Chicken Crap

"I'm trying to catch my breath so I don't refer to this maneuver going on today as chicken crap, alright?" Boehner said, according to Politico. "But this is nonsense. Alright? The election was one month ago. We're 23 months from the next election and the political games have already started, trying to set up the next election. We had an honest conversation at the White House about the challenges that we face to get out of here and to take care of what the American people expect of us. And they roll this vote out today, it really is just what you think I was going to say anyway."

~John Boehner

This is what the new Speaker of the House had to say in December, when the lame duck Democratic controlled congress called for an up or down vote for an extension of Bush Era tax cuts which would have maintained the current rates for 98 percent of Americans, families earning under $250,000, while letting the rates of the top two percent return to their pre-Bush-era rates.

As a refresher, back in 2003, tax cuts were passed by the then Republican controlled congress.

These tax cuts affected tax rates as follows:




As you can see, a married couple earning up to $46,700.00 a year, except for the narrow range between $12K and $14K, got no tax relief at all, while those earning over $300,000 a year got a 3.6 percent tax cut. To illustrate, a couple earning $500,000.00 a year got to keep $18,000.00 more of that income in 2003 and in subsequent years since then.

Boehner's accusation back in December was that the Democrats, knowing that the measure was doomed from the start, were engaging in political theater and playing games.

Now that the Republicans have taken control of the house, repealing the health care reform law is the first thing on their agenda.

Flexing its newfound muscles, and ignoring their newly minted rules, the incoming GOP majority is preparing to vote next week, without hearings or a chance to make changes, to cancel Obama's signature health care law, engaging in the same maneuver they were so outraged about only four weeks ago.

It looks like John Boehner and the whole Republican wing of the new congress are knee deep in the chicken crap. What a bunch of self-serving hypocrites! Barely a month ago, they were outraged that the Democrats would call for an up or down vote on a measure to extend tax relief to all but the wealthiest Americans, and now they are doing the same song and dance to pander to their base, knowing that the Senate is still controlled by Democrats and if, by some miracle, a repeal made it past the Senate, the President is sure to veto it. A little quid pro quo theater to pacify their campaign contributors.

Who would a repeal of the health care law benefit? Wealthy Americans have health care plans, and money to pay co-pays and deductibles, and other items which insurance does not cover, This is another example of the poor and the middle getting shit on so that the upper crust can continue to live the American dream.

Why poor and middle class voters continue to be dragged down the garden path is a complete mystery to me. Not extending the Bush Era tax cuts to the top two percent would have gone a long way in knocking down some of the deficits which seem so troubling to conservatives. It seems that they much prefer to whittle away at social programs, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, education and infrastructure than to saddle the wealthy with a 3.6 percent tax increase. I’ve been hearing that luxury goods made a strong come back this past Christmas season. I’m sure that is heartening news to the unemployed who are hoping like hell they don’t get sick because their insurance coverage left along with their jobs.

Chicken crap indeed.