Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

The choice is between normal and crazy.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Consistently wrong since 2002

People are complicated. Love is not.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

I was confident that someone would point it out and thought why not me.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

You are here: Home / Politics / Wait a minute…yonder come my lady

Wait a minute…yonder come my lady

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It looks like outgoing Madame Speaker had one more trick up her sleeve:

This afternoon, House Democrats will hold an up or down vote on vote on President Obama’s plan to extend tax cuts to income below $250,000, and they’ve figured out a way to prevent the Republicans from pulling procedural tricks that might sink it — a straight vote on whether or not wealthy people deserve an additional tax break.

[….]

Dems once believed they were faced with two mixed options for holding this vote. The first was to hold an up-or-down vote under the normal rules. But that would give Republicans the opportunity to introduce what’s known as a motion to recommit — a procedural right of the minority that would have allowed them to tack an extension of tax cuts for high-income earners on to the legislation.

The second option — suspending the rules — would have foreclosed on that right, but would have required a two-thirds majority of the House for passage: 290 votes, an impossible hurdle.

But Democrats figured out a way to avoid this. They’re attaching their tax cut plan as an amendment to a separate bill [the Airport and Airway Extension Act, to wit]. That legislation already passed the House, and has just been returned from the Senate. The rules say it can’t be recommitted. So the GOP’s hands are tied.

Many’s the slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip, but maybe, just maybe, sanity will prevail here and we’ll keep cuts for those under 250K with no fewer cuts for those above 250K.

Reader Interactions

157Comments

  1. 1.

    xian

    no, i don’t see a way it passes i the senate. but it puts republicans and chickencrap blue dogs on the spot and on the record, at least.

    wish they had done it when it could have made a difference.

  4. 4.

    eemom

    Ah yes!! I’ve been waiting for my Speaker to gallop in on her white horse and save the day!!!

    Nancy SMAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!

  6. 6.

    steviez314

    It really is incredible about how many Blue Dogs were whining about the procedure–they REALLY want tax cuts for the rich too.

    My real dog is starting to feel insulted that we give these assholes a “dog” nickname. How does “blue cockroaches” sound instead?

  7. 7.

    dr. bloor

    MAKING PELOSI THE MINORITY LEADER WILL KILL THIS COUNTRY!1!one!!1

    /fucktards

    Man, I hope she’s got some magic to do from the minority seat. She’s the only one who’s kept me sane these past two years.

  8. 8.

    Kryptik

    As awesome as this shows Pelosi to be…does this mean anything in the long run? One Word: Senate. A.K.A. where good legislation goes to die, all for the sake of ‘bipartisanship’?

  10. 10.

    JCT

    eemom beat me to it — Nancy Smash FTW!

    Damn she makes me proud to be a native Californian again — after Arnold was elected I was ready to give up on my home state.

    If she pulls this off she will be a Speaker for the ages.

    And you know this has to hurt — orange boner is howling. Poor baby.

  12. 12.

    Rick Taylor

    I’d love to be proven wrong, but by this time I think Republicans will feel confident they can vote no on this, secure in the knowledge that Dems will cave once it fails and pass tax cuts for all later. This should have been done months ago. Nevertheless, it’s worth a try, and I’m happy to see it.

  14. 14.

    fasteddie9318

    Good for her. Now let the Senate fail to get it through cloture, get everybody on the record, and let all these tax cuts pass off into the sunset. And oh, gosh, American people, the Republicans just raised your taxes. Hoocoodanode?

  16. 16.

    aimai

    God I love that woman. Love her. The worst thing about the Republican takeover is losing her as Majority Leader. Still, thank god she is still leader because she really has the chops to fight. I will never forget her stirring speech (which was totally unlike her generally process talk style) during HCR when she said flatly:

    “If we can’t get in through the door/we go over the wall.”

    What a woman. She’s my idol.

    aimai

  17. 17.

    djheru

    Yay, now the news cycle will be all about how the evil Democrats are using trickery to subvert the will of the American people. No mention will be made of polls which all support the Dems position or the fact that Republicans would rather let all the tax cuts expire than to compromise and work together with the dems.

  19. 19.

    nhoj

    Many’s the slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip, but maybe, just maybe, sanity will prevail here and we’ll keep cuts for those under 250K with no cuts for those above 250K.

    It is frustrating enough to see this here that it will make me de-lurk. There are cuts for people over 250k because we have progressive taxation. Sure it doesn’t amount to as much percentage wise but people with income over 250k are still going to pay a lower marginal rate on that income under this plan.

  21. 21.

    Marmot

    I am fully prepared to eat my words in comments to John’s post on tax cuts yesterday. It appears that Dems may be capable of not wussing out. Pass the mustard.

  22. 22.

    cleek

    we’ll keep cuts for those under 250K with no cuts for those above 250K

    Doug, Doug, Doug… sigh. that’s not how our tax system works.

    under the Dems’ plan, everybody gets a cut. under the GOP plan, everybody gets a cut and then people making over $250K get another cut.

    maybe this chart will help.

