When all else fails, there’s always tax cuts

July 24, 2006

The Republican National Committee sent an email to its members today, “written” by the president himself. It has a lot of the usual palaver — I counted four times the email used “Democrat” when it should have used “Democratic” — but I was a little surprised by what the email didn’t say.

Republicans understand that by cutting taxes people will have more of their own money to save, spend and invest as they see fit, not as the government wants. So our Party and GOP members of the U.S. Congress stood squarely for tax relief for everybody who pays taxes.

We have a lot of work to do to make sure America remains a prosperous country, so that every single citizen can realize the great promise of America. […]

The difference is clear: if you want the government in your pocket, vote Democrat. If you want to keep more of your hard-earned money, vote Republican. Republicans have the right ideas to keep our economy growing strong.

Yada, yada, yada. It’s the one-song jukebox all over again. The big, bad Democrat is coming to take all of your money. No big surprise.

But what I found interesting is that Bush’s message to rank-and-file Republicans, urging them to contribute financially to the GOP cause, didn’t mention the war on terror. Indeed, when the party is backed against a wall, tax cuts apparently trump national security easily.

Over the course of a 550-word email, the president’s message didn’t mention the war, 9/11, Saddam Hussein, or Osama bin Laden. The text, which was supposed to help inspire Republicans to open their wallet, didn’t even include the words “national security.”

The RNC doesn’t send out fundraising emails supposedly written by the president all the time; it’s an occasional practice used a few times before an election, presumably to collect the most amount for the party. With this mind, the Bush email could be about anything — and Republicans chose tax cuts.

The conventional wisdom tells us that the GOP will emphasize national security above all else this election season. Indeed, Karl Rove has said as much publicly. But isn’t this email a subtle admission that the party can’t exactly count on the issue as an automatic winner? That when it comes to making the die-hards proud to be a Republican, they rely on tax cuts, not national security?

Maybe the timing was wrong. Perhaps Bush wanted to go with an email that blasts cut-and-run white-flag wavers, but deteriorating conditions in the Middle East made it impossible, even by GOP standards, for the party to ask for money to help celebrate the president’s remarkable “progress” in the region.

Or maybe the party is slowly realizing that getting people to think about national security issues isn’t quite the political winner the GOP wants it to be.

What is up with the ‘Democrat’ Party crap? Are they doing it just to piss people off?

  • What is up with the ‘Democrat’ Party crap? Are they doing it just to piss people off?

    As it turns out, I had a post on this very subject earlier this year.

  • “What is up with the ‘Democrat’ Party crap? Are they doing it just to piss people off?” – Blue Neponset

    Remember, this is coming from the man that pronounces the word nuclear “NOOK-U-LAR.”

  • They missed one.

    If you want the Government in your bed, vote Republican.

    If you want the Government in your meat processing plant, vote Democratic.

  • My father-in-law, who is nearly 80, is a moderate Republican who voted against Bush in the last two elections. He’s all over the place politically, but the one thing that riles him up is taxes. I was watching TV with the family, and a news story on the California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides came up. Someone in the room asked what we all thought of Angelides, and the only words out of my father-in-law’s mouth were, “He wants to raise our taxes!”

    This man is retired, living off social security and an old IBM pension. He owns his home and, thanks to California Prop. 13, pays very little property taxes. He pays sales tax and that’s about it.

    Yet he is scared of a possible tax increase!

    So it doesn’t surprise me that the Republican’ts are using this message to attack Dems. It works with my father-in-law.

  • The average tax cut for the 20 percent of households in the middle of the income spectrum would be just $20. But the average tax cut for those in the top one percent of the income spectrum would be $14,100. For those with incomes above $1 million, the average tax cut would be $43,000.

    http://www.cbpp.org/5-4-06tax.htm

    There’s your tax cut, Mr Republican. You get 20 bucks, and your kid gets a bill for $25,000 plus interest.

    Who you gonna vote for, the crazy Democratics who want to balance the budget again?

  • For the rare Republican’t who gives a crap if the numbers actually add up or not:

    http://www.cbpp.org/7-11-06bud.htm

    a Department of Treasury analysis presented in the Mid-Session Review itself provides estimates of the potential economic effects of tax cuts that confirm what outside experts have consistently said — tax cuts do not come remotely close to paying for themselves.

    Once again you can tell when Bush is lying, because Cheney’s lips move.

  • David is quite right; the brainwashing by the right-wing with bumper-sticker issues (tax cuts, death tax, libruls, latte sipping cowards, etc.,etc) works quite well. People don’t need to think, they trot out slogans. And the Democrats need to follow the same procedure. They need to refrain from answering two-word “truths” with two-page retorts. Gingrich’s “Had Enough!” slogan is a nice simple two-word slogan that encompasses general Republican nonsense and can be understood by Marlboro Man and 80 year old seniors. Similarly, hot button GOP issues should countered with simple attacks. How about “What have tax cuts done for you?” or “Give Paris a tax break!”

  • “Maybe the timing was wrong. Perhaps Bush wanted to go with an email that blasts cut-and-run white-flag wavers, but deteriorating conditions in the Middle East made it impossible, even by GOP standards, for the party to ask for money to help celebrate the president’s remarkable “progress” in the region.”

    I do agree that tax cuts are a universal GOP rallying point that they can rely on, so that is part of the reason. However, given how well the Rove machine can be at determining exactly what to say and how to say it, we have to assume they have done their homework and realized there was no way to parse the message on Iraq that would be effective. I susepct everything else, 9/11, war on terror, etc really just resonates as “Iraq” right now. Obviously, for some portion of their constituentst, is past the point of just using crass nationalism and fear instead of explaining just WTF is going on Iraq.

  • Sign posted in Republican campaign headquarters:

    “It’s the greed, stupid.”

    The writers of that email know that the real “principle” for so many of their voters is: Screw the other guy, I keepin’ mine, and takin’ yours.

  • ***…something about latte…***
    -jay

    It sure beats hell out of Kool Aid!

    Actually, I think the tired old song-n-dance routine is going to implode on the Republikanner beast this time around. Cutting taxes, it seems, equates to not buying body armor for the troops, and making the families of soldiers live in substandard housing. These clowns actually say that they’re “supporting the troops?”

    Cutting taxes equates to reducing the efforts to find Osama and Friends. These lunkheads actually portray themselves as “strong on national security?”

    Cutting taxes equates to firing about half of the IRS lawyers who go after tax-cheats. The bozos actually promote themselves as “pro law-n-order?”

    Cutting taxes equates to reducing school lunches for hungry children, job-training programs for unemployed dads, and prenatal/postnatal healthcare for moms. The uberschweinen want us to believe that they’re “family-values oriented?”

    If Dean and the DNC—along with Pelosi, Reid, and everyone else on the “left” side of the aisle—can get around to taking the gloves off, and going at these piggie-punks with bare knuckles, I think we might see a huge swing from GOP to Dem in both houses of the Hill. “Safe” Republikanners will suddenly find themselves in a rather untenable position

  • #9 jay @ 4:09 — Our local Democratic committee is going to give out bumper stickers that say “Had Enough?” and in smaller letters, “Vote Democratic” and a phone number to call.

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