, where Bartlett walks up to the Capitol and pwns the young GOP speaker. I thought, "Wouldn’t it be cool to have a President so smart he could acknowledge the whole picture and still pull out victory for his side?"
Obama did much more than make fun of the GOP– he took all the punch out of their Fox attacks. As they bark with Hannity they’ll think, "This is what he said we would do. Are we playing along with his plans?"
Brick Oven Bill
This stimulus package is pure and economic in nature. This is why it includes the name Blago and Chicago politics. There is actually a section that states that if Blago remains Governor, then Illinois cannot receive any of the money.
It was unwise for the President either to have put this in, or to have allowed it to stand. Blago heard about it tonight on the TV and looked very angry. Blago is going to get a hung jury and write a book. He was sneering and pointing his fingers a lot after he heard that he had made the stimulus package.
Joe Lisboa
Camp is an opportunistic douche. I’m from Michigan and we’ve got a ton of reps from the middle and western part of the state that fit his mold to a tee. Even Wikipedia drolly and duly notes this chump’s schtick:
Camp is a member of both the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership and the conservative Republican Study Committee, two groups with conflicting positions on policy. For example, the RMSP supports stem cell research and opposes the Federal Marriage Amendment, while the RSC opposes stem cell research and supports the FMA. – wiki
kay
@Zifnab:
Right, thanks, I knew the EITC was pegged to how many children and graduated, although I didn’t know the amounts or the cut-offs.
I don’t know the specifics of how or to what extent Obama’s is "refundable". Goolsbee says it’s not pegged exclusively to payroll.
The Grand Panjandrum
@Mazacote Yorquest: Bill Clinton pwned Newt and his gang back in the 90’s by doing something very similar.
BTW did anyone see Cantor talking about the meeting today? Jesus! If the Republicans don’t keep that WATB away from the mics the Speaker is never going to let them wear long pants. Ever. Again.
Zif, that was my response as well. It really is classic rope-a-dope. He’s just letting punch themselves out. He did it to Clinton and McCain and we know how that worked out.
James F. Elliott
I think this Obama fellow might just work out all right after all.
BDeevDad
Does someone have a good link to an explanation of the stimulus package proposals and how the different parts work?
Trollhattan
I suppose there are folks who still think the president’s having graduated first in his Harvard Law class was some sort of affirmative action giveaway, rather than a measure of his intellect, drive and will.
To those folks I can only say, good luck on taking him down. You can’t allow yourselves to admit who and what you’re dealing with, because it doesn’t fit your world view. Some view from down there.
kay
@Zifnab:
I think the 500 "make work pay" is a flat refundable credit, up to 75k a year. That’s the quick-stimulus part, presumably. There’s a proposed expansion of the EITC, too.
Tom Hilton
I found a partial transcript of the meeting:
Yeah, good luck with that.
whinger
Raymond Chandler quote for the win!
Douche Baggins
Watching a Republican threaten is like watching the bellicose oaf who attacks the martial arts master: He [wham! OBL!] gets [pow! Georgia!] his [oomph! Hamas election!] ass [slam! Election ’08!] handed [snuh! Schiavo!] to [fwap! Iran!] him, and still he gets up from the floor, threatening annihilation. Ju-jitsu-ists, they ain’t. Fun to watch, tho.
Litlebritdifrnt
Wow! Is it just me or have the comments gone all funky? Anyhoo, EIC is a good thing but it can be abused by some, I have one specific example. Husband is military, wife is stay at home mom. They adopt four children (they were foster parents originally and just kept adopting the foster kids). They receive the equivalent of child support for each of the four kids (aka adoption assistance) in the approx amount of $400 per month. (x 4 = $1,600 per month non-taxable I know this cause they asked me to work out their taxes one year, I did not prepare them because of the following). Husband does not declare his BAQ/VHA as income, despite being required to (quite substantial sums at least $1,500 per month). One year they got back every dime they paid PLUS $6,000 which they spent on a swimming pool. I do not think this is what EIC was intended for.
Okay panic over, comments are back to normal.
PS) I also love that comment from Obama. It is almost as delicious as the "I won" comment.
jenniebee
I’ve been thinking that this entire time. Obama’s figured out not to be cowed by the mighty wurlitzer.
recusancy
Camp is my congressman and a complete tool. I’ve never actually seen him mentioned in a national publication but Obama telling him to go Cheney himself in more diplomatic language just made my day.
kay
@Litlebritdifrnt:
I don’t know that it’s going to be all its cracked up to be in actual practice, if the job loss continues, for obvious reasons, graduated or not, because they working poor will no longer be working. I suppose the intent is to pump some money in so the job loss doesn’t accelerate.
Maybe we’ll find out what "unprecedented" means.