  24. 24.

    Joseph Nobles

    Those above 250K get all the cuts of those below 250K. All Americans are getting extensions of tax cuts.

    And, yes, the Republicans are the ones that ought to be ashamed that they make the Democrats jump through so many hoops in order to get tax cuts extended for 100% of taxpaying Americans.

  25. 25.

    brendancalling

    right.
    I’m sure that will happen, Doug. I’m also sure that I’m going to sprout wings like a butterfly and flit around the garden drinking nectar from wildflowers.

    tellya what: if it passes, contact me via email (bfskwire AT gmail DOT c0m) with your address, and I’ll send you down one of my all-grain Christmas stouts (made with cherries the little woman canned herself over the summer). it’s in the secondary now, we’re bottling in another week.

  26. 26.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @DougJ:
    This isn’t a site-redesign request, but I would again ask that if possible when you reference song lyrics in a post title (even by St. Van the Man) you at least include some kind of link to the lyrics or a youtube at the bottom of the post. Levenson does it with his art, you could do it with your particular form of art.

    kthnxbai

  29. 29.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @steviez314: I think I hate the Blue Weasels more than I hate Republicans. I was reading last night that Claire “Silly Stuff” McCaskill is facing a tough re-election in ’12. It’s going to be awfully hard to care.

  31. 31.

    Pangloss

    Republicans will have no problem voting NO. As the recent election proved, their policies can be as ill-informed, destructive, hypocritical, and evil as they want, but the Right Wing Wurlitzer will drown out any criticism.

  32. 32.

    burnspbesq

    @Kryptik:

    If the House passes a targeted package of tax relief and it dies in the Senate, so be it. Let the Republicans explain why they put the country into a second recession.

  36. 36.

    Rick Taylor

    @fasteddie9318:

    Good for her. Now let the Senate fail to get it through cloture, get everybody on the record, and let all these tax cuts pass off into the sunset. And oh, gosh, American people, the Republicans just raised your taxes. Hoocoodanode?

    __
    I’d love to be proven wrong, but I think the next step is the Senate fails to get it through cloture, Democrats raise their hands and tell us, well we tried, and then they pass the tax cuts for everyone. Again, I’d love to be proven wrong.

  40. 40.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    Justa like a justa like a ballerina..

    Only person I know who can give “ballerina” eight syllables.

    Great reference, I wonder how many people will get it. Best record ever. E v a h.

    My favorite song, ever, by wild coincidence on the same record: Madame George.

    Edit:@arguingwithsignposts:

    Here you go.

  41. 41.

    Lolis

    So this only needs a simple majority to pass the House? We should be playing ball here then. Too bad, the president and his advisers have publicly announced they will capitulate on this issue. Senate Dems know this as well as Senate Republicans. I still give Nancy props for trying. I am so glad she will be there to mitigate some of the president’s bad impulses.

  42. 42.

    PeakVT

    @cleek: Everybody uses the wrong language when referring to the federal income tax. I just heard the increasingly annoy Lakshmi Singh use the phrase “families earning more than …” on NPR.

  44. 44.

    Sasha

    @djheru:

    Yay, now the news cycle will be all about how the evil Democrats are using trickery to subvert the will of the American people.

    Or how the Democrats, pushed into a corner, managed to best the Republicans … again. (See HCR.)

    Will the GOP block a tax cut that affects all Americans, rich and poor, just because the wealthiest don’t get an extra cut on top of that? Their real base might want them to, but the base that votes for them won’t.

  45. 45.

    cleek

    @PeakVT:
    NPR’s the worst.

    how they can spend so much time talking about the tax cut debate and never manage to even hint at what the two plans actually mean for people ?

    baffling

    @Sasha:

    Their real base might want them to, but the base that votes for them won’t.

    i’d bet the majority of their electoral base doesn’t know what “marginal rates” are.

  48. 48.

    Sasha

    @chopper:

    except the media will run with ‘obama raised taxes’ instead.

    Not if the Dems go out there and counter-message, with Obama leading the charge.

    He hasn’t been in the public eye recently. Who knows? Maybe he was waiting for this.

  52. 52.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @freelancer:
    @DougJ:
    Usually, if I don’t know it I just have to wait for the first “great (insert band name/song title) here” comment, so I think this is only the first or second time I’ve used teh Google on it.

    Anyway, just a commenter suggestion. I wouldn’t want you to get captured by the readership, DougJ.

  55. 55.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    @aimai:

    This.

    She. Rocks.

    Too bad she had Neville Chamberlain as her counterpart in the Senate.

  56. 56.

    chopper

    @Sasha:

    what i like is how, if this goes to the senate and the senate GOP tries to block it, it really shines a spotlight on their recent ‘blackmail’ letter to obama, saying they would block everything until both tax cuts were extended.

    everybody was saying the dems should call their bluff. well they just did.

  59. 59.

