Obama Ready to Cave On Bush Tax Cuts

According to Politico, Nancy Pelosi told Obama House Democrats will not back tax cuts for those earning over $250,000. Obama know Reid backs extending all the Bush tax cuts. Obama told Reid, in front of Pelosi, to work on his own tax cut package. Short answer: Obama caved on high end tax cuts that poll badly with the American people.

Tim Geithner and Lawrence Summers were at the meeting with Obama, Pelosi and Reid. Want to take a wild guess on if they support extending the Bush tax cuts for those making above $250,000?

A CBS News poll found 56 percent support letting the tax cuts for $250,000 and above earners expire. A NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll gave respondents four choices. Letting tax cuts for top earners was the most popular choice.

Eliminate all the tax cuts permanently: 10

Eliminate the tax cuts for those earning more than $250,000 per year, but keep them for those earning less than that: 39

Keep in place all the tax cuts for everyone for another year to three years: 23

Keep in place the tax cuts for everyone permanently: 23

This maintains my premise that Obama is not a policy wonk. The deficit commission was merely a bad dog and pony show. Obama used the defict commission so he could make claims of being bipartisan and and wanting to reduce the deficit. Obama's deficit commission reads like a horrible policy paper from the Cato Institute. (I should know since I have forced myself to read too many nutty papers.) Obama can't truly be interested in reducing the deficit if he allows the tax cuts for top earners to continue.

Update: Greg Sargent reports that Steny Hoyer backs holding a vote extending tax cuts for the middle class during the lame duck session. Ways and Means Committee chairman David Camp plans to block a middle class-only tax cut vote. It would be political suicide for Republicans to vote for tax cuts for the rich and then say they are doing this to jump start the economy. House Democrats understand this is good politics. Obama either doesn't understand the politics or silently backs tax cuts for top earners.

Update: this chart created by the Washington Post illustrates the stark differences between the Republican and House Democratic tax proposals. The bigger the dot the bigger the tax cut.

Teabaggers Respond With Death Threats

The Tea Party movement as reacted to the passage of health care reform with insanity. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told The Hill that there is in security.

"Any member who feels themselves at risk is getting attention from the proper authority," Hoyer said during brief remarks on Wednesday.

The FBI is investigating a severed gas line, at the house the brother of Rep. Tom Perriello. The Lynchburg Tea Party anonymously posted the address of Perriello brother on their blog. The blogger mistakenly believed Rep. Perriello lived at the address. The blogger urged teabaggers to pay the Congressman a visit. That is a sure invitation to trouble.

“Just in case any of his friends and neighbors want to drop by and say hi and express their thanks regarding his vote for health care,” the author writes. “I personally believe it’s so important for representatives to remain fully grounded and to remember exactly what it is their constituents are saying and how they are telling them to vote. Nothing quite does that like a good face-to-face chat. It has a much more personal touch to it.”

I have had commenters post addresses and death threats at people on this blog. I have always deleted those comments. I could care less if commenters diss me. Putting people's personal information that might endanger a person is something I have never allowed on this blog. There is zero excuse for the actions of the Lynchburg Tea Party bloggers.

Nigel Coleman is one of the two people responsible for posted the address. Coleman was unapologetic of his actions.

According to the Politico Web site, when Coleman learned that the address actually belonged to the congressman’s brother, he responded on a blog: “Do you mean I posted his brother’s address on my Facebook? Oh well, collateral damage.”

The other person who posted the address is Mike Troxel. Like Coleman, Troxel showed an equal lack of sensitivity. Troxel refuses to take the address off the blog. Troxel will only take it down if he has Rep. Tom Perriello.

“If they would like to provide me with the address of Tom, then I’d be more than happy to take it down,” he said. “I have no reason to believe it’s not his house.”

Coleman and Troxel have been informed that Perriello's brother has received a threatening latter and a cut gas line. Yet, they refuse to delete their posting of the home address. These men are aware they are endanger the lives of the Perriello family. These are not freedom loving patriots. They are sociopaths.

Coleman is now backtracking from the negative publicity.

"We wanted people to go by and talk to their congressman," Coleman said.

Previously, Perriello's brother was "collateral damage." Now Coleman wants a friendly chat. Amazing how an FBI investigation can change one's disposition.

A caller on Rep. Louise Slaughter's voice mail threatened to use "snipers" against her. Slaughter also had a brick thrown through her district office window. It is obvious some nutcase is attempting to stalk Slaughter. The threat against her is serious.

Tea Party protesters called Congressman and civil right legend "nigger." Several members of the member heard Tea Party protesters chant the word to the Black Caucus. Bill O'Reilly claims there is no proof. O'Reilly failed to bring any eyewitnesses to his show. Fox News helped create the Tea Party movement. How long will Fox News be able to explain away the militia mentality of this movement remains to be seen.

Impeachment Is Still A Waste of Time

Sinfonian is pissed that Steny Hoyer will block Dennis Kucinich's resolution to impeach Dick Cheney. We at Pushing Rope have always believed impeachment should only be used in cases of blow jobs and real estate deals members of the executive branch lost money on.

I previously stated my reason why impeachment would fail:

The Senate will never get the 68 votes to impeach Bush. There would be very little polarization with the American people if Democrats attempted to impeach Dick Cheney. The Sith Lord has shown an utter distain for the American people and media. Which explains why he had dismal approval ratings before things went south for the White House. I still don't see the 68 votes.

Cheney's base is extremely small. There aren't enough Republicans courageous enough to remove Cheney. Chuck Hagel has mentioned impeachment and he retiring from the Senate. That's it. Joe Liberman would vote against removing Cheney. No one has any idea how Jim Jeffords would vote. There is no guarantee that Democrats would get 50 votes. 68 are needed to remove Cheney.

A better way to remove Cheney is Congressional investigations his office on pre-war Iraq intelligence and his role in the Balerie Plame leak. Congress can even challenge Cheney on his silly claim that he is not part of the executive branch.

The impeachment of Bill Clinton turned into a disaster for Republicans. Cheney isn't as skilled a politician as Clinton. Cheney won't have 60 percent of America rallying around him. His media enablers will protect him. Fox News and conservative talk radio will launch vicious attacks. I prefer the Right disillusioned about their horrible presidential candidates and their preceived notion that Hillary is an unstoppable juggernaut.

The Bush administration is doing a good enough job sinking on their own without impeachment. The focus should be on electing Democratic candidates nationally. Not impeachment resolutions that will fail.