The Lame Duck Bowl Games : Tea Party Scores
61Setting the Table
When it comes to judging how We the People and/or the Tea Party is faring in the ongoing attempts by Lame Duck Congress-critters to bankrupt America, football analogies work. That, and--as Rush Limbaugh puts it--considering "the way the table was set" on a given issue.
There are more games left to play. The 2010 Lame Duck Bowl Championship Series has yet to be decided. We have the New START Missile Tossing Contest, for one, as well as (undoubtedly) a few other events the public has yet to be informed even exist. But two games have been decided.
Let's take a looksee at the results.
The Tax Compromise Rumble
There's an old (and often true) saying: When you have a compromise that doesn't make anybody happy, you must have done it right. By that definition, the wheelie-deal hammered out between Republicans and Obama behind the Democrats' backs must be the most awesome piece of legislation since the Ten Commandments . You think those donkey party folks were ticked to find out their Savior had suddenly pulled on them what they'd been pulling on the Republicans for the past two years? Hoooo-eee!!!
They should have seen it coming. Big O will stab anybody if he's got the angle on your blind side. But the Dems--you know what? Their steamy-eared outrage reminds me of all those folks on the Survivor reality series who know from years of watching the show that no good deed goes unpunished...and then get all hacked off when their "alliance" falls apart and they're voted out.
"VOTED OUT"--does that sound familiar, donkey dudes and dudettes? Huh? Huh?
Okay, so they're hot, mad about not being able to steal big bucks from Daddy Warbucks and play with the stuff. Maintaining the current income tax rate gives those folks strokes.
Plus, we also see that Michelle Bachmann, Sarah Palin, and other conservatives are just as furious. Sarah, for example--bringing her notable way with words into play--calls the Tax Compromise a "lousy deal". Bachmann points out that the Social Security tax cuts aren't paid for, and that's going to be a problem. Sounds weird to hear Michelle griping about a tax cut, but this complaint is understandable--since it blows (in her words) "a gaping $100 billion hole in the Social Security Trust Fund".
Ouch.
When all of the Compromise provisions are considered, then...who won the Game? The overstuffed Lame Ducks or the conservative Tea Party patriots, none of whom are pleased with the outcome?
Late in the struggle to pass or not to pass (See? Told you football analogies worked?), it would have been fair (I think) to say the Quackers were ahead by a safety. Let's say the score was 23 to 21, Ducks, at that point.
Note to Oregon fans: That would be the Lame Ducks, not the Oregon Ducks. Settle down, now.
The Lame Stream Quackers had the ball inside the Tea Party 20 yard line. They could have just taken a knee a couple of times and run out the final seconds on the clock. But no, they just had to try for one change to the Compromise, a field goal if you will, a jacking up of the Death Tax rate. A salve for bruised liberal egos.
Amazingly enough, our heroes actually blocked the kick. Ran the ball back to the other 20, had time enough to kick their own field goal...and won the game 24 to 23.
It was a win because of the symbology involved. With a huge Democratic majority in the House, Nasty Nancy Pelosi's puppets failed to alter the bill by a hair.
That counts for something.
GAME #1: Tea Party over Lame Ducks, 24-23.
The Obomnibus Bill
The other Bowl Game played so far? Why, that would be the earmark porkfat $1.2 trillion monstrosity from Pelosi Palace, the incredibly arrogant, purse-busting, Stimulus II, loved-by-Barry, can't-wait-to-get-it-on-my-desk-to-sign Obomnibus bill the Speaker of the House zipped on over to Congress like a Hail Mary pass that would have been a blowout equivalent to a beating suffered by the Oregon Ducks when I lived there in 1973. That score was something like 61-7.
Fortunately, despite the receiver being apparently wide open, a miracle happened. Our side's free safety knocked down the pass, incomplete. Then, last play of the game, we made a goal line stand worth of any Super Bowl highlight reel ever filmed. Some of the Republican Senators who had already promised to vote for the bill...suddenly found backbone. They stiffened, told the Senate Majority Leader to take his gavel and stuff it. Out of nowhere, Harry Reid admitted from the podium that he didn't have the votes to pass the thing...and he pulled the bill from the Senate floor.
Now, We the People did have something to do with that. There's no question whatsoever that every Senator's D.C. office was deluged with blizzards of furious phone calls and emails from voters in every single state. It wouldn't be too surprising to find out that some of those who would have liked to vote against the country's best interests on the way out of that Lame Duck Door...were told not to bother coming back home if they voted for the Obomnibus.
Senator John McCain, with a big grin on his face, said it best, speaking to a reporter after the Senate chamber had otherwise emptied:
"What happened here? Did we just win?"
Yes, John. We did just win. We won big. And since it required a minimum of 41 votes to block Reid on this one, we know the score was high: 41-0.
We'll take it.
GAME #2: Tea Party over Lame Ducks, 41-0.