    Kryptik

    @burnspbesq:

    That’s precisely what I’m afraid of, actually. When Republicans have been allowed to ‘explain’ (read: lie) about particular things, it’s usually been to blame Democrats for everything bad, with little-to-no effective pushback from Dems, leading the people to blame Dems for everything bad.

    So if the vote fails, guess who gets the albatross around their neck? And guess who said folks will end up hippie punching afterward to shift the blame?

  60. 60.

    JCT

    Look — some significant proportion of our delightfully ill-informed populace still don’t realize that Obama already cut their taxes. Honestly, trying to “message” this is a fool’s errand.

    Congress/Obama should just do what is right and damn the messaging at this point.

    Getting the house “on record” on this is an entirely reasonable response to the Republican’s disgusting display after the meeting with Obama the other day. These guys have no shame whatsoever.

    More of this, please.

  61. 61.

    Sasha

    @cleek:

    i’d bet the majority of their electoral base doesn’t know what “marginal rates” are.

    True, but they would understand “Democrats want to give Main Street a tax cut. Republicans don’t want to give Main Street a tax cut, unless Wall Street gets an even bigger tax cut.”

  62. 62.

    eemom

    @chopper:

    except the media will run with ‘obama raised taxes’ instead.

    sure they will, but I totally don’t give a shit about that anymore.

    I don’t even think I’d care if it lost Obama the 2012 election, which it won’t.

    I would just be so happy to see justice done for fucking once.

    (as a side note, if I were Obama, I’d be fucking HOPING to lose in 2012 at this point. I would be humming, 24/7, “Take this job and SHOVE it.”)

  66. 66.

    danimal

    Wait, I thought I was supposed to despair, grab my ankles, revere our new GOP overlords and primary Obama. You mean the debate isn’t over and both sides are still in the game? It’s not over, yet? All the emo was premature? What a shocker!

  68. 68.

    nhoj

    @Sasha:
    The problem with this kind of messaging as pointed out in the myriad other threads about framing is that there is no media that will report it. Upthread cleek noted how even “liberal” NPR doesn’t explain marginal rates.

    MSNBC is about the only place this might be addressed by the newsertainment complex but that reaches a small (proportionally to regular network news/radio at least) audience.

  69. 69.

    Brachiator

    @cleek:

    under the Dems’ plan, everybody gets a cut. under the GOP plan, everybody gets a cut and then people making over $250K get another cut.

    It’s easier, even for the Democrats, to say “no tax cuts for the rich” than it is to say “limit tax cuts for the rich” or “push the majority of the tax cuts to the middle class because ultra-wealthy rat bastards will still have a big ass pile of money with a return to the tax rates that were previously in effect.”

    how they can spend so much time talking about the tax cut debate and never manage to even hint at what the two plans actually mean for people ?

    Because math is hard.

    Everybody seems to think that the fight is just over keeping the Bush tax cuts or letting them expire and walking away from the table, and 2011 will take care of itself.

    But Congress must also deal with some expiring 2010 benefits and patching the Alternative Minimum Tax. If Congress doesn’t deal with this, as many as 25 million moderate income taxpayers could see a tax increase, even if their income didn’t change at all during the year.

    And you don’t see this mentioned much in the media or talked about on the blogs, but every freaking CPA in the land is looking at the potential for a lot of angry, confused clients, and potential delays in tax return processing, while the Democrats and the Republicans continue snarling at each other.

  70. 70.

    Rhoda

    @eemom: The Supreme Court alone makes me sick at the thought of 2012 being bad for Obama.

    Thankfully, I don’t think it will.

    And yes, Nancy is awesome.

  71. 71.

    PeakVT

    @Marmot: The tax cut the Repukes are fighting so desperately for is only on income above $250k, not families earning more than $250k. (To be hyper-technical, there are several cutoffs depending on filing status, but politicians want to sound family-friendly, so they use the amount for married couples filing jointly to simplify.) Only filers earning more than $250K will be able to use that bit, but those filers will still get a tax cut over the baseline if the cuts for the first $250k of income are passed. The usual language makes it sound like filers earning more than $250K will get no tax cut whatsoever. Trying to make the distinction is sort of a chronic problem for people talking about the US income tax system.

    I misquoted Singh above. You can hear her phrasing here (ff to 0:50).

  72. 72.

    Sasha

    @nhoj:

    The problem with this kind of messaging as pointed out in the myriad other threads about framing is that there is no media that will report it. Upthread cleek noted how even “liberal” NPR doesn’t explain marginal rates.

    That’s where (and why) we, the concerned citizens and activists, come into play.

    Part of what turned HCR around was dedicated groundpounders who explained the sitch to our fellows. If this comes to the Senate, we’ll just have to do it again.

  73. 73.

    Adrienne

    @comrade scott’s agenda of rage: Oh, for the love of all that is holy can we PLEASE stop slamming Harry Reid? The man has been the most successful Senate Majority leader in at least a generation. Granted, he didn’t get us everything we wanted, including puppies and unicorns, but he got healthcare, fair pay legislation, student loan reform, financial reform, etc through the Senate against a unified Republican party by making concessions when it was required. He’s not the American legislative equivalent to fucking Neville Chamberlain.

