On the “Meet The Press” on Sunday, House minority leader John Boehner twisted himself in knots while talking himself in circles trying to avoid giving moderator David Gregory a straight answer to relatively simple questions. Boehner offered the usual over-broad talking points without the slightest hint of detail. When he talked tax cuts, the crocodile tears he shed over working people was fairly maddening, because we know that he is really talking about continuing the Bush tax cuts for wealthy individuals and giant corporations. Perhaps Boehner was suffering from a brain cramp when he failed to acknowledge that Obama had already cut taxes last year for people and businesses making under $250,000—which the Republicans opposed—while the Senate Republicans just blocked tax breaks for small businesses. Gregory repeatedly pressed Boehner on how he was going to pay for the kind of tax cuts he (really) had in mind if, in fact, he wasn’t just being a gasbag about bringing down the federal deficit; Boehner just as repeatedly refused to answer the question, claiming that Gregory was just playing the Washington, D.C. “game.”
Boehner was then asked for details on what exactly was the Republican’s “plan” to strengthen the economy and bring down the deficit; Boehner again refused to offer specifics. Boehner, in fact, inadvertently implied that the Republican “plan”—if in fact they had a plan at all—was something that working people might not take kindly too, like even more massive tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, and repealing the financial reform package that most Americans support (Sen. Patty Murray’s Republican opponent in Washington state, Dino Rossi, promises to help do just that if elected). Why else would Boehner say that the Republicans had no intention of offering a “plan” outside their standard talking points until after the mid-term elections? What are they afraid of? What is it that they don’t want the electorate to know? Haven’t the Republicans repeatedly told us that Democrats are not “listening” to the American people, and they are? Or have they only been “listening” to the half-wits in the Tea Party movement, who only repeat what Sean Hannity tells them to think and say?
To his credit, Gregory continued to press Boehner on the apparently non-existent Republican plan outside the increasingly irritating tax-cut mantra. Finally, Boehner mumbled something about using TARP money to bring down the deficit, which is not exactly feasible since it is merely phony money created by the FED, and freezing discretionary spending, which Obama supports but Boehner suddenly decided should be at 2008 instead of 2010 levels. Interestingly, the Republicans oppose a “debt commission” to find ways of bringing down the deficit, because they are afraid the commission might recommend tax increases on their upper-crust supporters.
But wait: the Republicans do have one “solid” idea up their fundaments—raising the retirement age to 70. Most of the Republicans' wealthy friends (and all former Senators and Congresspersons with their automatic government pensions) can retire comfortably any time they please, so ramifications on the average working stiff is of little concern. It is also true that the average life-expectancy of African-American males is under 70; in their smoke-filled rooms, the party of white is no doubt congratulating themselves on this sly money-saving scheme.
When it was noted that Boehner also supports examining the native-born citizen clause in the 14th Amendment, he couldn’t be pinned-down if he supports a Constitutional amendment repealing the clause; the fact is that opening this can-of-worms would create far more headaches than it solves, particularly when some of those children are born of undocumented Europeans and Asians—and we don’t want to be hypocrites about this, do we? Boehner did, however, repeat the insipid racist line that “Mexicans” were coming to the country for the purpose of having babies born here, and U.S. hospitals and public facilities were being “overwhelmed” by illegals—when in fact the opposite is true; undocumented workers tend to avoid using public supports to avoid notice, and as I’ve indicated in a previous post, credible studies (rather than bigots' “beliefs”) show that the taxes that undocumented workers pay account for a net surplus on public coffers.
But let’s get down to cold, hard reality. Republicans don’t “get it.” They didn’t “get it” on tax cuts and the deficit during the Reagan administration. They didn’t “get it” during the Bush administration. When Boehner tells us that they can’t tell us what their “plan” is until after the election, that means that they really don’t have any new ideas at all. They know that the people they claim that they are “listening” to (outside the tea-baggers) don’t want more tax cuts for the fattest cats, or more deregulation, or more “marketplace” solutions to environmental and energy issues. We’ve seen all that before, and it has been a disaster now and will be even worse in the future. Thinking voters must wrap their minds around the reality that Republicans simply cannot be trusted.
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