This needs to be counteracted, strongly:
For several months, state Republican Party affiliates have been pushing the GOP tax bill through a quiet “ground game” initiative targeting voters in states that are emerging as potential 2018 battlegrounds — even before the final contours and details of the package were set by GOP negotiators on Capitol Hill.
In total, according to Republican National Committee data provided exclusively to Morning Consult, GOP volunteers and operatives have knocked on over 364,000 doors and made over 145,000 phone calls in 18 states from the first week of September through Dec. 14.
One thing I’d like to see is lots of public mockery and humiliation of Republicans in Congress. Say what you want about the tenets of Jane Hamser, this was brilliant.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Whatever happened to Jane Hamsher anyway? It seems like we don’t hear anything about her any longer.
oatler.
There should be many a merry family Christmas dinner with the two tribes exchanging …words.
Kay
hah! This is how they plan on tricking their constituents and keeping their jobs. The plan is to lie to them for a year.
Shalimar
Brilliant didn’t keep Lieberman from winning. For brevity’s sake, I won’t even begin to talk about the tenets of Jane Hamsher.
Yarrow
Definitely needs to be strongly countered. Wonder if they did that in Virginia and Alabama.
Those that voted for this tax abomination should not be welcome in public. People should leave restaurants if they show up. They should be shunned in any public place. They are bad people and should not be welcome in polite society.
Jeffro
They can try and say whatever they want about this abomination…every non-Fox Snooze viewer in America knows it’s crap. They were going to get destroyed at the polls in 2018 anyway; this just cements it.
@Kay: True…but then the easy question to ask (ask Trumpov, ask any GOP rep or Senator): “why’d you wait?” And then there’s even more incentive to elect Dems in 2018, to undo this mess before it can kick in.
Aimai
@Shalimar: precisely. Political theater is like political ice on a hot day. Melts and vanishes in a flash.
Kay
@Jeffro:
I’d ask them for a date certain when wages will skyrocket.
Most of these people are ancient. You have to understand their Glory Days were in the 1980’s. It’s what they all harken back to as the days when plutocrats threw off the burden of the middle class and got their rightful giant haul. Trump is exactly the kind of lying conman that the 1980’s created. It’s really nostalgia. Back to the days when they were the only people who mattered.
MomSense
Oh brother. Let’s skip the giant papier mache. It didn’t even work.
Doug!
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
I’m afraid to look her up. I fear she’s working for RT by now.
eemom
Fer fux sake. Jane Hamsher, on a day like this? What did I ever do to deserve THAT?
Betty Cracker
Lieberman being replaced by Chris Murphy is one of the best political upgrades in recent memory. May there be many more on that scale in the coming years!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Not that there isn’t work to do, but I’m with Beutler and Silver.
Any low-info types listening to Republicans are gonna think they won a jackpot. What will be for most people, I think, a few hundred dollars a year isn’t gonna offset stories about people like Corker, the Kushners and trump. Especially if your loudmouth brother-in-law or assholel boss starts bragging about what a great deal he got
@Aimai: it can be fun, but remember where Hamsher went after that: Blackface Lieberman. Then she spent a couple weeks yelling at everyone who was too fucking stupid to understand her subversive brilliance.
I’ll go to my grave believing Bubba saved Lieberman’s ass. And as much as I enjoyed watching HolyJoe briefly grovel to BJ Clinton, it kinda backfired.
JMG
Those numbers provided by the RNC strike me as complete bullshit. What would any normal person do if the doorbell rang and some cheery soul said, “hi, let’s talk about taxes!” Probably the data they make up to show Trump.
gene108
Mocking works for people, who are all in the know about the joke. It doesn’t play well, with people not in your group.
My concern on how they will gloss over the tax bill badness is with all the dividends and stock buy backs companies said they will do, along with really rich investors having more cash to throw around, the stock market will go up even more.
So when critics point to how bad this bill is, they will say look at the stock market, and not at the bill.
Kay
Republicans will be pleading with plutocrats to put some of the haul into wages and the plutocrats will laugh- because who gives a shit? They got what they wanted. Not a chance they’re passing any of it down.
