Breaking! GOP Only Cares About Tax Cuts For The Rich!
For some reason, in December no one wanted to point this out. Today, Yglesias writes:
A movement that actually believed that reducing federal spending was extremely important would, it seems to me, be quite willing to make concessions in order to obtain large quantities of spending cuts. Viewed in that light, it’s not obvious to me that backing away from a $4 trillion deal primarily composed of spending cuts constitutes a “more conservative” option than saying yes. [. . . T]he GOP agenda consisted of aggressive tax cutting made palatable by refusing to pair the cuts with spending reductions. [. . . T]he [GOP] bargaining strategy is entirely built around a tax-focused goal rather than a spending-focused one.
No sh*t Sherlock. That is why giving away the store on the Bush tax cuts in The Deal in December was a terrible mistake. The GOP has what it wants. Does it want to cut spending? Sure. But NEVER EVER at the cost of raising taxes. If you give them what they want on taxes, you will never ever get a concession from them. So now Obama will reach a 2 trillion dollar spending cut deal to raise the debt ceiling, an unprecedented capitulation. No President has ever bargained with regard to the debt ceiling. And some will call this a triumph for Obama. An anti-stimulus plan a triumph for a President seeking reelection. There is only one word to describe this analysis- idiotic.
Speaking for me only
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