Tag: Republicans

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democrats Politics taxes weekly address

Republicans – Using The Middle Class As Bargaining Chip To Get More Tax Cuts For The Rich

Two years ago, Republicans held the middle class American people hostage and demanded that the rich get a continuation of the Bush tax cuts. Those tax cuts were set to expire the last day of December 2010, but Republicans told the President that if the rich couldn’t get more tax cuts, then the middle class would suffer. To avoid more suffering by the middle class, the President went along with the Republicans’ demands.

And here we are again, except this time, the American people voted for President Obama knowing that he was going to end those tax cuts for the rich. That was what he campaigned on for almost two years and the American people approved. But Republicans are still turning a deaf ear to what the people want and again, two years later, Republicans are trying to use middle class America as a bargaining chip to get more tax cuts for the rich.

Their playbook worked in 2010, but something seems different this time around as cracks are developing within the Republican ranks. Republicans like Rep. Chris Gibson (R-N.Y.) signed the Grover Norquist pledge not to raise taxes, but he recently released a statement saying that he “doesn’t plan to [re-sign] it for the 19th Congressional District.” And another New York Republican Representative Peter King, has decided to leave Grover’s pledge, calling it a two-year deal.

Republican Lindsey Graham has also voiced his opinion against the pledge. “When you talk about eliminating deductions and tax credits for the few, at the expense of the many, I think over time the Republican party’s position is going to shift,” Graham said. “It needs to, quite frankly, because we are $16 trillion in debt.”

But even with these and other Republicans changing their minds on the no-tax hike pledge, the Republican House Leader John Boehner is still trying to hold the gun to the head of the middle class. Boehner recently held a press conference criticizing the President’s plan because he thinks the plan raises more revenue from taxing the rich, than from services he want wants to cut from the poor.

President Obama is hoping that there are enough Republicans willing to go against their desire to sink the middle class to protect rich people. In his recent weekly address, the President said;

So let’s begin by doing what we all agree on. Both parties say we should keep middle-class taxes low. The Senate has already passed a bill to keep income taxes from going up on middle-class families.  Democrats in the House are ready to do the same thing. And if we can just get a few House Republicans on board, I’ll sign this bill as soon as Congress sends it my way. 

The president’s plan would allow the tax cuts to continue for the middle class and those earning up to $250,000 a year. Those earning over $250,000 would see their rates on income above that amount go back to what those rates were under the Clinton administration. The Democratic controlled Senate has already passed this bill, but Boehner and the Republicans refuse to bring the bill to the House floor for a vote.

If Republicans and Democrats cannot agree on this issue over the next few weeks, all the Bush tax cuts would expire and automatic cuts will go into effect in January. The preferred method of course, would be working out a deal between the two parties, but that must be done with  the rich and the middle class carrying the burdens of that deal, not just the middle class. And including the rich in such a deal is something Republicans are against.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking towards December 31st.

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Politics taxes

Bill Kristol Again Sees Nothing Wrong With Raising Taxes On The Rich

The Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol was among the panelists on this week’s Fox News Sunday, where he again noted that a tax increase for the wealthy wouldn’t be the end of the world for Republicans — and that, honestly, many members of the Tea Party wouldn’t care.

“I just don’t think that the Republicans have the leverage — or that it’s worth using whatever leverage they have — to maintain rates at 35 percent instead of instead of 37 or 38,” Kristol said, “especially if you take it up to millionaires.”

There will be a deal, he said, and Republicans “will yield a bit on top rates.”

Bob Woodward quipped that “they are going to burn Bill Kristol’s Tea Party card, hearing him talk like this. You are off the reservation.”

“You know,” Kristol responded, “a lot of the Tea Party guys don’t care that much if a few millionaires pay a couple percent more in taxes, honestly.”

h/t Mediaite

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Mitt Romney Politics

Republicans Line Up For Their Chance To Throw Romney Under The Bus

We knew this was going to happen, we just didn’t expect it this soon. Usually, the party would wait until the humiliation of a defeat subsides before discussing the reason for their loss, but not now.

