The Deal Does Not End The GOP Drive To Cut Taxes For The Wealthy
One of the strange conceits of the proponents of The Deal on taxes is that GOP tax cutting somehow ends with The Deal. While making fun of the silly Dana Milbank and his rewriting of the health bill process history, Paul Krugman misses the larger mythmaking - that The Deal ends the tax policy debate. Milbank writes:
The alternative to a deal, administration officials say, was to waste the next few months fighting over taxes [. . .] only to wind up with a deal that likely would be worse with Republicans controlling the House.
Apparently, Milbank and the White House believe that the Republicans will be finished with the tax issue now that The Deal is struck. How utterly idiotic. First, The Deal will be the dominating factor in shaping the budget for the next two years - the GOP will slash the budget. Second, The Deal ends in 2012 which is, if the White House has not noticed, just around the corner. Today, David Axelrod said "we'll have that debate in 2012." That's nice, but who exactly is going to be persuaded? Not Republicans. Even if the Dems win the 2012 elections (and the likelihood is even if Obama wins, the House and the Senate will be Republican after the 2012 election), there will be LESS Dems in Congress than there are today. How exactly is the situation going to change favorably in 2012?
Milbank call this "strategy." I call it idiocy.
Speaking for me only
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