Who knew it was so easy, right? The trick was to give the 1% more money and then ask them nicely to pass it down.
mai naem mobile
@Kay: Gary Cohn is atupid. Most medicare recipients start shopping for the next year in October. The cuts are going to be fresh in their minds when they vote in early Novemwbr. By the way this is coming from a supposed Democrat Gary Cohn. Cohn is telling him to snooker the olds so that the GOP can win in 2018. Democrat indeed. Oh, he was soooo offended by what Dolt45 said about Charlottesville that he almost quit? (
Another Scott
The last two paragraphs of the MorningConsult story:
Also, too, Virginia Dems beat Republicans in small donors by a huge $153k – $7k margin in 2017.
Yes, the ground game matters. But we’re doing very, very well at it.
We have to keep it up and continue to fight them every single day.
Cheers,
Scott.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
That’s for damned sure. I have a friend who is a low-middle earner, and he’s as sure as he’s ever been about anything that he’s going to make out like a bandit on this deal. His boss is going to give him a big raise, he’s going to save hundreds or thousands of dollars on this tax bill, all that shit, he’s bought into all of it. He could end up making less and he’ll swear up and down that he’s making more. It floors me.
eemom
Also, brilliant is a pretty hilarious word to describe her “contribution” to that campaign. Brilliant as a jackhammer in a sailboat.
NotMax
You’re a mean one Mr.
GrinchDoug.Kay
I think you’re great Doug J but you’re smarter than this. They released this “exclusively” because they want to reassure GOP electeds that they’re campaigning for the crap bill. And I don’t know what the “18 states” are but “300,000” and “145,000” are not big numbers in even one big state let alone 18.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: The video of the focus group of CEOs who told Gary Cohn they don’t intend to use their windfall to invest in ways that will create jobs should feature prominently in ads from Democrats nationwide.
Doug!
@Kay:
Well…I think we need to ramp up our efforts in the other direction, regardless.
Doug!
@eemom:
I hate her but I loved that float.
The Moar You Know
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): She probably died of organ failure from being full of shit, is my guess.
Amaranthine RBG
The key to victory isn’t mockery, it’s getting black women to the polls. They are the key to 2020
If you don’t know any black women, you’ve got 3 years to befriend some. Start making plans now to pick them up on Election Day 2020 and drive them to the polls.
Democracy depends on it
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: DougJ thinks that trolling us is his solemn duty as a FPer.
Kay
@mai naem mobile:
Oh, I agree. I prefer the openly sleazy Trumpsters to the fake-sincere ones. The fake-sincere ones want it both ways- they want to pretend they are principled while working (and benefiting from) for this crime cartel. They can’t have both because then there’s no incentive for people to behave decently.
Just be a godaamned robber baron. Be true to yourself. Fly that flag proudly.
Major Major Major Major
Their ground game is so fearsome, approval of the tax bill keeps dropping.
Kay
@schrodingers_cat:
Probably true. I consistently miss the subtler elements of trolling.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Kay: I don’t know. Trump is really into signing the bill on Christmas Eve. It’s his kind of theater.
Major Major Major Major
@Kay: you can just assume he is. It’s quite tiresome.
Another Scott
I believe DougJ has pointed us to this race recently – TheHill – Democrats hunt for an upset in Pennsylvania:
This special House election is on March 13, 2018.
We need to fight for every single seat.
Cheers,
Scott.
schrodingers_cat
@Major Major Major Major: It was mildly amusing in the Obama era, now I just find it aggravating and yes tiresome.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): they’ll probably mock up a big prop “executive order” announcing his intention to sign the bill, he’ll make that stupid constipated face as he holds up his art work, and maybe wander into the toilet without signing it and Pence will have to go in after him
Major Major Major Major
@schrodingers_cat: I think it’s the sort of thing that can be fun when things are otherwise alright, but trolling the well-meaning while the world is burning is just rude.
Kathleen
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): Thank God.
Doug R
Jane Hamsher
@janehamsher
Blogger, author, dog mom, breast cancer survivor, recovering movie producer, author of the Bytegeist tech politics blog
Firedoglake
@firedoglake
FDL closed its doors in July 2015, and some former staff started Shadowproof. Follow us at @shadowproofcom.
trollhattan
@Jeffro:
While I agree the question is worth asking, and asking… the response will always be some kind of Luntzian “It’s the Democrats’ fault.”
