Comments on: A Taxing Time For Democrats

Barone: Party's Struggles With Alternative Minimum Tax Reflect Political Realities

[simonsez40]

Sounds like they are trying to repeal the tax breaks given to the wealthy - all you Neocons yelling at taxes - so I guess that either means you are a millionaire and are opposed or you are just ignorant and like giving tax breaks to the upper 5% elite?

Any financial advisor will tell you - you have to earn more than you spend - and we aren''t doing that - tax increase isn''t the answer. Cutting pork barrell projects, senator and rep''s pay, eliminating all this fat off the government would work - ask Bill Clinton he got it done....

[gunnerv1]

Dim-oc-rats and taxes, what can you say when that says it all.

[mudrose-2009]

mudrose.....
Even though we are opposite ends of the political spectrum I must hand it to you. This is one of the best pieces of sarcasm that I have ever seen. It actually made me laugh and believe me a good laugh is rare these days. This also shows me that you do, in fact, have a good sense of humor. On behalf of all us Dems out here I accept your best wishes and wish you too a Merry Happy Holiday Season.
Posted by Element51

Wish I could take credit for it, but, alas, I can''t. I don''t know who wrote it however. It was meant to make us all laugh. I''m glad you kept your sense of humor too. Enjoy the season, for it is the season to enjoy.

[taotxzen]

Element51

"if it comes to pass" my company just went through a massive reorganization due to the dollars weakness against the Euro. I havew several friends that have lost their jobs just prior to Christmas. Go to the grocery and see if the cost of food has increased. Does your dollar go as far as it ust to?

[hwy71so]

I think you nailed it mudrose...

lol

[element51]

taotxzen...
This was a very interesting post. It made me wonder if this comes to pass in the next few decades and the middle class and the lower class is eliminated who will take their place? Everything must have a top and a bottom and if everyone is rich how will it be possible for there to be a bottom? I do believe that the things you state are the goal of a certin segment of the population and if they have their way it will be a sad world indeed. I, for one, am still naive enough to believe that we do have an obligation to support the weak among us. I believe that compassion is a virtue. I know I''m going to be ridiculed for this post but I stand by what I have said here.

[taotxzen]

Grover Gets His Wish:

Here%u2019s a real-world example for all the right-wingers that stand by their man and shout %u201Cwitch hunt%u201D at the ever-growing list of the Bush gang%u2019s scandals.

One of these days instead of penning one of your hate-filled, name-calling, fact-free rants try Googling Grover Norquist.

Norquist, along with Bill Kristol, Ralph E. Reed, Jr., Clint Bolick and David McIntosh is one of the so-called "Gang of Five" identified in Nina Easton''s 2000 book by that name, which gives a history of leaders of the modern conservative movement

In 1999, he was instrumental in securing early support for then Texas Governor George W. Bush, continuing a decades-long association with Karl Rove ("The Wall Street Journal''s John Fund dubbed him "the Grand Central Station" of conservatism and told The Nation: "It''s not disputable" that Norquist was the key to the Bush campaign''s surprising level of support from movement conservatives in 2000".) After Bush''s election to the White House in 2000, Norquist was the prime architect behind the many Bush tax-cuts.

(CONT)

[taotxzen]

(CONT)

Shortly after Bill Clinton was elected president of the United States in 1992, Norquist began hosting a weekly get-together of conservatives in his Washington office to coordinate activities and strategy. "We were sort of like the Mensheviks after the Russian Revolution," recalls Marshall Wittmann, who attended the first meeting as a representative of the Christian Coalition.

In 1994 Norquist worked with Newt Gingrich and the Heritage Foundation to draft the Contract with America.

The "Wednesday Meeting" of Norquist''s Leave Us Alone Coalition has become an important hub of conservative political organizing. George W. Bush began sending a representative to the Wednesday Meeting even before he formally announced his candidacy for president in 1999. "Now a White House aide attends each week," reported USA Today in June 2001. "Vice President Cheney sends his own representative. So do GOP congressional leaders, right-leaning think tanks, conservative advocacy groups and some like-minded K Street lobbyists. The meeting has been valuable to the White House because it is the political equivalent of one-stop shopping. By making a single pitch, the administration can generate pressure on members of Congress, provides talking points to radio talk shows, and political buzz from dozens of grassroots organizations.

(CONT)

[element51]

mudrose.....
Even though we are opposite ends of the political spectrum I must hand it to you. This is one of the best pieces of sarcasm that I have ever seen. It actually made me laugh and believe me a good laugh is rare these days. This also shows me that you do, in fact, have a good sense of humor. On behalf of all us Dems out here I accept your best wishes and wish you too a Merry Happy Holiday Season.

[taotxzen]

(CONT)

So what does this have to do with us?

Norquist has been noted for his widely quoted quip: "I don''t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub."

Norquist eventually decided that the most troubling problem facing America is the gargantuan size of its government. He decided the most effective way to reduce the size of government would be to cut off its sources of revenue (aka taxes). And he resolved to launch a permanent tax revolt. So in 1986 Norquist founded the organization Americans for Tax Reform, which is categorically opposed to any increase in taxation and lobbies Congress hard for an endless series of tax cuts -- at least one per year.

Of course, cutting the size of the government in half is going to take some belt-tightening. According to New York Times columnist Paul Krugman:

(CONT)