Just hours after President Obama hammered Mitt Romney in both the Electoral and popular vote, Republicans have lined up to throw Romney and his campaign from the train… ah, under the bus.

“They ran a 20th century campaign in the 21st century,” said one Romney bundler, frustrated that the campaign made assumptions about the youth vote and voter intensity that didn’t pan out. “The anger is that they were entrusted to do certain things. It’s not like they were paid a $5,000 retainer to get a few dozen articles in an inside-the-Beltway paper. This is the major leagues.”

Another Republican outside the Romney campaign but privy to its thinking described the defeat as a complete pummeling, with Senate losses adding salt to the wound.

Romney supporters point to a series of brash statements made by advisers that seem out of touch with reality in retrospect. Inside the Beltway, Republicans trained their fire on senior Romney advisers like Ed Gillespie and political director Rich Beeson for appearances on last weekend’s Sunday shows. Gillespie said the electoral map was expanding, and Beeson predicted a 300 electoral vote win for Romney.

“There were a lot of Republicans who were on calls that the campaign was having led to believe we had shots in Pennsylvania and Minnesota,” one Republican operative supporting Romney said. “I think Republicans are split right now between confused and shocked, and also I think they are wondering did the Romney campaign have numbers we didn’t have.”

In starker terms, the source questioned: “Was last week a head fake, or were they just not that smart?”

And according to the Teaparty;

“For those of us who believe that America, as founded, is the greatest country in the history of the world – a ‘Shining city upon a hill’ – we wanted someone who would fight for us,” Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin wrote in an e-mail, quoting 40th president and conservative hero Ronald Reagan. “We wanted a fighter like Ronald Reagan who boldly championed America’s founding principles… What we got was a weak moderate candidate, hand-picked by the Beltway elites and country-club establishment.”

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democrats Politics

So Far, Democrats Outnumber Republicans In Swing States Early Voting

President Barack Obama heads toward Election Day with an apparent lead over Republican Mitt Romney among early voters in key states that could decide the election.

Obama’s advantage, however, isn’t as big as the one he had over John McCain four years ago, giving Romney’s campaign hope that the former Massachusetts governor can erase the gap when people vote on Tuesday.

More than 27 million people already have voted in 34 states and the District of Columbia. No votes will be counted until Election Day but several battleground states are releasing the party affiliation of people who have voted early.

So far, Democratic voters outnumber Republicans in Florida, Iowa, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio – five states that could decide the election, if they voted the same way. Republicans have the edge in Colorado, which Obama won in 2008.

Obama dominated early voting in 2008, building up such big leads in Colorado, Florida, Iowa and North Carolina that he won each state despite losing the Election Day vote, according to voting data compiled by The Associated Press.

h/t: Huffington Post

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fail Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics Rick Santorum

It’s Unbelievable The Things Some Republicans Have Said About Mitt Romney – Video

With friends like these who needs enemies? From Rick Santorum to Newt Gingrich, Republicans of all shape and size have shared their opinion of Mitt Romney. The video below features some of their earlier statements, but we have detailed some more recent remarks here and here.

Take a stroll with me, as we watch and listen to these Republicans talk about the man they will now vote for as the next president of the United States.

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Politics

Republicans In Panic Mode – Realizing The Inevitable Romney Loss This November

With new polls showing President Obama extending his lead over Mitt Romney by as much as 52% to 46% according to a CNN/ORC poll, Republicans are now officially in panic mode.

On the “Fair and Balanced” Fox News network – you know, that network that goes out of their way to make sure the content of their programming is “fair and balanced” – one of the “fair and balanced” host advised Mitt Romney to “call Barack Obama a socialist.”

And the President of Fox News himself offered his two cents, telling Romney to “draw a clear line” and “offer specific path to restore American dream.” Sarah Palin suggested that Mitt Romney is being too soft, and told the candidate that he must fight, and fight with all his might!

And Republican Joe Scarborough slammed Romney recently, calling him a “flawed candidate.”

