Democrats Finally Say, "Enough!"

There's no more room for debate. This is not a budget issue. Republicans have been officially hijacked by the hard right teabaggers and their corporate masters. They lied to get elected and have launched into a full assault on all social programs. They especially want to pick on the poorest, weakest, sickest and oldest. Right now in their site is Planned Parenthood (next year will be Medicare) and other lesser known womens health clinics. They're willing to shut down the government in order to stop poor women and men from accessing affordable care. Evidently the folks who rely on these clinics for breast and cervical cancer screenings to STD testing and contraception are not worthy. The constant lies from the likes of Mike Pence (R-IN) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ) have just fueled the uninformed into a frenzy. For all their bravado about abortion, the Guttmacher Institute reported that nation’s abortion rate would be two-thirds higher and the rate for poor women would be twice as high without PP. So if they want less abortions, why would you close down a service that provides birth control? This is all about repealing every advance women have made over the past 40 years before the move onto all advances the middle-class has made for the past 70 years. How can anyone, especially women vote for the party with one hand in your wallet and the other hand on your uterus? I fear for women in this country if we don't fight back. Meanwhile, these old men are staying active with little blue pills while trying to force every woman who is sexually active to become an incubator, willing or not. This is just wrong. To their credit, in a joint statement that I heard on the radio, Senate Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Patty Murray (D-WA) indicated that their caucus is solid and this is a bridge they will not cross. I couldn't find the complete video that included Murray unfortunately.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The GOP Says Deficits Don't Matter if Helping the Wealthy

Senate Republican Jon Kyl (R-AZ) says that Congress should extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans regardless of their impact on the deficit. Meanwhile, he and other Republicans are blocking unemployment insurance extensions over deficit concerns! We've been at this rodeo before. The unpaid for tax cuts for the rich at the expense of working people is the same backwards policy Republicans used to put the nation in this hole, and it's the same policy they promise to return to if put in a position of power again. As exasperating as the Democrats can be, we can not let Republicans back into power.

In an election year, you'd think the framing of this argument couldn't be more advantageous for Democrats.  However are Democrats going to act like Democrats always have and cut a deal in which getting unemployment benefits extended will come at the cost of extending the Bush tax cuts as well or will they finally show some backbone and say not this time?!

Rachel Maddow made several great points yesterday on Meet the Press while debating both former chairman of the Republican National Committee, Ed Gillespie and former Democratic Congressman Harold Ford Jr. (who seemed shocked she took on the other "Dem" at the table) when they sang the praises of tax cuts.

"When Republicans have had the reins, this is what they've done: two wars not paid for, prescription drug benefit not paid for, two tax cuts that mostly benefited the rich not paid for." They put all that stuff on the deficit, $1.3 trillion sitting there as--in a deficit when Obama took over, after the previous Democratic president had handed him a surplus. If you talk about--if Republicans want to run as this fiscally responsible party, it's neat, but it's novel. It's not how they've actually governed."

Several moments of back and forth with Gillespie and New York Times columnist David Brooks beating their chests on how conservative policies are awesome and drooling over new New Jersey, Governor Christie (R) and how he is taking on the government employee unions there. Funny how they didn't mention how Christie handed out $1 billion in tax cuts to families who earn more than $400,000, the richest two percent and cut that same amount from education spending ($800+M) and other social programs which help the middle class and the poor.  I wish Rachel had brought it up because David "Bushy" Gregory sure wouldn't.  Then she continued...

"I think that most Americans also, though, understand the basic arithmetic that when you're talking about pushing tax cuts that do mostly benefit the wealthy and you're simultaneously talking about getting tough on the deficit, you're talking about a world in which math doesn't work the way most people think it works. If you're going to talk about tax cuts--I mean, Harold, you, as a Democrat, proposed some very significant tax cuts when you were thinking about running for Senate in, in New York, a huge corporate tax cut, a big payroll tax holiday, and then said simultaneously, And we got to get serious about the deficit."

"Tax cuts hurt the deficit."