The American Prospect : "Lemmings for Plutocracy" : "House Republicans have chosen to be martyrs to the cause of raising taxes on all but their richest constituents" - "If the Republicans don’t cave, the Democrats have a grand issue to campaign on"

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My Note : Lemmings do not commit suicide, they throw themselves to the sea because of population explosion and may die before reaching an island because of the arctic cold and exhaustion while swimming. They are more intelligent than House Republicans ! ....

The American Prospect
Governing on Empty
With the Tea Party in control, House Speaker John Boehner can do little but make empty promises.
By Harold Meyerson
December 21, 2011


Governing on Empty


Some excerpts :

The current House Republican talking point is that a two-month compromise won’t solve anything, that they want to extend the payroll tax cut for an entire year. But this summer, they were disavowing any interest in extending the tax cut at all. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” said Dave Camp, the Michigan Republican who chairs the Ways and Means Committee. Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan complained that extending the tax cut “would simply exacerbate our debt problems.” Of course, the Republicans had made huge cuts to the income tax, chiefly benefiting the rich, during George W. Bush’s first term, and expressed no concern about the cuts’ effect on the nation’s debt. With Democrats highlighting the fact, however, that the Republicans had finally found a tax cut they opposed—a tax on working people—Republicans discovered that in fact they supported extending the payroll tax cuts after all.

Now Democrats will highlight the fact that House Republicans refused to reach a deal to let that extension go through. The prospect of the Democratic attacks resonating compelled McConnell to reach a deal and apparently compelled Boehner and Cantor to go along with it until their caucus said no. The prospect of Democratic attacks has compelled a number of Republican senators to criticize their House colleagues for blocking the compromise. But in the House, the Republicans have chosen to be martyrs to the cause of raising taxes on all but their richest constituents. They’re lemmings for plutocracy.

But will the Democrats cave? Why should they? If the Republicans cave, the Democrats can claim victory. If the Republicans don’t cave, the Democrats have a grand issue to campaign on. The Democrats don’t even have to grow a spine—just not lose their brains. That, we must hope, they can do.

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