The leadership in the House and Senate are playing a dangerous game of chicken that just might result in the crashing and burning of Democratic majorities in both houses. Chickenshit blue dogs are preventing either from blinking first on the tax debate, as Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell explained last night. Clip and more "after the fold," as the kids say.
The House could have this vote and pass a bill, but they'd rather not. The Senate probably wouldn't get the 60 votes that are somehow necessary, but why should that prevent them from having the vote? Forcing Republican senators to vote against tax cuts would be a perfect opportunity for a campaign ad. I'm doing this from memory with minimal research (*coughgooglecough*), so call it a rough draft with estimated figures:
OMINOUS NARRATOR: In 2001, George Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress passed sweeping tax cuts that, along with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, added (billions?) to our national debt and turned a $236 billion surplus into a record $455 billion deficit. Using reconciliation -- something they themselves have called a "parlementary trick" -- tax breaks were given overwhelmingly not to those with the greatest need, but to the wealthiest among us.
(video / graphics / audio of Bush and R's ritzing it up, perhaps Dubya's "Some call you the elite, I call you my base" quote)
NARRATOR: The Republicans are the ones who voted on the 2010 expiration date for these tax cuts. The Democratic leadership tried recently to make these tax cuts permanent for 95% of you, but what did the Republicans, including <fill-in-your-senator's name> do?
(C-SPAN video / audio of local senator voting "No" on tax bill)
NARRATOR: (Fill-in-your-senator's-name) VOTED to raise your taxes. It's your turn to vote.
Apologies for the short diary; I'm at work trying to type between calls (it's taken 90 minutes to write this so far :), but I'm just too pissed to not say something. You can't win a fight you run away from. As Rachel asked, do Dems think they can cower down and win votes by accident? Wayne Gretzky said it best, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." Take the shot.