  74. 74.

    JPL

    @Brachiator: If the bill can pass, the President can state that everyone has a permanent cut on the first $250,000 of income. He needs to shout that everyone part. The news media will distort it though.

  76. 76.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Brachiator: The Republican message on this is clearly something like “everyone gets a tax cut.” They keep saying versions of that phrase, as deflections of the idea of special tax cuts for the rich, which make it sound like Democrats are picking and choosing who deserves a tax cut, and they probably won’t pick _you_.

  77. 77.

    WyldPirate

    @cleek:

    haha.

    You know DougJ knows the difference in the tax structure, cleek.

    It’s a message thingy. It takes discipline to get the message out right every time and this is a particuolarly oily message to word in a succinct, coherent fashion.

    That said, we have a nation of–to borrow JCT’s term–“delightfully ill-informed voters–who will never understand and don’t care to make the effort to understand.

  78. 78.

    Joe Beese

    [[ But instead of actually trying to fight that fight, Nancy Pelosi schedules some bullshit vote as a way to “expose the Republicans” when they vote against extending only the middle class tax cuts. You know, those Republicans who are going to take credit for extending ALL the tax cuts against opposition from Democrats, the thing that is actually going to happen. Like people are going to remember some meaningless procedural vote from the 2010 lame duck session. …

    Meanwhile, as entertaining as all of this is to political junkies, 2 million people are set to lose their unemployment benefits by the end of the year. Which nobody, in the midst of their partisan game playing, seems to give a shit about.

    It’s Christmas time, you bastards. People can’t feed their kids. You continue to shovel trillions of dollars at the banks. And all of you — Pelosi, Reid, Obama — you fail the test not only of leadership, but of basic human compassion. Of having any kind of a moral compass.

    Nancy Pelosi will go down in history as the first woman speaker of the House — who ran a freak show for the masses while the oligarchs stole the country blind. ]]

    http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/12/02/the-game-is-rigged/

  79. 79.

    Chris Grrr

    John Boehner is very upset that the Democratic Party is trying to use their majorities in Congress and their presidency to pass a bill that is actually consistent with what they told the voters was their philosophy when they elected them.
    …
    So why won’t the Democrats just let them have what they want right now? This is making John Boehner go insane! Making laws is not supposed to be so hard! CHICKEN CRAP!

    – Jack Steuf at Wonkette

  80. 80.

    Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)

    Yes! Go Nancy and House Dems. I hope to God this passes the House and puts the Senate on the spot and in the spotlight.

    In other news, I can’t tell you how much my loathing for John McCain has increased over the last few months: McCain calls study on gays in military flawed. What. an. asshole.

  81. 81.

    cleek

    @Brachiator:

    but every freaking CPA in the land is looking at the potential for a lot of angry, confused clients

    and that 1099 shit might just cause my small business to pack it in.

  82. 82.

    cleek

    @WyldPirate:

    You know DougJ knows the difference in the tax structure, cleek.

    yeah, i assume so.

    just bustin some balls, really. doing my part to keep him on-message. trying to capture him!

  83. 83.

    Judas Escargot

    @Sasha:

    Their real base might want them to, but the base that votes for them won’t.

    The base that votes for them is ignorant and innumerate, so expect no surprises from the GOP.

    That said, it’s at least a real, substantive fight, so… YES!

    My gramma taught me that even when you knew ahead of time you were going to lose the fight, you should still make the bastards work for it. It tires them out for the next round, and sometimes you might even pull it off (witness HCR).

    She would have liked Nancy.

  85. 85.

    Andrew

    Good on Nancy!

    Now if only Senate Dems will have the cojones to nuke the filibuster. (Might as well do it now – it’ll be irrelevant for the next two years at least b/c Republicans control the House.)

    On a side note, dear God has anybody checked out GOS? I’m pissed at Obama this tax cuts bullshit too, but dear God they’ve lost their minds. It’s become a full-out circle-jerk (top rated diary: “A Dangerous President”) with even Markos joining in on the action. (In his post today on the DREAM Act, he rightly criticizes Tester and McCaskill for considering no votes, but then basically says he’d be happy to see either lose, as if a Republican would be better.)

  86. 86.

    Mnemosyne

    @Joe Beese:

    You’ve really got to admire how Joe Beese gets the exact thing he was clamoring for yesterday and STILL manages to turn it into a slap in the face prior to being shoved under the bus.

    Seriously, it takes talent and determination to turn every single ray of sunshine into a rain cloud. Bravo, sir.

  87. 87.

    Sasha

    @FlipYrWhig:

    The Republican message on this is clearly something like “everyone gets a tax cut.” They keep saying versions of that phrase, as deflections of the idea of special tax cuts for the rich, which make it sound like Democrats are picking and choosing who deserves a tax cut, and they probably won’t pick you.

    And if this goes to the Senate and the GOP blocks it, what will the message be?