But Laura Ingraham so far takes the cake. She assailed the Republican candidate and his campaign, stating that if Romney cannot win, the Republican party should be dismantled.

“If you can’t beat Barack Obama with this record, then shut down the party. Shut it down. Start new, with new people,” Laura said. She continued;

“Election after election, we hire people who have lost previous campaigns; who’ve run campaigns that have failed; who have message campaigns where the message fell flat, and they keep getting re-hired. I don’t understand that. I don’t know why those are the people you hire.”

They’re flipping their lids, and the heat hasn’t been turned on yet!

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democrats Egypt Mitt Romney Politics

Both Democrats And Republicans Criticize Romney’s Latest Dumb Move

Pundits, politicos and Republican Party stalwarts alike have panned a mid-morning press conference by Republican presidential candidate former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA). Romney’s campaign drew fire overnight for falsely attributing a quote by Egyptian embassy personnel under siege to the Obama administration, then attacking the presidency for “apologizing for our values,” thereby seizing upon the violence in Egypt and Libya to score political points against President Barack Obama.

Rather than use today’s press conference as an opportunity to clear the air and mourn the deaths of U.S. citizens who gave their lives in service to their country, however, the former governor doubled down on his attacks against the president, a maneuver that was criticized even on the right.

Former foreign policy adviser to Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX), Victoria Coates told BuzzFeed, “It’s deeply unfortunate when the circumstance of the statement becomes the story.”

Members of the press were struck by the move, as well. Time magazine’s Mark Halperin said on Twitter that Romney’s attacks were the most “craven + ill-advised move” of the 2012 campaign.

Wall Street Journal columnist and doyenne of DC politics Peggy Noonan opined to Fox News that the nominee isn’t “doing himself any favors” with his handling of the situation.

“When you step forward in the midst of a political environment and start giving statements on something dramatic and violent that has happened, you’re always leaving yourself open to accusations that you are trying to exploit things politically,” she said.

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democrats Politics

Bill Clinton Was Right – Democrats Create More Jobs Than Republicans

Clinton pointed out that under Democratic presidents since 1961, the economy has added 42 million private-sector jobs, while under Republicans it has added just 24 million. He used the same concept to argue that President Obama has outscored both congressional Republicans and his GOP presidential opponent, Mitt Romney, in terms of creating jobs.

Clinton has some intriguing facts on his side. Aside from a rounding error, his historical numbers are accurate (figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the tally under Democrats since 1961 rounds to 41 million, not 42 million). I crunched the numbers a few different ways to see if Clinton was cherry-picking the best numbers. His figures measure job gains from the month a president took office until the month he left. Since it takes a year or so for any president’s policies to go into effect, I also measured job gains from one year after each president took office till one year after he left. Here’s the score by that measure: Democrats: 38 million new jobs, Republicans, 27 million.

Clinton only mentioned private-sector jobs, so I pulled the data for all jobs, including government. Again, the Dems have a big edge, accounting for 48 million new jobs, compared with 31 million for Republicans. If you push the boundaries out one year for each president, the gap narrows to 44 million new jobs under Democrats, and 34 million under Republicans.

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Mitt Romney Politics the daily show

Comedy Central Points Out More Republican Hypocrisy – Video

So we all know that the Republican Delegates are the ones who picked and solidify Mitt Romney’s position as their Nominee. And we all know that in their Platform, the Republicans have included language making no exceptions for abortions. But Mitt Romney recently changed his position on abortions, saying he would allow the procedure in the case of rape or incest, or if the mother’s life depends on it.

Which brings us to Comedy Central’s The Daily Show. Sent out to interview these Delegates, Samantha Bee asks how they plan to support Romney when he doesn’t agree with the Republican Platform. And in the process, these Delegates – who are trying to take away a woman’s right to choose – reveals something very interesting. Their hypocrisy.

“You can’t force Mitt Romney to choose,” said one Delegate.

“He is allow to choose. This man is not a robot,” said another.

And another, “we live in a free society, we live in America. It is up to any human being to choose. To decide what’s best for themselves.”

