Annie
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I find someone else who agrees with a few of us:
Vodkapundit » An Open Letter to the GOP Leadership
Vodkapundit » An Open Letter to the GOP Leadership
An Open Letter to the GOP Leadership
Posted By Stephen Green On November 19, 2012 @ 10:25 am In Uncategorized | 24 Comments
Dear Speaker Boehner and Other Assorted Clueless Bozos on Capitol Hill,
Youve already been pwned, and its too late to un-pwn yourself even if such a thing were possible. Which it isnt. Now its time to try something new. Lets call it: Give them what they want.
Ill repeat: Give President Obama and the Democrats the tax hikes they demand, and which most polls show the American public accepts.
Youll let us avoid the fiscal cliff a phrase Im going to do my best to avoid using from now on. A better phrase, if less elegant, might be, the totally artificial fiscal construct engineered by our so-called leaders a while back, just in case they hadnt already assed up the economy quite enough. But I digress.
Give them the tax hikes. Look big, look magnanimous, look bipartisan. Be sure at every mention of the tax hikes to talk up the spending cuts and entitlement reforms Obama and the Democrats promised to talk about in a grand bargain down the road. Someday, whenevs, as soon as Obama gets his round tuit in the mail. The important thing is to change the subject.
Youve been the subject for almost two weeks now, and thats never a good thing. First of all, the media portray you as idiots and the Democrats portray you as evil. Secondly, then you get out in front of the cameras and do your darnedest to prove them all right. That [REDACTED] has got to stop.
The new subject can be: Why wont the Democrats agree even just to a serious discussion about the spending reforms we so desperately need? Have you seen these guys? The media wont go along, of course, but at least youll have changed the subject.
Later, you can talk about something else: Where are the revenues?
You know and I know (and even Obama knows) that increasing the top marginal tax rate wont come even close to getting our fiscal house in order. At best, its like plugging a broken dam with a damp sponge. At worst, its like fighting a forest fire by wandering around in the woods with lighter fluid on your nads.
So next summer, next fall, thats the new new subject: Where are the revenues?
And theres a third subject that will fall nicely into place: Where are the jobs?
Your line of attack could go something like this:
We gave the Democrats their taxes. They already got ObamaCare, which we said would kill jobs. They already got Dodd-Frank, which we said would strangle credit and small banks. They got their vindictive EPA, which we said would sit on the economy like Paul Prudhomme sits on a Barcalounger after downing that third quart of sausage gumbo. We told you this wouldnt work, and it hasnt. And it wont.
You might want to tidy up the language some, but you get the idea. The problem is, you cant open this line of attack so long as your obstructionism is what everybody is talking about. Its not like the economy can get too terribly much more messed up than it already is, by raising the top rate to where it was during the Clinton years. And if we do walk off that fiscal cliff on January 1, we all know who will get the blame: You guys.
Will it be true? No. But Ive seen the GOP leadership thats you, remember? in action against the Democrats these last two years, and you guys couldnt dodge a spitball if it were shot at you from across a football field by an asthmatic spider monkey with glaucoma.
So give them what they want. Change the subject.
Im afraid the reason youre afraid to try this tact is youre secretly afraid that Obamanomics will work, given enough time. Youre worried that somehow, alienating job creators and sucking money out of the creative economy and hijacking the healthcare industry and enshrining Too Big to Fail and outlawing coal and all the rest will somehow eventually create a bunch of jobs and balance the budget and stuff.
Well, for goodness sake, ladies and gentlemen of the Soon-To-Be-Permanent GOP Minority: At least pretend to have the courage of the convictions you pretend to hold. I mean, the Democrats (and Nixon) tried this stuff in the 60s and 70s, and all it gave us was stagflation and disco and velour neckties. Today the left has things so screwed up, that the Fed cant even kick off a scathing round of inflation when it tries to.
Really, the only big difference between now and 1980 is, you somehow managed to [REDACTED]ing lose to Jimmy [SO VERY REDACTED]ing Carter this time around. The GOP managed to help get a second term for a guy with a broken economy and a dead ambassador and all the rest, who ran for reelection on a platform the other guy is teh suck. Do you understand how epic a fail that is? You must understand after November 6 that whatever youve been doing, its not working.
I didnt want it to come to this, but it has. So take my advice, please. Because you cant afford to be the subject any more.
And we cant afford it, either.