    The Dems gave Main Street and Wall Street a tax cut; the Republicans don’t want to let Main Street have a tax cut unless Wall Street gets a much bigger cut than anybody else.

    Not a winning optic.

  88. 88.

    Bruce (formerly Steve S.)

    maybe, just maybe, sanity will prevail here and we’ll keep cuts for those under 250K

    Let’s be clear about one thing; the sane thing would be for all the tax cuts to permanently expire.

  89. 89.

    WyldPirate

    Kevein Drum over at Mother Jones has an absolutely kick-ass chart that illustrates the differences in the tax cuts Obama and the dems want on the first 250K of income versus the additional cut that those the Rethugs want to give on income above 250K.

    As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

  92. 92.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Sasha: That’s why Democrats need to repeat things loudly and confidently. If they did, we’d all be better off. But they don’t. Some of them because of contrary belief, some of them because of political expediency. It’s frustrating.

  93. 93.

    eemom

    @Mnemosyne:

    hey, you know who Joe Beese really is? Jane Hamsher in man-drag.

    Just a theory of course. But he sure is lip-synching her, uh, spin on this Pelosi move.

    Look Beese — why don’t you go look for a “moral compass” back where you came from? That ought to keep you occupied for a good long time.

  99. 99.

    Marmot

    @PeakVT:

    Only filers earning more than $250K will be able to use that bit, but those filers will still get a tax cut over the baseline if the cuts for the first $250k of income are passed. The usual language makes it sound like filers earning more than $250K will get no tax cut whatsoever.

    Oh — of course. And NPR makes no attempt to clarify this. Got it. I’m always making the mistake of thinking that marginal rates are more widely understood, but you’re right that they’re not. Not at all. Thanks!

  100. 100.

    catclub

    “a procedural right of the minority that would have allowed them to tack an extension of tax cuts for high-income earners on to the legislation.”

    The problem is: if the GOP proposes said amendment, no matter how clearly it is only to benefit the rich, enough democrats will cave and vote for it, to avoid being against a tax cut.

    Never mind that the GOP voted UNANIMOUSLY against the tax cuts that were in the stimulus. They were not pilloried for that vote against cutting taxes.

    High density of cowardice.

  103. 103.

    Brachiator

    @Bruce (formerly Steve S.):

    Let’s be clear about one thing; the sane thing would be for all the tax cuts to permanently expire.

    In a recession? W.T.F.?

    Again, let’s be clear here. Walking away and just letting the tax cuts expire. The Congress must deal with unfinished tax issues, and the Republicans know this and know that they will get something in return for the Democrats.

    Hell, Congressional leaders have already agreed to some changes, so unless some Tea Party fool upsets the deal, some of what people are getting exercised about is just political theater.

    Of course, Obama could call a press conference and declare, “The Republicans refused to budge on the issue of middle class tax cuts. This means that at least 25 million of you will pay higher taxes when you file your 2010 tax returns, maybe many thousands of dollars. Merry Christmas.”

  104. 104.

    FlipYrWhig

    @cleek: I like to check in once in a while to see what I’m supposed to be mad about. It’s still good for that. The one I never bother with anymore is Atrios.

  106. 106.

    WyldPirate

    @cleek:

    LOL.

    Sorry about that, cleek. It wasn’t intentional and I stumbled on it independently.

    Great fucking chart, isn’t it?

    I’m still not convinced that most Joe SixPacks would get it ’cause we’re such an innumerate bunch here in the USA.

  107. 107.

    FlipYrWhig

    @WyldPirate: I think it’s the David Cay Johnston book _Perfectly Legal_ that points out how astonishingly wealthy the people at the very top are. He talks about the top 1% _of_ the top 1% and how much they own. Your stats show that there are only 2 million people in the over $250K band. And we’re bogged down politically for months trying to figure out how much extra money those people should get to keep. What a stupid political system.

  109. 109.

    Brachiator

    @WyldPirate:

    Kevein Drum over at Mother Jones has an absolutely kick-ass chart that illustrates the differences in the tax cuts Obama and the dems want on the first 250K of income versus the additional cut that those the Rethugs want to give on income above 250K.

    Just what I was saying the other day. Use a freakin’ chart that explains it all.

    And they just shouldn’t hide it away on Mother Jones. Every time a Democrat appears on the TV, this chart should be behind them. Obama should give an Oval Office speech and say, “Oh, that? That big ass long red line. That’s all the freaking money that the Republicans want to give to the rich.”

  113. 113.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Brachiator: Austan Goolsbee drew the circle version of this chart on Stephen Colbert, and on the White House White Board. I agree that this version seems more vivid.

  114. 114.

    WyldPirate

    @FlipYrWhig:

    You are quite correct, Flip. all of this grandstanding is for just a miniscule portion of the population somewhere on the order of 10K or so tax filers or even fewer who command an inordinate amount of influence and who are gobbling up a huge share of the income.

    These parasites are destroying the country, too, for the most part and won’t be happy until they have even more riches.