JPL
@Doug R: The top tweet is to an article about Jill Stein and Clinton’s delusional supporters.
raven
Hamsher-Norquist.
trollhattan
@Doug R:
“Shadowproof”? Fancy way of saying invisible?
raven
@Doug R: I don’t recognize any of them from back in the lake.
Doug!
This is not in any way shape or form a troll. I know the Republican PR thing here is bullshit . But there’s going to be a real battle to define the tax cut over the next few months and we should know the Republicans won’t just roll over.
Glenn
I worked for Lieberman during the 06 primary. (It was a long time ago and I was young & stupid.)
Everyone in the campaign fucking hated the kiss truck. I didn’t run into it where I was working most of the time, but I was at the all-hands event when Bill Clinton came in to endorse Joe and it kept driving back and forth just past where the cops shut off the street.
The next year I was interviewing for a job, and the interviewer brought up the Lieberman stuff on my resume and pointed out of his office window. He owned the truck.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kay: @schrodingers_cat: Did you read the linked article?
Another Scott
@Glenn: rofl.
Small world! :-)
Thanks for the chuckle.
Cheers,
Scott.
Waldo
@MomSense: the giant papier-mâché sorta worked. It appeared during the primary, which Lieberman lost to Ned Lamont. Lieberman retained his seat by running as an independent — thanks mainly to GOP support. Despite the win, he’d clearly lost his “Joementum” in the state and didn’t run in 2012. It’s been more than decade and he still hasn’t gotten over his resentment at that primary defeat. So, yeah, totally worth it.
randy khan
@Major Major Major Major:
I was going to say that we should imagine how unpopular the tax bill would be if it weren’t for this effort, but I like your thought better.
randy khan
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
Signing on Christmas Eve would be perfect – it’s a complete black hole news day.
James E. Powell
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Hoping to be wrong, but I disagree. Back in the early days of Bush/Cheney, Americans were fine with giving away billions to high income people so long as they got a check for less than a grand (in most cases).
And never forget that about 40% of the country will support any policy so long as they are assured liberals are against it or it hurts black people more than it hurts them. People no longer look to the government for good policies that help them in their lives. The Republicans haven’t done anything to help middle class or working class people since Reagan. They learned that they don’t need to. Their voters are moved by racism, religious bigotry, fear, and hatred.
Lurking Canadian
@randy khan: and it’s not like Trump’s going to spend the time with his son
NobodySpecial
I’d love to see candidates start hammering the fact that most of these Republicans are going to split right before the tax increase kicks in. Accuse them of only being in it to get connections for a safe landing when Trump’s tax plan goes to hell. Let em deny they cornholed that cow, like Johnson said.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Who knows? I don’t remember the details of the Bush tax cuts, but people on my TeeVee are saying there were, for political reasons, much more heavily weighted to lower incomes. And I’d argue that nobody ever voted on the actual Bush tax cuts, as opposed to the promise of “giving you back your money” in 200, and he still lost the popular vote. 2002 and ’04 were about 9/11, and Bush barely won in ’04. I saw the other day that on election day ’06, the S&P was up 11%, and as I recall the economy was kinda like it is now, positive but sluggish growth and falling unemployment
schrodingers_cat
@Omnes Omnibus: No, but the song titles, the snark, the too clever by half schtick just grates. I have lost my good humor. Sorry. Of course YMMV.
Miss Bianca
@Glenn: So, did you get the job, or not? : )
James E. Powell
@Kay:
The people who vote for Republicans believe that if a person isn’t working, it’s because he is lazy or unqualified. Everyone could find a job if he really wanted one. They also believe that whatever wages you get, it’s what you’re worth. If you want more, get another job. These beliefs are deeply embedded and reinforced constantly by right-wing propaganda. So if the tax cuts for the rich don’t provide jobs or higher wages, it’s because the people are lazy or didn’t earn a raise.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodingers_cat: Well, the stuff described in the article needs to be counteracted, strongly.