Zifnab
That would make them tax cheats. And yes, if you cheat the system and no one catches you, you can make quite a hefty profit. Just ask Senator Grassley concerning Tim Geithner.
This is a compelling argument for streamlining how organizations and individuals report income. Computers can catch and flag many of these problems far more easily than human IRS agents. But it doesn’t really say much about the EITC credit itself.
If I lie on my taxes, claim I’ve got 4 kids and make the optimal EITC income range, and collect my thousands of dollars to spend on a new swimming pool, I can cheat the system too.
Tom Hilton
@Whinger: That’s the great thing about Chandler: you can find a quote in his writing for any occasion1.
1Especially if the occasion entails murder 22Or drinking.
Cain
@John Cole:
Gandhi
Thanks. I will fight this misspelling everywhere I see it. I realize that’s how you might phonetically spell it but..it’s the principle of the thing :)
cain
CrazyDrumGuy
Good. I’m glad to see President Obama doesn’t share Harry Reid’s definition of "bipartisanship" (which is bending over for Mitch McConnell at every possible opportunity).
gnomedad
@Trollhattan:
Well said!
Rushbo photoshopped Obama’s head onto a football player in obvious reference to his remarks about Donovan McNabb that got him canned from ESPN. Now Obama’s using him to sabotage the Repubs. Sweet.
Anton Sirius
@Douche Baggins:
I believe the phrase you are looking for is, "Boot to the head".
And one for
BoehnyJenny and the wimp.Cain
BTW Marc Ambinder has a balanced look at the Republicans/Democrats and Obama. Which I like. I think there might be some good points there that should be considered.
here
Just thought I would stop back from frothing at the mouth at Republicans :)
cain
Chuck Butcher
Nobody in their right minds wants this mess to go where it’s headed. If you think you’re being fear mongered, you’re not, if anything the consequences are being minimized. Iceland is instructive though with 310K pop things happened faster they easily aren’t as drastic. If this goes where it is headed we’ll drag the rest of the world into the toilet with us and that’s a magnifier of huge consequence. Without a degree in economics, my take is that we’re on the accelerating side of a steep curve that turns exponential in a short while.
Much more pissing around and you’d better start figuring out how to deal with disaster.
Bubblegum Tate
I too am kinda liking this Obama guy and am thinking he’s gonna have a bright future in politics.
Wile E. Quixote
@John Cole
I am going to steal that phrase and use it whenever I can.
Wile E. Quixote
@Brick Shithouse Bill
Actually it says that if Blagojevich is governor he can’t touch the money and that it has to be allocated by the legislature. It does not say that Illinois will not receive any money. From reading the article below, something which you obviously didn’t bother to do, it appears that this provision was inserted by a Republican congressman from Illinois, one Mark Kirk.
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE50L0AU20090122
As far as Blago getting a hung jury, yeah, right, you’d need a good attorney to achieve that outcome, and as far as I can tell there aren’t a whole lot of really good attorneys who are lining up to take Blago’s case now that Ed Genson has announced his intention to leave Blago’s defense team. Especially given Genson’s quote where he said "I have practiced law for 44 years. I never require a client to do what I say, but I do require clients to listen to what I say." which is code for "This guy’s as crazy as a syphilitic shithouse rat. Stay as far away from him as you can."
Tom Hilton
Shows what you know. I predict that he never again holds a position even approaching the one he has now. Face it, the guy is on a downhill slide.
Krista
Which would have made an absolute fortune on pay-per-view, I’m thinking.
But yeah, I think Obama actually sees the GOP for what they are: a bunch of WATBs who bluff, bully and bluster their way into getting what they want, and hold their breath when they don’t. And last time I checked, the way to deal with a spoiled bully was to thoroughly ignore him. Obama’s doing one better, though — he’s laughing at them.
It’s so beautiful, it really brings a tear to the eye, especially after too many years of the Dems constantly giving the Republicans their lunch money.
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
@Krista: It’s so beautiful, it really brings a tear to the eye, especially after too many years of the Dems constantly giving the Republicans their lunch money.
Damn right. I so so so so so so so so so hope those days are over.
NonyNony
@Krista:
Ignoring them doesn’t always work – sometimes it just gets you pounded.
OTOH, humiliating the bully in front of his friends? That’s a good way to deal with the bully. Especially if you know enough about fighting to be able to deal with him when he starts blindly attacking you in his rage over his humiliation.
I think we’re going to see some blind attacks coming soon as the House GOPers get more and more crazed about getting called on their shit. And after watching him for the last couple of years, I think Obama probably knows enough about fighting to make sure these bullies end up with a mouth full of mud.
Chris Johnson
This just makes me feel happy :) it’s worthy of the Onion. I bet he said it absolutely deadpan.
My God, to have a President where you’re actually looking forward to his next deadly quip?
Basically, "I’m going to steamroller you now- but for consolation, I promise that I shall shed a single, pitying tear."