    I haven’t read the David Cay Johnson book. It’s on my list of books to get. Given my employment status, I’m kind of slow on purchases. They have to be really cheap and I really have to want to read them.

    Timothy Noah ran a pretty good series on income inequality at Slate not too long ago. Link is below if you are interested.

    The United States of Inequality

  116. 116.

    WyldPirate

    @Brachiator:

    “Oh, that? That big ass long red line. That’s all the freaking money that the Republicans want to give to the rich.”

    Yup. Couldn’t agree more. Dems should do much more of that–even Obama.

    Rachel Maddow and her staff have mad skillz in the succinct, go-for-the-jugular, graphics department. Best on the teevee IMO.

  117. 117.

    Brachiator

    @cleek:

    and that 1099 shit might just cause my small business to pack it in.

    I hope that some of the other business provisions and credits are helping you.

  118. 118.

    Tax Analyst

    @PeakVT: Nit-picky time:

    The tax cut the Repukes are fighting so desperately for is only on income above $250k,

    That should read …”taxable income above $250K…”. That would mean after reducing your AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) by your Itemized or Standard Deductions and Personal Exemptions.

    So one with significant Itemized Deductions could possibly earn quite a bit more than $250K and still not have any of their income touched by the higher tax bracket (provided none of those deductions trigger any significant AMT addbacks). The point has already been made several times in this thread, but remember, the first portions of your taxable income get taxed for the bracket rate they fall within. Hence a married couple filing jointly is only taxed at 10% on the first $16,700 of their 2009 Taxable income and at 15% on the next $51,200 of their 2009 Taxable income, 25% of the next $69,500 TI,28% of the next $71,800, and so on.

  120. 120.

    cyntax

    Well it passed the House 234-188.

    It will be interesting to see what the Dems strategy is for the Senate, or if they can find a way to hang a failure in the Senate on the Repubs.

  121. 121.

    scarshapedstar

    The Republicans will filibuster it.

    I know, I know, I know.

    But the Republicans will filibuster it anyway. They’ll call it a shady backroom deal or an Airport Bailout or something. Doesn’t matter.

    The media will wonder why Obama is risking airport funding in a post-9/11 world by tying it do divisive partisan issues.

    The compromise will be a Republican amendment that tacks on the tax cuts for the rich and permanently eliminates the ‘death tax’ as well as the minimum wage.

  122. 122.

    gwangung

    The Republicans will filibuster it.
    I know, I know, I know.
    But the Republicans will filibuster it anyway.

    And someone will blame it all on Obama.

  123. 123.

    General Stuck

    Good news. But negotiations continue between WH and congress separately, so there still could be some compromise, with or without the issues of START, DADT etc,,,,,, and a one or three year extension for all bush cuts. This bill will be “objected” to by the wingers in the senate, from even being considered on the senate floor.

    But this suggests they are driving hard bargaining in those talks. I am just happy that Nancy saved the day from that dastardly Obama, and his infernal selling of the ranch to the wingnuts. Cause he couldn’t possibly been in on this development as an over all strategy.

  125. 125.

    cyntax

    @scarshapedstar:

    That seems most likely but that’s where messaging comes into play. As cleek was pointing out, everyone gets a tax cut under the Dems’ plan, but people making over 250K don’t get an additional tax cut.

    That sort of messaging has to start with the Dem leadership though, so we’ll see…

  126. 126.

    Linda Featheringill

    Boehner acted like he was surprised.

    Why wasn’t he keeping an eye on Nancy? She leads his opposition and he should know what she is up to at any given time. If he was surprised, then it was a failure of leadership on his part.

    Maybe he was so caught up in playing macho games with the Prez that he forgot to monitor the rest of the team? Maybe he thinks that since the election, Nancy became paralyzed and ineffectual? Maybe a couple of other possibilities that aren’t flattering to him at all?

    Still. Failure of leadership.

  127. 127.

    Mnemosyne

    I swear, Nancy Pelosi is the ONLY person in Congress who actually backs the president up when he wants to get something done. Every other asshole there just leaves him twisting in the wind.

    Cue Joe Beese and WyldPirate to tell me that this can’t possibly what the president wants just because it’s what he’s been touting in the media pretty much since his campaign started. No, there must be some other arcane reason we don’t know about yet because shut up, that’s why.

  129. 129.

    scarshapedstar

    @cyntax:

    As cleek was pointing out, everyone gets a tax cut under the Dems’ plan, but people making over 250K don’t get an additional tax cut.

    The average American doesn’t understand their own marginal income tax rates, and the Democrats are so bafflingly bad at explaining that very fact that I’m not entirely convinced they understand them either.

  131. 131.

    valdivia

    @Linda Featheringill:

    This is the second or third time this happens. While everyone is wailing the House steps up and puts the ball in play again. Let’s see what happens next.

    Nancy will be such a kick ass minority leader. I LOVE her.

  132. 132.

    Bruce (formerly Steve S.)

    @Brachiator:

    In a recession? W.T.F.?

