Americans are opposed to extending the Bush tax cuts for the “two percenters”

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

A new CBS News poll demonstrates that an overwhelming majority of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, are opposed to extending the Bush tax cuts for the "two percenters."

(Credit: CBS)

"The American people want us to stop all the looming tax hikes and to cut spending, and that should be the priority of the remaining days that we have in this Congress." – House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner.

Well, that's just "chicken crap," TanMan.

According to a new CBS News poll, Boehner is way off-base in his claim that Americans "want us to stop all the looming tax hikes." CBS News Poll: Most Oppose GOP Tax Plan -CBS News:

The poll finds that 53 percent of Americans want the Bush-era tax cuts extended only for households earning less than $250,000 per year. That roughly matches the proposal put forth by the White House, which wants to extend the cuts only for incomes less than $250,000 for families and $200,000 for individuals.

Just 26 percent of Americans say they support extending the cuts for all Americans, even those earning above the $250,000 level, which is the GOP proposal.

Another 14 percent of Americans say the cuts should expire for all Americans.

Another way of looking at these poll numbers is to combine those who support extending the tax cuts only for households earning less than $250,000 per year with those who say the cuts should expire for all Americans: 67% of all Americans are opposed to extending the Bush tax cuts for the "two percenters," including 52% of Republicans, 64% of Independents, and 84% of Democrats.

So why are we even having this debate? This is a no-brainer. The American people are solidly behind the Democratic position on middle class tax relief and ending the tax cuts for the "two percenters."

The Republicans are only in this game because of their right-wing noise machine message, repeated in the echo chamber of the mainstream media, that Democrats must "compromise" and give the Republicans what they want (capitulate) in the interest of "bipartisanship." Or as Greg Sargent stated at the Washington Post's Plum Line yesterday, the media villagers' conventional wisdom is that "The reality is that it's increasingly obvious that all the Bush tax cuts are going to be extended. The only real question at this point is what Dems get in return."

Um, sorry, but no. Nobody elected the media villagers to deem to tell us what to do. Most of the media villagers are "two percenters" and stand to personally financially benefit from the GOP tax position. This is a conflict of interest. F#&k them!

The House passed a clean Middle Class Tax Relief bill this week. That is the only bill currently on the table. The Senate will vote today on a test vote that will fail because 42 Republican senators signed a letter stating they will hold the government hostage in order to extort from Democrats an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the "two percenters." Republicans are engaged in a class war against the rest of America. This is an insurrection by the wealthy elites against 98% of their fellow American citizens. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) explains this reality that the "two percenter" media villagers refuse to acknowledge:

Senator Harry Reid should keep bringing the House bill up for a vote every chance he gets. Force Republicans to take multiple votes to increase every American's taxes because they are holding the government hostage to extort a "bonus" tax cut for the 'two percenters." Keep the Senate in session until the new Congress comes in on January 5 if necessary. Make them work through the holidays. Public opinion is on our side. Republicans will eventually capitulate under the weight of public opinion and the clock running out.

The time for negotiation is over. There is no reason to compromise with insurrectionists holding our government hostage in bad faith for purposes of extortion. This is a fight worth having. Democrats must be the champions of America's middle class. No compromise, no retreat, no surrender. Are you listening, Mr. President?

UPDATE: From ThinkProgress » Bill To Extend Only Middle-Class Tax Cuts Blocked In The Senate:

Today, the Senate held two separate votes on the Bush tax cuts, but ultimately failed to extend any of the cuts that will be expiring at the end of the year. The first piece of legislation [the House bill], which would have extended the Bush tax cuts for everyone making less than $250,000 per year, was defeated 53-36, falling seven votes shy of the 60 necessary to invoke cloture. Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Russ Feingold (D-WI), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Jim Webb (D-VA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) joined all the Republicans in voting no. 11 senators, all Republicans, did not vote. The second bill, which would have extended the tax cuts for everyone making less than $1 million, was defeated 53-37.