The Finale
We'll know who won the Lame Duck Bowl Championship Series on the morning of January 5, 2011. We'll know, because every sneaky bill that could have been put forward during the spooky-scary Lame Duck session of 2010 will be history. From that day forward, no more House Speaker Pelosi. No more Democratic majority.
No more excuses.
CommentsLoading...
Can't argue with that, Eovery. On a pure cash and carry basis, that is. But as for political capital, the Republicans gained a monster benefit: Whenever the left now tries to paint them as the "Party of No", they can (and will) point to the tax compromise and yell back, "No way!".
Might not be worth a lot now, but could make a helpful difference with the electorate in 2012.
Another good stop just surfaced: They killed the DREAM Act. By five votes in the Senate (it had passed the House). And, since the Lame Duckers are still in office for a few more milliseconds, that means some Democrats helped us out.
Which would mean that even if Instant Replay proves I scored the Tax Compromise wrongly, we're still up two Bowl Games to one.
Better keep tallying:
Tax Compromise: TBD; RESULTS BEING CHALLENGED
Obomnibus: TEA PARTY WIN
DREAM Act: TEA PARTY WIN
I laughed at your cartoon. For some reason, I imagined that under the teacup there was a face with blinders on, turned clockwise from their normal settings so that one blinder blocked the view of above, and the other blinder blocked the view of 'you guessed it' her bill (that's the bill of a lame-duck by the way). The bill had writing on it of course, saying 'speaker'.
Yeah, that's about the most awesome cartoon I've seen in a while...and your imaging of what's beneath the cup adds up to as good a guess as any.
Another great "hub". How every American doesn't see that death tax crap as a slap in the face? You bust your a$$ your entire life, amassing an estate for which you've already paid an assinine amount of taxes on every single line item... and in the end, even death can't spare you from these crooks... they want to turn around and RE-tax it all before you're allowed to pass anything on?
The LACK of a death tax has only been in force for a very little while. When my Mom passed in 2002, we 3 kids had the wonderful privilege of ponying up to Uncle Sam, for sure. Here's what the rates have been of late, according to a schedule available on a government website:
==============================
When Congress passed the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, it established the following annual schedule beginning in 2003 and concluding in 2011:
2003: Estate tax maximum rate lowered to 49%; state death tax credit reduced by 50%
2004: Estate tax maximum rate lowered to 48%; estate tax exemption increased to $1.5 million; state death tax credit reduced by 75%
2005: Estate tax maximum rate lowered to 47%; state death credit repealed and replaced by deduction
2006: Estate tax maximum rate lowered to 46%; exemption increased to $2 million
2007: Estate tax maximum rate lowered to 45%
2008: No change
2009: Estate tax exemption increased to $3.5 million
2010: Estate tax repealed
2011: Estate tax maximum rate increased to 55%; exemption decreased to $1 million
========================
In other words, if you're truly rich and getting ready to croak, you need to do it before New Year's Day. George Steinbrenner managed to do that (he passed in July), and his family is much better off financially for his awesome sense of timing. 2010 was the ONLY year in recent history with Zero Death Tax.
One of the factors favoring a "Tea Party wins" score for the Tax Compromise is that our sided DID shave off a fair chunk of what WOULD HAVE BEEN 55% above a $3.5 million exemption in 2011.
You hadn't realized they'd been doing this to our families "forever", I take it?
The Tax bill leaves a lot to be desired. Thee rates should have been made permanent so that individuals and businesses could have confidence that the rug won't be pulled out from under them in 2 years. The estate tax should be zero. This money has already been taxed. The Republicans should have held their ground.
Ideally, Pop, you're dead right. Plus, top conservatives totally agree with you. I'm simply a bit less pessimistic about the overall deal and a touch more willing to give the Republicans credit for what they did accomplish.
Plus--to look on the bright side--the irritation with the Tax Compromise expressed forcibly by Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, et al...there's no way that hasn't caught the attention of our Congress-critters. If it weren't for that fury coming at 'em, some of those weaker RINO types might have actually voted with Reid on the Obomnibus Bill.
Hidden benefits to these things! :)
Another good point was brought up by Mitch McConnel after the tax bill passed. Back in the 90's durring the Clinton administration, Congress passed several bills cutting taxes and coupled them with spending cuts. Every one of them was vetoed by then President Clinton. The liberal media always said that they were trying to pay for tax cuts for the rich by cutting services to the poor (sound familiar?). With this tax bill passed, spending cuts will be judged on their own merit, and wont be coupled to tax cuts. With the deficit such a hot topic, Obama will be hard pressed not to approve spending cut if he wants a shot at the Presidency in 2012.
Excellent pont, AJ. Makes sense to me.
eovery 17 months ago
The left got a lot on the tax bill. They could have waited 3 weeks and got more.
The Ombonis bill was a good stop.
Keep on hubbing!