    We’re not in a recession, but even if we were, so what? Apparently we can freeze federal workers’ pay “in a recession,” and we can set up deficit commissions “in a recession,” and we can ignore 9.6% unemployment month after month “in a recession,” so why not allow the tax cuts to expire? Not like sanity is any part of this equation to begin with. By the way, the budget bill of 1993 was passed not long after a recession and when unemployment, though not as bad as now, was still considered to be high.

  133. 133.

    burnspbesq

    @Kryptik:

    You may be right, I may be crazy,
    but it just may be that the average American has an IQ higher than that of an empty jar of peanut better.

    I continue to hold on to hope.

  134. 134.

    cyntax

    @scarshapedstar:

    The Dems lack of understanding is breath-taking in scope and thus hard to take the measure of. Assuming they don’t understand this seems a very safe bet.

    Hell, just a few months ago the Repubs (including Orangeman) we’re saying they’d have to vote for a middleclass taxcut if it came to the floor alone. So naturally we waited until tax cuts for millionaires and everyone else we’re expiring to do anything about it.

  135. 135.

    WyldPirate

    @Mnemosyne:

    It’s kabuki theater, Mneomsyne.

    Yes, it gets Rethugs on record. Maybe it will be useful in House races two years from now. It is DOA in the Senate,

    I can’t see how it is anything other than DOA in the Senate. The Rethugs can easily filibuster. I don’t think–especially with the House version attached to another bill–that it can be brought up on reconciliation.

    Symbolic victory at best. That’s something, but not what it should have been. the Congress had two years to do something about one of Obama’s hallmark campaign promises. It didn’t get done. Even worse, it didn’t get done when it could have been used for political effect prior to the election due to timidity.

    All this said. I will be overjoyed to eat my words if Reid and the Dems battle to the death and win the House version by whatever means necessary. It is what is best for my country.

  136. 136.

    burnspbesq

    @cleek:

    Dude, get a grip. Whatever accounting software you use is being rewritten as we speak so that it will automatically spit out all the 1099s you need to file. Your additional “burden” is going to consist of the cost of envelopes and stamps to send them to your vendors.

    If that’s enough to put you out of business, your business was already non-viable.

  137. 137.

    WyldPirate

    @burnspbesq:

    You may be right, I may be crazy,

    “and it just may be a lunatic you’re looking for”

    Sorry, burnspbesq. It’s one of my favorite tunes and I couldn’t resist. ;)

  138. 138.

    Sasha

    @Brachiator:

    And they just shouldn’t hide it away on Mother Jones. Every time a Democrat appears on the TV, this chart should be behind them. Obama should give an Oval Office speech and say, “Oh, that? That big ass long red line. That’s all the freaking money that the Republicans want to give to the rich.”

    No, no. Not to the rich. To Wall Street.

  139. 139.

    Corner Stone

    @Bruce (formerly Steve S.): Equally as important, we need to get this country off its damn tax cut fix.
    Tax cuts do not, in fact, solve all problems.
    Let the brackets go up. We as a nation will live. And then we won’t need to do silly ass theater because the revenue will actually make things better. And who knows? Maybe we can *gasp* redistribute the higher revenue back into infrastructure in the form of some kind of, dare I say it, stimulus?

  141. 141.

    Sasha

    @Linda Featheringill:

    Boehner acted like he was surprised

    .

    Why wasn’t he keeping an eye on Nancy? She leads his opposition and he should know what she is up to at any given time. If he was surprised, then it was a failure of leadership on his part.

    Exactly. And, especially if it passes, every other Republican will wonder the same thing.

    In terms of GOP confidence in the soon-to-be-Speaker, Nancy bobbited Boehner.

  142. 142.

    Brachiator

    @Bruce (formerly Steve S.):

    We’re not in a recession, but even if we were, so what? Apparently we can freeze federal workers’ pay “in a recession,” and we can set up deficit commissions “in a recession,” and we can ignore 9.6% unemployment month after month “in a recession,” so why not allow the tax cuts to expire? Not like sanity is any part of this equation to begin with.

    Ah, OK. I didn’t realize that you were arguing from insanity.

    Yes, by all means, let’s punish federal workers who have been forced to take a pay freeze, and millions of other workers with a probable tax increase. Cause there ain’t no sanity clause.

    By the way, the budget bill of 1993 was passed not long after a recession and when unemployment, though not as bad as now, was still considered to be high.

    Hmmm. unemployment, “though not as bad as now.” Yeah, I think being pretty freaking bad right now makes a difference.

  143. 143.

    eemom

    look haters, doubters, and whiny assers — No-Boner is having a public shitfit meltdown over this right now.

    I mean, “chickencrap,” Mr Speaker-to-be? Srsly??

    HOW IS THIS NOT A GOOD THING??

  144. 144.

    geg6

    @aimai:

    Me too. Can’t even articulate how much I adore her.

