Sen. Tom Harkin doesn't like the cliff deal

[limpyhobbler]

Not sure whether I agree with him, but can certainly see where he's coming from on this.

He was one of only three Dems to vote against it
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=112&session=2&vote=00251

[global1]

1. Heard His Comments Live In The Wee Hrs Of The Morning....

just before the vote was taken. He made a lot of sense to me.

[ELI BOY 1950]

2. We do not control the Senate...

with that said , you vote against the President you become a republican. Until we control our destiny it will be difficult to compromise with them. It's a game of compromise , give and take.

You only hurt the people that really need us. Does Harkin think it's more important not to compromise the tax deal from $250k to 400k than to let peoples unemployment insurance to run out????

i think not

Forward

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

3. "you vote against the President you become a republican..." WTF?

The President is not Caesar.

[20score]

9. I despised that type of non-thinking when Republicans did it,

despise it now.

Make your case for the deal and how it will be beneficial to the country's economy short and long term... or be quiet. It's embarrassing.

[Plucketeer]

10. A principled senator would vote for the good of the people

not FOR or AGAINST the president.

[Mass]

4. The two other ones are DLC Dems: Carper and Bennett. Progressives like Sanders and Brown voted yes.

Grassley voted NO. This gives me pause on his real motivations for voting NO, not that the bill was good, but everybody else decided it was better than nothing. Mr Harkin said NO? Really?

[limpyhobbler]

5. He's not alone in his view though.

Robert Reich agrees basically: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2110382

Also there wasn't really a period for public comments before the vote.

If there had been, I think there would have been many more dissenting voices based on the reasons outlined by Sen. Harkin and Mr. Reich.

[Enrique]

6. Harkin has been around a long time

imho, it is safe to say he is not a conniver, and so his motivations for voting NO were basically what he said in his floor speech.

[JDPriestly]

14. He has good, Iowa common sense. No wonder I agree with him.

[supercats]

7. AGREE 100%

Senator Harkin makes a lot of sense. Why should we do a deal where the middle class only benefits for a year at a time, while the rich get to lock in their tax rates to grow their wealth forever? This is not a fair deal at all. I hope the teabaggers in the house feel
insulted by this deal and somehow it gets voted it down.

[plethoro]

8. I agree 100 per cent with him. We more or less got

sold out so we could make a deal. If one keeps forcing a loss in a winning position, what do you think happens when they are negotiating from a losing position. Will we then sell Iowa or Kansas to the Chinese to reduce our debts?

[Plucketeer]

11. I agree, Senator!

I thank the senator for being my voice in this sellout. What's really happening here is the same crap that's being forced upon the folks in Europe - austerity. And in NO SMALL PART was this moment brought to be by the wealthy on this globe. They've been trying to make us working sorts willing to accept the sort of wages they pay their workers in China and Indonesia. THAT'S the undercurrent to all this.
Our supposed heros - Clinton and Obama keep pushing for more and more "open market" baloney - claiming what a boon it is for American workers. Bullshit! We've been hornswaggled into shooting ourselves in the foot! Now the majority in DC want to convince us that giving up social safety nets is our only path to survival. Bullshit!

[JDPriestly]

15. Thanks. We need to impose national sales taxes and import duties.

"[Montesquieu wrote in Spirit of the Laws, XIII,c.14:] 'A capitation is more natural to slavery; a duty on merchandise is more natural to liberty, by reason it has not so direct a relation to the person.'" --Thomas Jefferson: copied into his Commonplace Book.

http://www.famguardian.org/Subjects/Politics/ThomasJefferson/jeff1330.htm

[Poll_Blind]

12. "No deal is better than a bad deal." He's right.

PB

[JDPriestly]

13. I agree with Senator Harkin.

This deal is favorable to those who want to hoard their wealth.

It was hasty. It is a mistake.