President Obama: "This is the public option debate all over"

In his pathetic defense of caving in on the tax cuts issue President Obama brought up the criticism he faced from the left over his abandonment of the public option.  He was fielding a question about compromising too much and his defense was that while the health care bill did not include the public option it had so many other things that Democrats had been fighting for.  The problem with his memory or interpretation of those events is that the public option was not a holy grail for Democrats.  It was a watered down substitute for what we really wanted and that was a Single Payer Option.  But since the President and the Democrat super-majority Congress was too weak willed to push for that plan, the result was compromising on the compromise.

Now that the tax cut deal has been back-roomed to placate the GOP and their ultra-rich benefactors, similar criticisms are coming out that he did not negotiate tough enough and did not stick to his principles or his campaign promises.  The Republicans, meanwhile, get to hold up their banner of stubborn obstructionism and celebrate yet another capitulation by the spineless Democrats.

Again the fault for this travesty lies with the Blue Dogs in Congress who had threatened to vote against a tax cut for the middle class bill in the lead up to the elections, and to the Obama White House that did not push Congress to act before the midterms, and to the fickle electorate that somehow thought that putting people in Congress who care only for the rich would somehow help the country.

The next time you hear a Republican complain about losing their unemployment benefits, or about increasing deficits, remind them that 700-900 billion more dollars were just added to the deficit so that Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, Michael Moore, and Keith Olbermann can save some money.

Tax Cuts for the Rich = Senate Majority for the GOP

Hey there spineless democratic senators, how's it going? Bummed about the recent election? Having a hard time sitting down with all those GOP foot prints on your ass? Yeah, I bet that hurts. But you know what's going to sting even more? The 2012 elections if you sissies don't get your tactics figured out. Now that Nancy Pelosi has finally drummed up the courage to say they'll put forward a "tax cuts for the middle class only" bill before the end of the year, it is up to you, the deliberative donkeys to break a filibuster and pass the "dang" bill.

It seems to me that if your staffers have not made the case to you already, you should fire them all and get competent aides who can actually help you figure out what you need to do to help the country and keep your seats. If, and sadly it's not that improbable of an if, a few of you Senate Democrats decide to jump onto the GOP filibuster and say "but now isn't the time to raise taxes on anyone!" then you have assuredly handed control of the Senate and possibly the White House over to the Republicans come 2012. Your defection from your fellow Democrats will be seen as proof both to the GOP and the American public that tax cuts for the middle class only is wrong.

So instead of being gutless wimps and voting to prevent the tax rates on the richest 2% from returning to where they were under President Clinton (boy were those bad economic times, right?) dig deep and find some courage. Go borrow some from Bernie Sanders or Russ Feingold if you need to, and then vote FOR the middle class tax cuts. Even if the bill doesn't pass because you can't get a single Republican senator to help out the middle class, USE THAT! Plaster your states with advertising denouncing the GOP for raising taxes on the middle class. Get on CNN, MSNBC and even FoxNews and chastise your Republican colleagues for forcing a tax hike on the American people. BUT do not cave in before forcing them to vote no on tax cuts for the middle class.