    I’ll never forget when she became Speaker. I actually cried and cried and cried with pride. Literally blubbering all over the place. I felt, that day, the way so many African Americans must have felt when Obama won. Just couldn’t believe a strong, smart woman was actually going to be the third in line for the presidency and the first woman to lead the House. She has rarely disappointed me (well, one particular instance, which I still don’t understand, but…) and has usually made me so thrilled to be living at a time when this could actually happen.

    I’d follow her anywhere. She is my hero. Nancy SMASH!

  145. 145.

    Bruce (formerly Steve S.)

    @Corner Stone:

    That would be the sane thing to do. Instead we are being given the choice between mildly insane (extend tax cuts <$250K or $1million) and batshit insane (extend them all).

  146. 146.

    eemom

    @Sasha:

    Nancy bobbited Boehner.

    Tee hee. She did indeed. See why I’ve always called him NO-Boner?

    And thank you for that little historical tidbit. I’d almost forgotten Lorena.

    Anyone here too young to remember the revenge of Mrs. Bobbitt?

  147. 147.

    geg6

    @danimal:

    No, that part starts when the Senate gets it and Obama preemptively negotiates away the middle class part and offers the Senate GOPers and DINOs a tax cut for only the top 2%.

  148. 148.

    burnspbesq

    Wouldn’t you like to see what is in the email in-boxes of the three Republicans who voted for the bill?

  149. 149.

    Bruce (formerly Steve S.)

    @Brachiator:

    Ah, OK. I didn’t realize that you were arguing from insanity.

    Not really.

    Yes, by all means, let’s punish federal workers who have been forced to take a pay freeze

    What mysterious force caused this?

    Hmmm. unemployment, “though not as bad as now.” Yeah, I think being pretty freaking bad right now makes a difference.

    Why? Employment skyrocketed thereafter.

  151. 151.

    JCT

    Full Monty time — c’mon Harry, make them Filibuster in the light of day, the old fashioned way…

    Nancy Smash would make them do it….

  152. 152.

    Brachiator

    @Bruce (formerly Steve S.): RE: Ah, OK. I didn’t realize that you were arguing from insanity.

    Not really.

    Yeah, really. As I noted, the game of Chicken that the Democrats and the Republicans are playing is not just about letting the Bush Tax Cuts expire. There are a number of items on the table that if left unresolved would mean tax increases in the thousands of dollars for millions of taxpayers.

    And do you really think that adding insult to injury by freezing some workers pay and also hitting them with a tax hike is advisable?

  153. 153.

    bcinaz

    I am not able to fathom why Obama wants to run for re-election just when the ‘2 year extension’ of the Bush Tax cuts for millionaires (which includes 99.9% of the Senate) are expiring.

    I’m pretty sure I heard him say he’d fight for the middle class, yet adding $700 billion to the deficit is just pushing really big tax increases off into the future,

    And in this economy, where the top earners aren’t creating jobs, just incomprehensible financial instruments, middle class taxable income will continue to shrink, and we’ll be left paying, paying, paying, because some hedge fund guy making 4 billion a year doesn’t have ‘regular’ income.

    we are so screwed.

  154. 154.

    Bruce (formerly Steve S.)

    @Brachiator:

    Yeah, really. As I noted, the game of Chicken that the Democrats and the Republicans are playing

    is insane and not addressing the basic wisdom of letting the tax cuts expire. The last time taxes were raised as the economy was emerging from a recession and unemployment was still unacceptably high the economy grew like crazy and unemployment reached its lowest levels in 30 years. Higher taxes were not inconsistent with solid growth and full employment in the 90s. The game of chicken you reference is of course insane, so our choices right now are between less insane and more insane.

    Of course, the most sane thing would be to keep the tax cuts while retrenching the overseas Empire, etc., but shooting for maximal sanity might in itself be insane, given the context.

    And do you really think that adding insult to injury by freezing some workers pay and also hitting them with a tax hike is advisable?

    I don’t know what mysterious cosmic force caused this pay freeze you speak of, but if our leaders are correct and the sane way forward is to make “tough choices” then goddamnit make tough choices.

  155. 155.

    HinTN

    Better late than never: I love Van Morrison, even if you did misquote him! I love Nancy, too!!!

  156. 156.

    Name: Mark

    It’s pretty close to the be all and end all. Partly because there’s alot less to his Presidency than there was a year ago.
    But mainly, the issue is critical because economic/fiscal fairness is a, perhaps the, core Democratic value. The party is firmly opposed to the concentration of wealth, because of the relative poverty and peonization that concentration means for everyone else. Also, as the party of government for the people, the Dems are the party of fiscal prudence. Don’t believe the pundits, look at history – we are the party of prudence, since we want a governemnt in a position to act.

  157. 157.

    Name: Mark

    They are talking about deficit reduction on the backs of the same people they just robbed. There is no way I will accept any compromise on anything from this administration until he starts accomplishing giving something to the people who voted for him. I’m sick of his bipartisan bull shit. There are stories all over out there that Obama is admitting he is a Blue Dog and a DLC NEW Democrat. I sure as hell didn’t vote for that, and that sure as hell isn’t how he ran.

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