On and on, the Delegates continues to proclaim Romney’s right to choose. But when Samantha Bee shows the hypocrisy of their position when it comes to a woman’s right to choose, it seems that’s where the choice stops. When it comes to a woman’s right to choose, Government (a Republican government) has to step in and make that decision for a woman.

Samantha sums it up by telling one Delegate, ““Say hello to my uterus,” she said. “You own a little piece of it. ‘Hello! I belong to everybody!’”

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

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Featured Rape

Republican Senate Candidate – “Pregnancy From Rape Is Rare” – Video

Todd Akin, one of the darlings of the Teaparty, is running for Senate representing Missouri. His views on women’s rights have always raised eyebrows and that could explain why his Democratic opponent Claire McCaskill actually donated to his campaign in the Republican primary. Well it would seem Mrs. McCaskill’s donations were well made as her Republican challenger is putting his foot in his mouth again.

A new video has come forward with the help of a Democratic super PAC called American Bridge. In the video (shown below), Mr. Akin is furthering his idea that pregnancy from rape is really not a big deal. In fact he says, it is quite rare!

His Democratic opponent McCaskill had this to say – “It is beyond comprehension that someone can be so ignorant about the emotional and physical trauma brought on by rape.”

And of course Mitt Romney is distancing himself from Mr. Akin’s statement. His campaign quickly put out a statement miraculously saying that under a Romney/Ryan administration, they would not force a woman to have her raper’s baby. From the statement, “Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan disagree with Mr. Akin’s statement, and a Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape.”

We’ll  call that statement from the Romney campaign an Etch-A-Sketch moment, as Romney is on record opposing all abortions. He’s even on record supporting a Personhood bill that would make some female contraception illegal. Here’s a Fact Sheet on Romney’s support of the Personhood Amendment;

So-called “personhood” legislation is another example of government going too far. By defining a fertilized human egg to be a legal person, so-called “personhood” measures could allow the government to intrude into the private doctor-patient relationship, and could criminalize everything from common forms of birth control to IVF.

So-called “personhood” amendments are so far out of the mainstream, they have even been rejected by voters in Mississippi – the most conservative state according to Gallup – by a 16-point margin.

Mitt Romney has strongly supported “personhood” measures since they were introduced several years ago. His position is clear and far outside the mainstream as well as a serious threat to women’s health.

Here is Mr. Atkins’ statement that’s causing Romney to shake his Etch-A-Sketch. Take it away Mr. Akin…

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Politics weekly address

Republicans Insist – We Will Raise Taxes On The Middle Class If The Rich Can’t Get A Tax Cut

President Obama used this week’s presidential address to continue his push on Congressional Republicans who are determined on raising taxes on the middle class come January.

Republicans have said, once again, that they will not cut taxes for hardworking middle class Americans if their friends in the richest 2% can’t get their taxes cut as well.

The President:

Now it comes down to this: If 218 Members of the House vote the right way, 98% of American families and 97% of small business owners will have the certainty of knowing that their income taxes will not go up next year.

But right now, that’s not the case.  Instead of doing what’s right for middle class families and small business owners, Republicans in Congress are holding these tax cuts hostage until we extend tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

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Politics Senate

What Transparency? Senate Republicans Killed The Disclosure Act

For the second time in two days, Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked legislation aimed at making campaign groups more transparent.

In a party-line 53-45 vote, the Senate killed the DISCLOSE Act. It needed at least 60 votes to move forward.

Republicans said the DISCLOSE Act would discourage free speech by intimidating donors. The bill would have prevented outside campaign groups from hiding their donors by requiring organizations that spend $10,000 or more during an election cycle to file a report with the Federal Election Commission within 24 hours and identify any donors who gave $10,000 or more.

“It is a predictable response,” Lisa Gilbert, Deputy Director at Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division, told Raw Story. “It’s a false claim. Only those who have something to hide think that disclosure harms free speech.”

“Disclosure is obvious, easy and Americans want it,” she added.

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