The slow-motion train wreck that has been the Progressive Movement, over the last four years, has been a disaster to behold, and breaks my heart. I assumed that we'd be obliged to undergo the mass disillusionment of a new generation of Democrats. The new kids had all the energy, and as I saw personally on the streets of New Hampshire while my campaign office worked around Laconia, Obama's people had all the energy and enthusiasm.
I'm writing to call for an end to all the Bush Administration Tax Cuts. While I'd like to see the tax cuts extended for middle and lower income Americans, it's too small a consideration to be conceded to Republicans.
When do Democrats learn to play the kind of hardball Republicans have been beating us with for my whole life? Republicans now intend to make perpetuating Bush's tax cuts their condition for legislative cooperation:
The Republicans' price for civility. . .
The blunt threat was made in a letter to the majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, and signed by all 42 Senate Republicans. And it was reiterated by the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, in a speech in which he accused Democratic leaders and Mr. Obama of ignoring the midterm election results.
My recollection of the Republican position from after the 2008 Election is pretty good. What I heard Republicans say as their rationalization for holding up Presidential Appointments was: "We're paying very close attention to election results and doing the job we were elected to do."
If the results of the last election should have taught us anything, it's that Americans want representatives who will fight the opposition and make a convincing case for doing so.