BREAKING (9/29 at 3:45 pm EDT): Nancy Pelosi has just announced that neither the House or Senate will vote for Obama’s tax cuts for the middle class before the midterms.
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Stick with me here. This is my first wordy blog posting in a long, long, long time.
5 days ago I emailed a buddy predicting that the republicans will spin the Democrats delay in voting on tax cuts for the middle class until after the midterms by saying…
“The Dems are afraid to vote for Obama’s tax increase before the midterms.”
Well, 5 minutes ago, I saw john boehner say – “It’s a true shame Democrats won’t take a vote on ANY tax cuts until after the midterms.” That’s basically the same thing I predicted 5 days ago (but boehner could have been even more effective by saying what I mentioned).
Regardless, boehner’s recent comment was said at a presser. Like, a big presser. The sound bite will be made into a commercial/Fox News talking point and looped over and over and over again between now and November 2nd. I hate that the Democratic Party leadership has absolutely NO vision as to what the republicans will spin/sell.
That said…
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Dear Tim Kaine, Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, Robert Gibbs, Bill Burton, Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod, etc, etc, etc…
If you want to do well in November and beyond, you need to start growing some proverbial balls!
For one of many examples, the House is ready to vote and pass Obama’s middle class tax cuts. As you know, a vote is getting held up in the Senate because Harry Reid doesn’t have 60 votes – enough to pass a bill. This is a true shame. But, I don’t care if Harry Reid has 60 votes. That doesn’t matter to a single American. Again, to reiterate, we don’t care if Harry Reid has 60 votes. That’s not the reason we voted you into office.
Let there be a vote. If only 59 Democrats in the Senate vote for Obama’s middle class tax cut while letting bush’s costly tax cuts for the rich expire and there are no republican votes, you can then gladly take your stockpiles of cash and advertise the heck out of the fact republicans are against tax cuts for the middle class. Meaning, you need to start owning the message. If republicans can do anything well, it’s spin and own the message. For example, the republicans are going to run ad after ad after ad between now and November 2 saying something to the effect of: The Dems were afraid to vote for Obama’s tax increase before the midterms.
On that note of owning the message, the Democratic Party will do very well in the midterms by doing only one thing between now and November 2nd. Yes, you only need to do one thing. Starting today, take that stockpile of cash and advertise that not a single republican voted yesterday to offer incentives for US based companies that bring outsourced jobs back to the US. If you don’t want to dumb the messaging down – as you’re so “good”/horrible at doing – you can even say more US jobs equals more US tax revenue equals a stronger US economy. But, don’t get caught up in the messaging…start a campaign calling out the republicans on their no vote for the Creating American Jobs and Ending Offshoring Act.
IT’S NOT THAT HARD!
In summation, the Dems have been afraid of not having 60 votes since the healthcare debate. Instead of passing a glorified patient’s bill of rights, the Democrats should have at least tried to pass a real healthcare reform via the public option (or single payer). Can’t get 60 votes, Harry Reid? Great! Advertise exactly what a public option (or single payer) is and then mention how NO republicans would vote for it. After those ads run, you could have then cut your backroom deals and get 3 republicans senators to cross over in order to pass health care reformish.
UPDATE (as I’m typing this posting at 1 pm EDT on 9/29): boehner just effectively called out the Dems on the House floor. I don’t really care what boehner says or thinks politically. I do care that whatever he says will shamefully end up being what 52% of Americans think in a few weeks and right before the midterm vote.
I am sick of the party politics, which results in NO progress from both the Democrats and Republicans…
Political posturing gets in the way of the people’s business. Although I don’t agree with everything you wrote, this was a great post that reminded me of the your posts in the fall of ’08. Keep up the great work!
Ryan THE Conservative
Easily one of my favorite postings in awhile. Excited for the ’12 election? I am! It’s right around the corner! lnteresting to see if Obama gets a primary challenge. Doubt it. He deserves one…I want him forced on the record before the general explaining any remaining progressive values. Imagine the good that would have come out of bush getting challenged about spending before 2004 general?