Raise taxes - or the puppy gets it...
This illustration perfectly captures the nature of the Democrats' apparent strategy for challenging Republican incumbents in Congress this cycle: gin up bogus tax hike votes tied to universally popular (in the abstract) initiatives, and then scream bloody murder when the incumbents refuse to play along with the con. "Raise taxes or the puppy gets it!" followed by "Today Scott Brown (or whomever) voted to kill the puppy."
This week's version of the game substitutes "student loan rates" for the puppy, but the dynamic is otherwise exactly the same. Having deliberately ginned up student loan rates to revert to their previous levels (way back in 2009 when, as I recall, former students somehow managed to pay them) just prior to this year's election, Democrats are now proposing to maintain rates at current levels - and to pay for the extension in the cut rates by increasing taxes.
Republicans, no fools they, loudly agree that the rates ought to remain low, but they (we!) would prefer that the revenue loss be off-set by - can you guess? - spending cuts. And so there you have it. When the Democrats tee up a bill to increase taxes and keep student loan rates low, most Republicans vote against it - as they should. Congressional Democrats and the White House have a seemingly endless bag of tricks for increasing taxes in the midst of a painfully slow and erratic economic recovery. Each and every one of them is an equally bad idea. Senator Brown and his colleagues are to be commended for sticking to their guns (and not pointing them at any puppies).
Unfortunately for the Republican targets of this repetitive ploy, the press is only too happy to play along. Google "federal student loan rates" today and on the very first results page you'll find, "Senate Republicans Block Bill On Student Loan Rates" (New York Times), "US Senate Republicans Block Student Loan Rate Freeze Plan" (San Francisco Chronicle), "and "Senate Republicans Block Vote On Student Loan Rate Plan" (CNN). The Democratic National Committee could probably just lay off its communications shop. Save itself some dough.
Closer to home both the Herald and the Globe carry versions of the same Associated Press blurb, which starts with a line that might as well have emanated from Rachel Maddow: "Republican Sen. Scott Brown has voted to derail a Democratic bill aimed at keeping interest rates on federal college loans from doubling July 1." Read a little deeper into each article and one learns that Republicans support a rate freeze funded without a tax increase and Senator Brown has even filed his own legislation to keep rates where they are. But most people don't read beyond the lede - a fact that the Democrats gleefully pulling the media's strings well know.
Not that this is an exclusively Democrat tactic. Both parties pull the same gag against incumbents of the other party - ginning up votes pre-destined to fail for the sole purpose of setting up the opposition's incumbents for criticism. Republican outrage over the tactic is no less contrived than Democratic outrage over the votes. The difference, as in many things, is that generally Republicans cannot count on the same level of cooperation from the media that the Democrats get.
In any event, it is up to voters to pay enough attention to see through the ruse.
There's something sort of meta going on here, Dan. Reading beyond the lede (and past the image of the dog at gunpoint) as you recommend, I think you are right to observe that both parties are at the game of proffering legislation they don't realistically believe will pass through into law. (See the Ryan budget passed by the House as another example.) But getting past that (which I don't think is very likely before November) requires a different mindset than I frankly think you're offering yourself. When you start to complain about the bias of that liberal rag, the Herald -well, it might be time to examine your own bias.
Tom Driscoll | 2012-05-12 18:52:09
It's too bad that Republicans, "no fools they," don't "get it" when they give massive tax subsidies to oil companies. Just as one example. It's OK for millionaires, billionaires, and corporations to get tax breaks. But not students. The real ruse is demanding that we offset the cost of lost revenues with spending cuts...that's the cloak for expanding debt bondage for students and increasing bank profits. The real corporate tax rate is a measly 12.1%, and Mitt Romney pays 15%. The rich must pay more toward civilization. Naw, we all get it. We do see through the ruse. Republicans represent the wealthy and the powerful: those who have extracted their wealth by rigging the game, and now don't want to pay taxes toward educating the next generation or the society that nurtured them. The rich are taking their vast hoarded wealth and their control over every vital resource and using it small portion to control the political process.
Dianna Vosburg | 2012-05-12 08:20:01
"... (we!) would prefer that the revenue loss be off-set by - can you guess? - spending cuts." Right. And so do the Democrats. The difference is the offsetting source. One party prefers using funds set aside when the ACA (what you would call "Obamacare") was passed. Another prefers closing tax loopholes for the very well off and corporations. A careful reading of those "biased" media articles would bring this into light. Your blog posting (inadvertently?) failed to mention this.
Patrick Bolger | 2012-05-12 07:10:41