I know I'm not the first person to comment on this today; both Vyan on this site, and Laurence O'Donnell on Countdown, have been very articulate in raising the point. But this is such a glorious moment in Obama-Era Politics that I think it deserves a little more attention and analysis. And maybe a few nyaah-nyaahs while I'm at it.
Today, 85 congressional Republicans (including Eric Cantor) voted for the largest increase in the marginal income tax rate in the history of our nation. And not only did they vote for the increase, they did so in an explicit attempt to prevent American workers from realizing the lawful fruits of their labor, because less pampered Americans did not want those workers to get that much money.
In other words, those socialists Republicans voted in favor of an astronomical, even confiscatory tax increase for the express purposes of (1) furthering class conflict and (2) spreading the wealth.
It just doesn't get any better than that.
And the best part is the implications for the dynamics of inter-party wrangling in the coming months and years.
The basic facts, for anyone who managed to get through the day without hearing about it: Today House Dems introduced a bill to impose a 90 percent tax on bonuses paid since Dec. 31 to employees with family incomes above $250,000 at companies that have received at least $5 billion in government bailout money.
At first the Republicans appeared set, yet again, to act out en masse their core political philosophy: "Just Say No." But when it became clear that the bill was going to pass with or without them on board, a goodly chunk of them apparently decided that while a little bit of principle (however misguided) can be a good thing, there's no sense being a damn fool about it, especially when one's political future is at stake. So 85 Republicans, including the illustrious Cantor, voted for the bill.
Let that sink in. The party that opposes an increase of a few percentage points in the capital gains tax, instantly demands tax cuts as THE solution to every problem from recession to dandruff, decries the estate tax as a wholly illegitimate death tax, and is screaming bloody murder at Obama's calls to allow tax cuts to expire, raising rates for the wealthiest Americans by just a few percentage points -- congresscritters from that party crawled out from under their rocks by the dozens today to enact a tax rate larger than any of the tax bogeymen they have railed against so loudly, for so long.
Not since Hillary Clinton's famous comment about the Commander-in-Chief threshhold has a prominent politician done anything to guarantee so much future grief for his or her party. Just imagine the fun we're going to have the next time Eric Cantor starts spewing his wad about taxes.
Liberal use of the words "hypocrites" and "hypocrisy" will be de rigeur. "Congressman, how is this 4% tax increase more onerous than the 55% tax increase you voted for last March?" "Oh, please, Congressman. Are you seriously claiming to stand on principle when you supported depriving AIG executives of 90% -- NINETY PERCENT -- of income that they were lawfully and contractually entitled to, just to appease the resentment of the voters so you could keep your job??"
I haven't been this giddy since Inauguration Day.