RUSH: From TheHill.com: “Democrats Launch Tax Offensive.” The Democrats are now trying, because they see a Republican Party paralyzed, they see a Republican Party running the House and running the Senate which is doing nothing, the Democrat Party has decided to steal the tax cut issue from them.
“Senate and House Democrats on Wednesday unveiled a package of tax cuts aimed at helping the middle class as part of a new political offensive against Republicans. Three members of the Senate Democratic leadership, Sens. Dick Durbin (Ill.), Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and Patty Murray (Wash.) are leading the effort ‘to challenge Republicans to join them in cutting taxes for working families, not just the wealthiest Americans,’ according to a Democratic aide.
“Murray, the ranking member on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has authored two of the proposals, the 21st Century Worker Tax Cut Act and the Helping Working Families Afford Child Care Act. The first introduces a new tax credit worth up to $1,000 for families in which both parents work.”
Now, ladies and gentlemen, tax cuts are a classic Republican issue. Cutting taxes to spur economic growth, cutting — now, the Democrat tax cut is not marginal rates. The Democrats, I don’t think, are gonna go that far, but they’re still stealing the terminology. And of course here we have the Republicans, the party that is supposedly in power sitting around giving in to Obama on amnesty, and the Democrats moving forward, “You know what? These guys, if they’re gonna just sit on their butts, let’s take their issues from them, let’s just totally denude them.”
Now, the truth of the matter is, I must be honest about this. The Republicans have been putting forth tax reform proposals for over a year. We just don’t know about it because those proposals never got out of the House. The Republican controlled House of Representatives has put together a whole slew of tax cut bills, and Harry Reid buried every one of them in the Senate.
So there is a strategy open to the Republicans on this. Whether or not they will utilize it, I haven’t sleight idea. But one of the things they could do is to simply say, “You know what, I’m glade you guys on the Democrat side are starting to see it our way. We have proposed tax cut measures for the last year, year and a half,” and then list ’em. Put ’em on the easel, put ’em on the big chart, whatever, illustrate to people what the various tax cut proposals have been, and then point out you Democrats were nowhere near. You wouldn’t support ’em, the tax cut ideas that we passed the House got killed and bottled up in the Senate.
Try to make it look like the Democrats are Johnny-come-latelies to this. And welcome them. This is how you play the game. You stay on offense. You own this issue. Republicans own tax cuts. Democrats finally come around to the idea they want to propose ’em. Praise them. Welcome them to finally doing something right, if they’ve got the gumption. This is just what we don’t know. We don’t know if the Republicans have enough confidence to even play it that way or if they’re gonna run around and skulk now that the Democrats have stolen another issue.
“Well, Mr. Limbaugh, we’d like to take your advice but the media will just call us liars and the media will accuse us of shutting down the government, so there’s really nothing we can do.” Okay, fine. Then why do you even want to win? “Well, we want to be chairman of committees, ’cause then we get to apportion the money.” Oh, okay. Well, you got that.
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