The GOP’s Honesty Deficit

Republicans have a cute little “deficit hawk” scam going: They “block extended aid to the unemployed, while simultaneously pushing for massive tax cuts for the wealthy.”

How do they justify this? According to Republican leaders like Mike Pence and Jon Kyl, the former has to be offset by spending cuts, but the latter, due to some mysterious mix of magic and voodoo, doesn’t.

It’s time for a new limerick:

The GOP’s Honesty Deficit
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Though the GOP deficit hawks
Are famed for “must pay for it” squawks,
They nix plugging the hole
Caused by tax cuts. How droll!
Yes, that’s how hypocrisy talks.

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10 Responses to “The GOP’s Honesty Deficit”

  1. Your whole post is based on a faulty premise- that the expiring Bush tax cuts are ‘for the rich.’ The tax cuts, as any honest and knowledgable person knows, were for every group of taxpayers- the tax cuts are ‘for everyone’. The fact that you call them ‘tax cuts for the rich’ demonstrates your lack of knowledge and/or honesty on this issue.

    So, what Pence is doing is wanting to keep in place tax cuts that we have had for 10 years because he feels that letting those tax cuts expire will lead to higher taxes and thus lower growth (and thus less employment, a falling economy, higher debt, etc). He feels that higher taxes will lead to more debt.

    Be honest and more intelligent. You’re posts are sad.

  2. madkane says:

    Dear Conservative Teacher,

    You’re either misinformed, or delusional. In either case, I pity your students.

  3. Great response… exactly the kind of response I expect after I laid out logical arguments full of reasoning and thought… childish name-calling in response to reason… well, two can play at that game- you’re a poopy-head and I pity anyone who knows you. So there!

  4. Elisson says:

    When Republicans talk of the deficit
    They make it clear that they don’t care for it.
    Yet they spent enough bucks
    To fill fleets of fat trucks
    And thus I must conclude that they’re fulla shit.

  5. madkane says:

    Sorry, Conservative Teacher, but reasoning based upon a false assertion (that the Bush tax cuts weren’t for the wealthy) does not amount to reasoning.

    Moreover, one could argue that the Dems are merely continuing the Bush tax policy by letting stand the tax cut expiration that the Republicans built into the legislation. If Republicans wanted a permanent tax cut, the Bush Republicans should have voted for one.

    And why didn’t Republicans enact a permanent tax cut? In case you’ve forgotten, the reason the tax cuts are set to expire after ten years is because it was the only way to pass it through the budget reconciliation process while simultaneously increasing the deficit. Had the tax cut lasted even a day longer, all the tax cuts would have had to be offset by spending cuts. But the so-called deficit-hawk Republicans were very happy to increase the deficit in order to cut taxes for the wealthy.

  6. (m)ardix says:

    Teacher, I have to respond, though I seldom do.

    Bush’s fiscal irresponsibility led the nation to the brink of disaster. I am by no means an Obama defender, but you can’t possibly say that Bush’s administration had any positive qualities. Mr. Obama inherited a cesspool, and we are the flotsam floating in the muck.

    Perhaps I misread your point, but defending any administration of the past 20 years is ridiculous at best.

    Of course, this is my most humble opinion, and I would never dream of encroaching on your beliefs or values. That would be politically incorrect.

  7. jesse levy says:

    Republicans are incredibly obtuse
    Their ideas are really of no use
    to the whole working class
    They can all kiss my ass
    Now excuse me while I listen to Bruce

    (Springsteen for those who don’t know)
    Who puts on a hell of a show
    He sings about us
    then he gets on his bus…
    Hm, maybe Guthrie is better (not Arlo).

  8. david distefano says:

    to conservative teacher from a liberal teacher. you are correct only in the words of the tax cut bill. yes all taxpayers received a tax cut, but when the average middle class taxpayer received a $300 tax break and the top 1% received $83,000, you can see why any sane person would call this a tax cut for the wealthy. and finally the study out of minnesota shows that the average liberal is more intelligent and better able to think out of the box then the average conservative. and remember jesus was a liberal and the conservatives murdered him then and still do it today.

  9. Mo Rage says:

    Good for you, Mad Kane!

    The Rethugs don’t want to spend $34B for unemployment benefits for us but they’re TOTALLY good w/ giving $3 trillion in tax cuts from all of us for the wealthiest Americans, by trying to save the GWB tax cuts.

    THAT’S the factual, statistical, ugly truth.

    Mo Rage, the blog

  10. madkane says:

    Thanks everyone for your thoughtful comments and kind words and thanks Jesse, for your limerick.