Follow awfulagent on Twitter

About Me

A blog wherein a literary agent will sometimes discuss his business, sometimes discuss the movies he sees, the tennis he watches, or the world around him. In which he will often wish he could say more, but will be obliged by business necessity and basic politeness and simple civility to hold his tongue. Rankings are done on a scale of one to five Slithy Toads, where a 0 is a complete waste of time, a 2 is a completely innocuous way to spend your time, and a 4 is intended as a geas compelling you to make the time.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

The Great Republican Tax Increase of 2011

Fact: George W. Bush signed and enthusiastically supported a bill to raise all of our taxes in 2011. Living people, dead people, working people, unemployed people, rich people, poor people. And this bill was supported by, like, every Republican in the US Congress at the time.

So why can't the Democrats just start talking about how "my opponent voted for/supported/supports the Republican Tax Increase of 2011. I voted against/was opposed to the Republican Tax Increase of 2011. And in fact, I support the legislation President Obama has introduced to stop the Republican Tax Increase of 2011 and to give every American a tax cut. My opponent doesn't support this bill, he's trying to stop it."

If a Democrat is asked about the "Bush tax cuts," why can't he respond "yes, you're asking about the Republican Tax Increase of 2011. My opponent voted for/supported..."

Everything I've stated here is true. Even the richest people in the world benefit when the taxes on the first $x of their income are reduced. Obviously, it's not the whole entire truth because the Republican Tax Increase of 2011 did contain some tax reductions, which were in effect for several years before 2011. Some people who are opposed to Obama's legislation to stop the Republican Tax Increase of 2011 support alternate legislation. But it's true. This is the kind of rhetorical device that's used in politics all the time, and far less truthfully true assertions are put forth in the political arena all the time. Sometimes, even, outright lies. It's true, and it forces the Republican candidates to make the long-winded explanations and arguments in rebuttal.

But it seems to be the Democratic way to aways want to bring knives -- no, not knives, sporks -- to gun battles. The fact that they haven't been out there framing the debate in this way for the past six weeks or six months is kind of sad, kind of pathetic, and you kind of deserve to lose when you're so incompetent and inept at the basic tasks of your job.

Feel free to share this post with anyone in any position to persuade the democrats to start a serious framing exercise. For once. I will be proud and honored when John Boehner has to point to my blog to justify his support of the Republican Tax Increase of 2011.

3 comments:

Joseph L. Selby said...

If you ever watched the West Wing, there was a great tirade from Danny about how he was tired of Democrats always playing with kid gloves on security and fiscal responsibility. They let the GOP give it to them on the chin every two years. It's like they have an agreement of the roles they're going to play.

Anonymous said...

Riiiight. I'll just conveniently forget Actual History and pretend that WAY BACK IN THE PAST Super Evil Genius Geo. W. Bush and the Republican party enacted a tax increase to take place two years after W. was finished being president because ... because ... because ... aw, hell, why not? This is not true, and you know it.

And, even if it were true, the Democrats have been in control of the US Congress since Jan. 2007 and the Presidency since Jan. 2009 and could easily have eliminated the EXPIRATION of the Bush Tax Cuts if they had wanted to. Democrats didn't *want* to do this, because in lefty Dem world, your money belongs to the government, not you.

Leila said...

The Blame Bush story is old, tired, and not worth the print space anymore.