Not to excuse their behavior but a) the public thinks the tax cuts being voted are the ones with more widespread effects, rather than what in fact they are, namely focused on capital gains and dividends; b) the bill includes stuff very hard to vote against - like Katrina aid, tuition assistance c) you don't want to be on the losing end of a winning vote for tax cuts d) there is still no economic penalty for cutting taxes, so why not e) they can retake control by running against corruption, why jeopardize that message by opposing tax cuts f) the amount involved (about $100 billion over ten years) is small (though a lot of little things obviously add up)
Old folks might recall that the post-Watergate elections provided gains to Dems, but on the lowest-common denominator issue of corruption, rather than progressive program. I think we're trending into that kind of period. mbs -----Original Message----- From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Michael Perelman Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2005 1:23 AM To: [email protected] Subject: what the hell! Why are the idiot Democrats jumping on with the Repugs in this latest round of tax cuts? Does anybody have an idea? -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