"Where was the tear? We were promised a tear!"
"It was on the inside. It was very touching, really…"
Michelle
As a long time listener to rightwing talk radio, this past week has been wonderful. Michael Medved was trying to get African Americans to tell him why they don’t like the GOP. Mike Gallagher called the King family greedy for protecting MLK’s image, as well as making a fuss over every little thing he could think of. Sean Hannity stating that the economy is recovering because pre-owned home sales were up for December (despite the tight lending! Can I get an AMEN?) To Rush’s silly stimulus response.
More of this please, cubed.
eric k
Stole this analogy from Bill Simmons, but it is very good, I think he used it with Kevin Pritchard and the NBA draft, or some sports thing anyway,
There is a great scene in Don’t Look Back where Dylan is hanging out with Donovan and his entourage in London and Donovan plays some perfectly nice english folk song. Then Dylan goes here’s something I’ve been working on and plays It’s All Over Baby Blue, the looks on Donovan and his gang;s faces are priceless, it is like WTF are we gonna do now?
Hillary spent the primary finding out she was Donovan next to Dylan, McCain was the New Christy Minstrels (so Donovan woulda beat him too just not as bad) The House reps are about to find out that they are Herman’s Hermits:-)
Fencedude
@Chris Johnson:
Obama needs to have a very, very tiny violin made, and sit it out on his desk whenever the republicans come in to complain.
Jeffro
This, in the most general sense, is half of the reason why the Democrats (Obama & Congress both) gave the Repubs such a pounding in November.
With the exceptions of Reid (especially) and Pelosi (to a lesser extent), they showed that they finally know how to play this game AND are willing to take their shots.
(The other half? Starts and ends with ‘W’)
Mike
He did it to Hillary, he did it to McCain, and now he’s going to
do it to Rush, Fox, and the Congressional Repubs.
John called it before the election. You’re not quite
sure how he does it, but somehow opponents self destruct
trying to tear Obama down. He has a way of making them
look silly, obsolete and — old. (I’m 66 BTW)
It’s indeed a pleasure to watch him in action.
Conservatively Liberal
I sure am glad I voted for this Obama guy, he seems to be a Democrat cut from a different cloth. One with spine. He is spinning the wingnut spiel right back at them and making them own it. He has called out their love of Rush and Fox and has made it clear that they can listen to them or work with him.
It’s their choice to make and he put the ball in their court by making it so. While I want Obama to work with the right I am heartened that he don’t bend over like Reid or Pelosi. That and he will take Republican shit, ‘sweeten’ it up a bit and feed it right back to them.
With a polite smile on his face the whole time. What a nice guy to have for a president! I am loving every minute of this and I hope he keeps it up until they shit or get off their right-wing pot.
Tweety had some lady and Buchanan on his show today and ol’ Pat was whining up a storm about how Obama and the Democrats are trying to ‘buy the voters into a permanent Democratic majority’ by handing money out to the general public. Tweety got a sly smile on his face and pointed out that when the ‘rich guys won in 2001′ they got their rewards via the Bush tax cuts that were directly targeted at them, and now it is time for everyone else to get a piece of the pie while the rich sit this round out. Tweety said "elections have consequences", and the look on Pat’s face was priceless.
Wingnut faces are still smeared with shit but there are no grins hiding behind it anymore. Obama wiped the grins off of their faces but I think he is leaving the shit for them to deal with.
Like I said, Obama is just a nice guy doing his job. Keep on truckin’ Obama!
Mike G
You’re not quite sure how he does it, but somehow opponents self destruct trying to tear Obama down.
Bill Clinton had some skills in this area, but Obama is in a class of his own. A pleasure to watch a Dem who isn’t mealy-mouth defensive against Repig puerile thuggishness.
JPK
I am just so thrilled that he throws Fox and Rush right in their faces. I think I’m going to cry again.
pharniel
@Anton Sirius:
I think you are looking more at a Stare into the heart of the candle moment.
At the Dojo they call ’em "McVieghs" but i’ve always called them "Ed", and the entire republican party has reminded me more and more of that skit every day now.
the MUP makes me smile
Jon H
@Fencedude: "Obama needs to have a very, very tiny violin made, and sit it out on his desk whenever the republicans come in to complain."
He’s the President.
He can hire a tiny, tiny violinist to pop out and start playing.
QrazyQat
I linked to that O’Brien post in another comment thread. What kills me is how much of a jerk do you have to be to get called “obstructionist assholes” by a practicing zen buddhist? That is like being kicked in the junk by Ghandi.
That would be the Buffian Ghandi:
BUFFY: Hey, Ken, wanna see my impression of Gandhi?
(crushes his skull with a club)
Lily: Gandhi?
BUFFY: Well, you know, if he was really pissed off.