No wonder there is an enthuisiasm gap:
Congressional Democrats are confronting deep divisions in their nervous ranks over whether to support President Barack Obama's plan to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans – or just punt the entire matter until after voters go to the polls Nov. 2.
Democratic leaders committed to Obama's proposal were to hear Wednesday from endangered lawmakers who fear that raising taxes on anyone in a weak economy could be politically lethal.
"Don't raise taxes in a recession," said Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D.
Obama Tax Cuts Plan Has House Democrats Deeply Divided
(Obama update at end of diary)
When Democrats are afraid to give a tax break to the middle class while raising taxes on the rich just slightly, they signal cowardice. This is not President Obama's fault: he's doing the right thing. This is a few chickenshit Democrat House members peeing in their pants because rich people might be taxed.
I am sick of these fucking cowards. Pomeroy can go fuck himself.
You ask for our votes and to work our asses off, and then cannot even support your own president? Cannot even do the POPULAR thing?
If the rich get their tax breaks continued, it will be the end of any Democratic majorities. Cowardice does not get votes. Running away until after the election does not get votes.
Democratic leaders refused to say whether they were open to changing Obama's plan, or even commit to a vote before the balloting seven weeks off. Instead, they called House Democrats together Tuesday night to discuss a poll showing that extending tax cuts for middle-income earners was a winning strategy for the party.
Not everyone was convinced. A group of moderate and conservative House Democrats was collecting signatures on a letter calling for Democratic leaders to offer a bill extending tax cuts for all Americans. Broad tax cuts passed during the George W. Bush administration are due to expire at the end of the year.
Obama Tax Cuts Plan Has House Democrats Deeply Divided
All Americans means the rich.
Moderate and conservative Democrats who "work" for the wealthy and not the people.
If we lose Congress, it will because of these very "moderate" and conservative Demcorats.
We need to support President Obama on this. He's doing the right thing. It's important. If we fail here, we give up to rule by the wealthy.
No compromise. No delay. Vote on the Democratic tax cuts for the middle class, the Obama tax cuts. And vote down any extension of tax cuts for the wealthy.
It's conservadems and "moderates' who created the enthusiasm gap. They will reap what they sow. If they fuck working people and roll over for the rich, they will fall. These conservadems and "moderates" will take down all the mainstream Dems with them. Their way ensures defeat.
Update I: Let Pomeroy know what you think:
Washington DC Office
Congressman Earl Pomeroy
1501 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2611
Fax: (202) 226-0893
Bismarck District Office
Congressman Earl Pomeroy
Room 328, Federal Building
220 East Rosser Avenue
Bismarck, ND 58501
Phone: (701) 224-0355
Fax: (701) 224-0431
(map)
Fargo District Office
Congressman Earl Pomeroy
3003 32nd Ave S Suite 6
Fargo, ND 58103
Phone: (701) 235-9760
Fax: (701) 235-9767
(map)
Update II: They listened to Greenspan when he told them to pass the Bush tax cuts because a surplus was bad, but will conservadems listen now?
Taxes must rise while fiscal stimulus needs to be wound down in order to reduce the U.S. budget deficit and allow private investment to expand, said former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan on Wednesday.
"I am in favor for the first time in my memory of raising taxes," Greenspan told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
Greenspan says he's in favor of raising taxes
Update III: Good news from jalapeno:
Pomeroy......google pomeroy and dccc. (1+ / 0-)
Recommended by:TomP
they just canceled 2 weeks of media buys for him.
coincidence? not towing the party line?
you decide.
Republicans===the party of the 1% rich people in America. Or in other words..The Party of NO!
by jalapeno on Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 08:41:05 AM PDT
I followed the instructions and found this:
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has reportedly canceled two weeks’ worth of advertising it had planned to run on North Dakota airwaves in support of Rep. Earl Pomeroy’s re-election bid.
Hotline reported Monday that North Dakota was among a handful of congressional districts where the DCCC was rethinking its advertising spending in advance of Election Day.
The DCCC canceled planned ad buys for the weeks of Sept. 27 and Oct. 5, although the committee is still spending money on Pomeroy’s behalf and paying for field staffers to help out in North Dakota, Hotline reported.
National Democrats nix 2 ad buys for Pomeroy
Good!
Update IV: Madame Speaker is great!
Speaker Nancy Pelosi tonight implored House Democrats in a private meeting to consider a pre-election vote on extending the Bush-era tax cuts for the middle class while letting those for the rich expire, framing the debate in partisan terms.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee told TPM after the caucus that Pelosi ended the meeting with a "resounding" and impassioned speech that fired up the Democrats and might even have brought more on board for a vote.
"She made it clear it's a black and white issue of who do you stand with," Lee told TPM. "It's the middle class and they need to know we are pushing for them. We have to say it over and over again. They've gotta see it, smell it, sense it, taste it."
snip
Pollster Stan Greenberg also presented the caucus with some data showing the tax cuts issue helps energize the base, a stat members responded to well, a Democratic aide present during the meeting told TPM. The aide said some members suggested that tax cuts could be moved quickly, or that it wasn't an issue for them back home, but that most members were supportive of Pelosi's position.
TPM: Pelosi Implores Dems On Tax Cuts: 'Who Do You Stand With?'
Update V: Majority leader Steny Hoyer needs to get his head screwed on right. He is the DEMOCRATIC Majority Leader. Get with the President's and Speaker's progam, Steny. Now!
Democrats will not rule out compromising with Republicans on the Bush tax cuts benefiting the wealthiest Americans, according to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.
At his weekly press availability this morning, Hoyer declined to draw a bright line on the issue of tax cuts for the rich, adding to the uncertainty over whether Democrats will force Republicans to choose between tax cuts for the middle class, or no tax cuts at all.
Hoyer: No Bright Lines For Democrats On Bush Tax Cuts For The Rich
Tell Steny: No compromise. Pass the Obama tax cut for the middle class. let the Bush tax cuts for the rich end.
Call his office here:
1705 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone - (202) 225-4131
Fax - (202) 225-4300
U.S. District Courthouse
6500 Cherrywood Lane, Suite 310
Greenbelt, MD 20770
Phone - (301) 474-0119
Fax - (301) 474-4697
Get Driving Directions
401 Post Office Road, Ste. 202
Waldorf, MD 20602
Phone - (301) 843-1577
Fax - (301) 843-1331
Get Driving Directions
The Last Update: President Obama stands up for working people and tells Republicans to "stop holding those tax cuts 'hostage'"
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is applauding two Republican senators who voted for a small business bill and says he'd welcome that kind of cooperation on the divisive issue of extending tax cuts for the middle class.
Obama thanked Republicans George Voinovich of Ohio and George LeMieux of Florida for voting to move the bill closer to final passage. Speaking in the Rose Garden after a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, Obama urged lawmakers to approve an extension of Bush-era tax cuts for middle class families making less than $250,000 a year.
Obama says Republicans should stop holding those tax cuts "hostage."
Obama urges action on middle-class tax cuts
No compromise, no words of weakness like some blue dogs and conservadems.
The President is right. Blue dogs and Republicans watch out. Yes, we can end those tax rates for the rich! Fired up! Ready to go!