ETA: FWIW, DougJ is the FPer who keeps putting up the ActBlue links to raise money for Dems.
Jerzy Russian
@schrodingers_cat: You can always skip over Doug!’s posts if they annoy you so much.
Shalimar
@raven: The people at FireDogLake worth reading, Marcy Wheeler, Tbogg, Christy Hardin Smith, TRex, moved on long before it closed.
WereBear
That is because, for all intents and purposes, he has joined a cult.
Fox News beaming propaganda, all the networks serving as the choir in back, local news agreeing… as long as he doesn’t think about anything, all his dreams will come true!
Fair Economist
I wouldn’t worry too much about that. Just in Virginia, the 2017 democratic campaign managed 5 MILLION door knocks in a roughly similar timeframe.
We will swamp them.
James E. Powell
@Glenn:
It’s a Little Village.
catclub
Does anyone know if there is a summary of what ended up in the final bill?
For instance,
1. Final decision on AMT?
2. Tax rates jump back in 2027, how about new standard deduction? Other changes in deductions?
So could it be that rates jump back up but the deduction for SALT is still limited to $10K?
MCA1
@James E. Powell: I share your pessimistic instinct for the same reasons here, but:
– in 2001, if I recall, we had a budget surplus so the tax cuts/rebates were like a peace dividend. Now we’ve got a gigantic deficit and I think people can see the raging hypocrisy in the Republicans’ apocalyptic wailing about the debt until the moment they take power and the only thing they do is add $1.5T to the debt through a tax break for corporations and rich people.
– the public was not even vaguely aware of the term “income inequality” 16 years ago, and it wasn’t nearly as acute a problem as it is now, when it’s been slowly absorbed into the consciousness of the non-moneyed classes. Combine that with:
– the Bush tax cuts weren’t nearly so weighted towards the 1% (and especially the .1%) as this thing is.
That’s why it’s already below 30% approval even before it becomes law. It’s a total betrayal of the WWC Trump base. Many of them don’t/won’t/can’t see that, but some can, and the remainder of the middle and lower classes who aren’t deplorables fucking hate this bill because they already recognize it’s a massive upward redistribution of wealth.
Jerzy Russian
@Doug!: I have been meaning to ask you: How do I pronounce your Nym? Is it “Doug + {click sound}”, or “Doug factorial”, or just “DOUG” with lots of emphasis?
Fair Economist
@Glenn:
Did you get the job?
schrodingers_cat
@Omnes Omnibus: I do appreciate those posts.
r€nato
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): Good. Fuck Jane Hamsher with a rusty chainsaw. It was always all about her, 24/7. Her complete absence from the current political scene says a lot about her.
chopper
@Kay:
as if seniors aren’t going to give a shit about cuts to Medicare and SS that just haven’t kicked in yet.
James E. Powell
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Bush’s tax cut plan, giving you your money back, was his signature issue in the 2000 campaign. I believe it was Bush’s lies about it and the press/media’s refusal to report honestly about it, that caused Krugman to become so shrill. Bush signed what became known as his first tax cuts in June 2001, way back when no one could have imagined anyone flying planes into buildings.
The point to which I made reference was that a feature of the first tax cuts was that nearly everyone got a rebate from their 2000 taxes, $300 or $600. It came in check that made it clear that it was a gift from George W Bush. People accepted the tax cuts at the top because they got a little check. I see no evidence that Americans would not do the same right now.
Shana
@trollhattan: You win the thread.
Another Scott
@catclub: Bloomberg has a summary (as of the 18th) – https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-18/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-gop-tax-overhaul-plan (warning – autoplay video)
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.
Glenn
@Fair Economist: I did not! I got the impression that he only called me in for an interview to ask about the Lieberman days, but of course one can’t know for sure.
Ghost of Joe Lieblings Dog
@Kay:
Neldob
IIRC Judy W on Newshour last night pressed Thune about when wages would go up. He said we should be patient.
Shalimar
@schrodingers_cat: The whole going off on Adam for the email about maybe being a little more sensitive with the doom and gloom jokes around potentially suicidal readers thing.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@James E. Powell:
I have evidence right here: the check would have Trump’s name on it and that guy is as radioactive as the Nevada sands were right after the Trinity test.
