Even Republicans Think Mitch McConnell is Full of It

As touched upon in this post, Republicans have nothing left but to lie about what the Democrats do. They can't run on their record, because it is lousy. And they have no new ideas. But when the Republican Minority Leader in the Senate so blatantly lies about a piece of legislation that even Republicans are calling him for it, then you know they truly have no credibility left.

FDIC Chair Sheila Bair, a Bush/Cheney appointee to the FDIC, a former assistant Treasury secretary in the Bush administration, had this to say about McConnell's comments about the financial reform bill that is currently being worked on in the Senate. McConnell claimed that the bill will perpetuate bailouts of major financial institutions:

Would this bill perpetuate bailouts?

BAIR: The status quo is bailouts. That's what we have now. If you don't do anything, you are going to keep having bailouts. Bankruptcy doesn't work -- we saw that with Lehman Brothers.

But does this bill stop them from happening?

BAIR: It makes them impossible and it should. We worked really hard to squeeze bailout language out of this bill. The construct is you can't bail out an individual institution — you just can't do it.

In a true liquidity crisis, the FDIC and the Fed can provide systemwide support in terms of liquidity support -- lending and debt guarantees -- but even then, a default would trigger resolution or bankruptcy. Link

Taxes Lowest in 60 years, Thanks to Democrats and Obama

To follow up on the previous post on this topic, it is pretty clear that Republicans and Teabaggers have no credibility anymore. For Republicans, this was pretty obvious after the eight years in which President Bush, along with a Republican majority in Congress for most of the time, drove our country into a ditch. Realizing they can't run on their own record, Republicans are now left to lie about what Democrats do.

For the Teabaggers, those who follow politics closely know they are a farce, but for many they are still an unknown entity. Well, if the Teabaggers are sincere when they say they aren't affiliated with a major political party, they ought to be getting behind Democrats and Obama? Why? Because thanks to them, taxes are the lowest they have been in 60 years.

Today, thousands of Tea Partiers will descend on Washington to declare they've been "Taxed Enough Already." Yesterday's poll found that 64 percent of Tea Party supporters think the administration has raised taxes -- a finding that might leave Democrats banging their heads against their desks.

"The American people need to be reminded that 98 percent of Americans got a tax cut last year," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday.

Reid was referring to the impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, otherwise known as the stimulus -- essentially, the only Obama policy to really impact people's 2009 tax returns. In fact, tax refunds reached an all-time high this year in part because of the stimulus, the president said in his weekly address on Saturday. Meanwhile, taxes are at their lowest levels in 60 years, according to William Gale, co-director of the Tax Policy Center and director of the Retirement Security Project at the Brookings Institution.

"The relation between what is said in the tax debate and what is true about tax policy is often quite tenuous," Gale told Hotsheet. "The rise of the Tea Party at at time when taxes are literally at their lowest in decades is really hard to understand." Link

With respect to Republicans, you can almost understand why they need to lie and say that Democrats are raising your taxes. This has been their best issue for decades. Without, what do they have?

But for Teabaggers, what is their excuse for ignoring the truth? Shouldn't they support the fact that Obama has lowered the deficit? Just like previous Democrats have? Shouldn't they support the Democratic Party since they create more private sector jobs than Republicans? Makes you wonder why they despise President Obama and Democrats. One reason is that the Teabaggers are mostly just angry Republicans. They are sore losers from the 2008 election, and for whatever reason, they refuse to acknowledge that President Obama is superior to any politician in America.

Republicans, Teabaggers Praise Obama & Democrats on Taxes

This headline is obviously a joke, but it shouldn't be. Since Republicans, and especially Teabaggers, rail on and on about high taxes and how Obama and Democrats are raising taxes, they would be happy with this report, right?

According to a recent CBS News/New York Times poll, the vast majority of Americans do not perceive that they have received a tax cut from President Obama. Asked if the President “has already raised taxes this past year,” 53 percent of those polled said that the President has “kept taxes the same,” and 24 percent think that the President has “raised taxes.” A mere 12 percent believe that the President has cut their taxes.

This is an astonishing level of misunderstanding. The truth is that the major tax cuts enacted in the 2009 economic stimulus bill actually reduced federal income taxes for tax year 2009 for 98 percent of all working families and individuals. These tax cuts saved working families and individuals an average of $1,158 on the tax returns they will file by April 15. (The median tax cut was approximately $600.) Link

The Associated Press has more on this as well.

So this begs the question. If objections to Democrats in general and Obama in particular from the Teabaggers isn't about policy (and it isn't), what is the objection? I have a few guesses, but draw your own conclusions.

Boccieri's Potential GOP Challenger Renacci Fought $1M+ Tax Assessment

Whether this is a big deal, small deal or no deal at all, it is worth pointing out that John Boccieri's likely Republican challenger Jim Renacci was assessed nearly $1.4 million in unpaid state taxes, interest and fees in 2006-a finding he fought vigorously but eventually paid. At the very least, those voters who find those who make millions of dollars elitist or not your "average Joe" should take note of Renacci's personal wealth.

(AP) — COLUMBUS, Ohio - The leading GOP challenger to Democratic U.S. Rep. John Boccieri was assessed nearly $1.4 million in unpaid state taxes, interest and fees in 2006-a finding he fought vigorously but eventually paid.

Republican Jim Renacci and his wife Tina filed adjusted gross income in 2000 of negative $247,000 but a state audit calculated the sum at $13.7 million, according to an Associated Press review of public documents. The couple was assessed $954,650 in unpaid taxes, $146,938 in interest, and a $293,876 penalty as a result of the discrepancy. Link

According to a 2009 personal financial disclosure statement filed with the U.S. House, Renacci holds assets worth between $35 million and $50 million and made salary, interest and other income of between $500,000 and $4.3 million in 2008 and 2009. His precise worth can't be determined from the form because it asks only for ranges. Link

Boccieri Gives Reasons for Health Care 'Yes' Vote on Health Care

WOOSTER -- When U.S. Rep. John Boccieri cast his vote in support for the Senate version of health care reform, he did so because it was dramatically different from the House bill and "some things you vote on are just the right thing to do."

Boccieri, an Alliance Democrat who represents Ohio's 16th Congressional District, spoke Friday (April 9) to The Daily Record about his vote.

Boccieri had voted against the House version, and he said he did so because it contained a controversial public option that would have set a federally run government insurance company to compete against private insurers. Also, the House version would not save as much money as the Senate version, he said. He also believes the Senate version, which was approved without any Republicans in support of it, will do more to go after fraud, waste and abuse.

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