Tax cuts losing force as constituents question deficit, help for rich

[Richard Tafoya]

Boston Globe:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/wa...y_on_the_hill/

Support for tax cuts -- a signature campaign issue for congressional Republicans -- is waning on Capitol Hill, with the GOP-led Congress reaching its Independence Day recess with no tax-trimming victories to tout in home districts.

...

Some lawmakers said their constituents, who once clamored for tax cuts, have recently begun quizzing them about the deficit and questioning whether the tax cuts were doing more for wealthier Americans than the middle class.

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Brian Riedl, a budget analyst with the Heritage Foundation, lamented that ``unfortunately, even Republicans are starting to support tax increases. So many lawmakers have become addicted to spending and as the budget deficit grows, their solution is to find more taxes to pay for more spending," said Riedl, whose group advocates lower taxes. ``Lawmakers are prioritizing runaway spending over tax relief."

...

``The coalition of conservative and moderate Republicans has broken apart. As a result, the Republicans may have a numerical majority on paper, but they don't have a working majority," said Stan Collender , a budget expert with Qorvis Communications. ``A lot of the tax cuts went through because Republican moderates thought they couldn't go against the majority," but ``the president's popularity is in the tank and the Republican moderates are feeling their oats," Collender said.

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Unable to make headway on the defining issue of taxes, Republicans have been pushing a series of measures on such hot-button issues as gay marriage, flag burning and gun control. House Republicans have dubbed their package the ``American Values Agenda," and plan to take it up when lawmakers return July 10.

So far, the GOP has not been successful at passing the bills; the Senate failed to approve a constitutional amendment to ban flag-burning last week, and a House panel later failed to approve legislation barring federal courts from hearing challenges to the Pledge of Allegiance.

But the bills are widely seen as symbolic, and meant to draw attention to the issues and energize conservative voters.

``They were in danger of losing their hard-core supporters, and they don't have anything else," Collender said.

[DoubleEdgeSword]

If politicians keep insisting that the voters are clueless and stupid, and can't see right through this "values" legislative nonsense, then they all deserve to be tossed out on their asses.