Had the then Democratic congress just let the Bush tax cuts for the rich expire last year,

[muntrv]

we wouldn't be in this mess.

[KittyWampus]

1. The "Democratic Congress" didn't have a super majority and couldn't end a GOP filibuster

[Marr]

3. They were set to expire on their own.

But nice excuse reaction. Very fast indeed.

[KittyWampus]

5. Do I really need to revisit recent history here? If you don't remember what was being held hostage

by the GOP, then you have a very bad memory.

[Marr]

11. I was going to ask you the same.

The question was about the Bush Tax Cuts. They would've ended on their own. Tying unemployment benefits to an extension of the Bush Tax Cuts was just as phony as tying Social Security to the deficit. It was an incredibly lopsided "bargain", and if you're going to accept that sort of excuse, you may as stop hoping for any accomplishment whatsoever. There are new opportunities to refuse renewal of basic government functions every month.

[SDuderstadt]

15. Do you honestly think the GOP...

would just have extended unemployment benefits on their own?

[Marr]

18. Yes. They'd backed down on the issue several times before.

It was a political loser for them.

[Cali_Democrat]

19. Agreed

They would have backed down. They are cowards. You just have to confront them.

Politically it would have been disastrous for them if they continued to block unemployment benefits for months and months.

[SDuderstadt]

24. "They would have backed down"

Underestimate the GOP at your own peril.

[Cali_Democrat]

28. ...

:scared:

[SDuderstadt]

23. You can cling to this fantasy if you want...

but I think the Democratic leaders have a better handle on things. I don't see much value in armchair quarterbacking.

[KittyWampus]

12. Read down the thread for the answer regarding what the GOP were holding hostage.

I personally wouldn't have bothered to post the facts cause they don't matter to a whole lot of DU'ers.

[Marr]

14. I know perfectly well what the silly excuse was that month. n/t

[SDuderstadt]

17. It was not a...

"silly excuse". Educate yourself as to how Congress works.

Please.

[Marr]

20. Haha...

Sorry, that's all I've got for you. :-)

[SDuderstadt]

25. You're free to layout a...

detailed scenario. Tell us step-by-step how it would have gone down.

[fascisthunter]

2. shhhhhh... it's all part of a plan

[spanone]

4. or, if we had tied keeping the tax cuts to raising the debt ceiling...quid pro quo

politics 101

[hughee99]

6. Really?

We have a 14 trillion dollar hole, and I don't think the * tax cuts would have turned this years deficit into a surplus. At best, we would have put this off for another few weeks. Our problems are much, much bigger than just the * tax cuts.

[JuniperLea]

7. You can't rewrite history...

We didn't have the votes. And we'd still be in a mess even if we had the votes. That tax revenue is a part of the big picture, not the whole picture. The Pubbies would have found other dangly bits to hold hostage.

[Tx4obama]

8. The GOP was holding unemployment benefits extention etc hostage

that was why Obama was forced to extend the bush tax cuts for another year.

Put the blame where it belongs - at the feet of the GOP!

[SDuderstadt]

9. You're leaving a lot of...

major detail out.

[ProSense]

10. It would have been

another mess. Unemployment benefits, the EITC, additional funds for Medicaid and others aid would have expired and would then be in the hands of Boehner and Cantor.

The only way to have stopped this mess is not let the GOP gain control of the House.

[gratuitous]

13. Correct

With or without any super majority, all the Democratic-controlled Congress had to do was . . . nothing. Instead, they let themselves be stampeded into taking action for fear that they'd lose control or one or both houses of Congress. And how'd that work out for them? Dumbasses. I have a job, and if it meant that the wealthy had to pitch in to pay something for all the little baubles they've gotten for the past 30 years, I'd gladly pay additional taxes. We could build some new schools. Repair a few roads. Finance a few jobs programs. Get the country moving, instead of whining about how we don't have any money to do anything, and how it's up to the poorest citizens to shoulder some more of that "shared" sacrifice.

Instead, they wanted to avoid Insider Wrath about raising taxes on Charlie Sheen and Paris Hilton. And they found the worst way to do it.

[TheKentuckian]

26. Keep in mind I want ALL of the tax cuts to expire

But

If they had let them all expire. I mean go the way of the dinosaur gone then all they had to to do was trot the desired cuts back out and force the TeaPubliKlans to vote against them rather than giving them the easy out of being against ANY tax increases.

The "they refused the middle class cuts" is a cop out because they never ever were put into such a position. Never was the ANY tax increase branch cut out from under them.

That's real hardball, not going through the motions like our dumbasses did.

[NorthCarolina]

16. I don't think that would have been in accordance with the Grand Scheme of Things. n/t

[Canuckistanian]

21. I felt like screaming when the tax cuts were eztended

All they had to do was NOTHING and the cuts would have died a NATURAL, INTENDED death.

But sadly, no.

The GOP managed to take another mundane regular piece of housekeeping - extending unemployment benefits and turned it into the next big scare tactic.

It's getting to be predictable.

[SDuderstadt]

27. You are grossly oversimplifying this

http://www.google.com/#q=clinton+on+obama+tax+deal

[Canuckistanian]

31. So I see

"With Tax Deal, Obama Embraces Clinton's 'Third Way'"

[KoKo]

22. K&R..

[mmonk]

29. That is correct but the party is run from the same ideological concepts

as the Republicans. It's why Republicans can get their agendas passed with more narrow majorities than Obama had and also why neither party passes progressive legislation anymore. Process and rules are blamed for what is passed and planned to pacify the disappointment of the progressive minority that is in Congress and progressive voters no matter which party is in power.

[Toucano]

30. Don'chew know nuffin'?

Dem dere tax cuts is what done created all diz JERBS we'z all gots ta chewz frum. Jus' like Boner pr'missd they'd do.

Ev'ybody noes dat win rich fokes has 'xtry munny, dey hires all us po' peepulz ta wurk fer 'em.

Likes siniter Rand sed: dont no po' fokes make no JERBS!

Dat dun bin prooved, moran!