Mnemosyne
Here in CA, I’ve heard radio commercials telling people to call their House reps and “thank them for lowering their taxes.” The propaganda campaign is real.
Boatboy_srq
@Kay: Is it possible this was always the plan? I can’t imagine anyone actually wanting this shyte sandwich, but if they pass it and Congress flips in ’18 they are at once let off the hook and able to say they were thwarted by Godless Commie Dems.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Amaranthine RBG:
Speaking as a older white guy, people might take that the wrong way with me. lol
TenguPhule
@eemom:
You joined the Democratic party. /S
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Yeah, but unless I’m sleeping on something big, they’re not doing that this time. Now that we’re talking about it, I’m kind of surprised. “From the Desk of President Donald J Trump!”– he would eat that shit up like a Big Mac.
There was a debate in the Obama admin as to whether to do the same, for the political boost, but the wonks argued week-to-week, or paycheck to paycheck, incremental increase was more effective stimulus even if people would notice it less. That’s what the Rs are doing here, aren’t they? They are also, I think, wrong in thinking that everyone shares their emotional hatred of taxes. Nobody likes to pay taxes, but I don’t know how many people are going to share their ideological triumph over a few hundred or a couple grand, especially after they, as I see it, are promised a brave and happy new world because of this bill.
catclub
@James E. Powell:
I see the same thing with how the economy affects the elections. in 2010 Obama had not fixed everything in 18 months and got shellacked.
The economy still stunk.
In 18 months of Trump’s term, the economy could easily be just as good as it is today, and Trump will get credit for that at the election.
I hope to be wrong and that Democrat’s motivation is stronger.
Doug!
@Mnemosyne:
Yes, exactly
Doug!
@Glenn:
I always figured it demoralized the Lieberman camp immensely.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
that wasn’t her doing:
Instead of helping she naturally fucked up and created a firestorm at the end of the campaign which probably helped Lieberman beat Lamont (photo)
Doug!
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
All right, fair enough.
I’m trying to temper my hatred of Glenn et al. by remembering the good stuff they did. Probably a fool’s errand.
Tokyokie
@Mnemosyne:
I saw an ad with a similar message on TV in Texas, and I barely watch TV. Not only did it remind me that the oligarchs behind this shit have waaaaaaay too much money already, they want everybody to be fully aware that they just don’t matter.
It reminds me of a time when I was working in Tokyo for the federal government, when a couple of pernicious asshole morons back in D.C. (who had higher GS ratings than the folks actually doing the work in Japan), because they were frustrated about not being able to micromanage from the other side of the planet and to justify their phoney-baloney jobs, came out to run things for a while. They were both incompetent, heavy-handed shitheads, and they basically ran a reign of terror during the time they graced our presence. Civilian workers kept leaving, but, because the operation was scheduled to close in a few months, nobody was hired to replace them. The assholes, of course, didn’t pitch in and help, or if they did, I had to heavily edit what they produced because it was unprofessionally awful. The work environment would have been bad without the asshole brothers, but with them, it was basically intolerable. One employee (whom they were trying to find cause to fire) collapsed from stress right in front of them. They just left him in a pile on the floor, and I tended to him, got him out of there, and stayed with him until I felt he was no longer likely to harm himself. The duration of their time in Tokyo was without a doubt the worst workplace in which I have ever been employed.
On their last day in Tokyo — they stayed long enough to collect the maximum per diem (which, for Tokyo, was significant), not a day less or a day longer — they held a going-away ceremony. It was not only mandatory attendance, everybody had to shake their hands outside the room and thank them for their fine work. At least there was a cake.
So basically the entire staff had to thank these evil bastards for fucking them dry in the ass. And that’s pretty much the message of those ads. And for our troubles, we’ll get a measly, disappearing tax cut or a slice of mediocre sheet cake.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Doug!: You know, I love you.
Doug!
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Right back atcha
J R in WV
@Kay:
Yes, what you say. Just in Alabama there were twice or three times as many door knocks by one group as this “pro tax hike” group claims to have done. One group!