The GOP throws abortion, gay marriage, and dead women on respirators out there to motivate these folks--but their agenda is and always will be taking care of Big Business, Big Oil, and the SuperWealthy. Cutting taxes for the rich has always been what they have fought for time and time again. Under Bush, the burden has been completely placed on the working middle class while the rich enjoy their lowest tax rates in American history. Click here, here, here, and here. (PS--rent Maxed Out from Blockbuster this weekend.)
This has NEVER been about promoting "family values"--re: evagelical beliefs on abortion, gay marriage, and euthanasia. (Sidenote--notice "helping the poor", which unlike these issues, is mentioned in every book in the Bible, was dropped from list.)
The evangelical voters are to be used, not actually catered to.
But what happens when an evangelical actually buys into this crap and thinks he's really a part of all of this?
You get Mike Huckabee.
I have said previously that he was getting shunned by the establishment, which includes Pat Robertson and his ilk. And now he has actually won something and is a real contender. John McCain is the establishment candidate, Rudy is acceptable--but Huckabee? That was NOT supposed to happen. And you know what? The establishment is not letting this happen. The attacks from the right have begun, and he will not be the nominee.
I am not one for making predictions, but I promise you the nominee for the GOP will be McCain or Guiliani. You can take that to the bank and cash it now.
By the way, I am not the only one who said this. The VoteMaster at www.electoral-vote.com said the same thing in a brilliant post. (Click the link to see all the hyperlinks):
The bashing of Mike Huckabee--from the Republicans--has begun. See here, here, here, here, and here. Not a peep from the Democrats. They like Huckabee. They think he's in over his head and will be easy prey in November, in the unlikely event he gets that far. It's the Republican establishment that hates Huckabee. The reason is clear but the media are scared to talk about it. The truth is what the current administration really cares about is tax cuts, expecially big ones for the rich. What was the first thing George Bush after Jan. 20, 2001? Tax cuts, including lowering the top marginal rate from 39.6% to 35%. If you are making $10 million a year, that's $460,000 extra in your pocket. After Bush's 2004 victory, he said that the election gave him political capital and he intended to spend it. So what did he do? He spent two months traveling around the country trying to sell a plan to privatize (read: phase out) social security. He didn't spend two months trying to get a constitutional amendment banning abortions or forbidding same-sex marriages. He could have, but didn't want to spend his political capital that way. Even when pleasing the Base was cheap he didn't do it. Remember that his long-time friend, Harriet Miers, was his first Supreme Court nominee, and he asked her to withdraw only after the Base protested loudy. The Republican party's dirty little secret is that upper management really doesn't care much about the social issues; they care about taxes. They trot out the social issues just before each election to whip the Base up into a frenzy and conveniently forget about them after winning. Huckabee is a real threat because he sincerely believes in the Bible. He's not just making it up to get votes. He's become their Frankenstein monster and must be eliminated. [emphasis added]
PS--To add something, you and I got a tax break as well. It amounted to a little under 40 dollars. The Oil companies, who are raking in the largest profits in human history, got "needed" tax breaks worth millions. When these trailer-park hicks wise up to this, the party will be over. The GOP is counting on keeping them ignorant. We will see what happens.
In the meantime, I am really enjoying watching the GOP establishment squirm over Huckabee. They deserve him.
According to Newsweek, the hidden agenda for the tax cuts is to only tax those who earn a salary or wage while completely abolishing investment income.
ReplyDeleteBush wants to significantly lower taxes on capital income, such as dividends and capital gains; create two huge investment shelters; and eliminate the inheritance tax. Almost all income would come form paychecks. Those who earn income from investments, the wealthiest of Americans, would not have to pay anything. This would create a breed of aristocrats that will be able to inherit a billion, tax-free, invest it, compound the interest, and pass it to their heirs with no taxation whatsoever. In return, the middle class and poor will have to pay full taxes on everything they make. This is not only wrong, it is very bad policy: the problem lies in the fact that the majority of the wealth in this nation is held by a very, very small percentage. So if the richest of the rich aren't paying taxes, we have no chance of balancing the books. Newsweek (04/12/04)
The Tax Cut Folly: A distributional analysis released by Citizens for Tax Justice shows that when the tax plan is fully phased in:
The typical tax cut for the median income taxpayer will be $600 a year.
For the 78 million taxpayers in the lowest 60 percent of the income scale, the tax cut will average $347 a year.
In contrast, at the top of the income scale the average tax cut will be $53,000 annually--virtually identical to the $54,000 annual tax cut proposed by the President.
"Congress has given the President what he truly cared about--gigantic tax cuts for the rich," said Robert S. McIntyre, director of Citizens for Tax Justice. "But Congress reneged on its promise to honor fiscal responsibility. Instead of a tax cut one-quarter less in size than the President's plan, Congress actually increased the fully-phased-in cost of the tax cuts by a fifth."
"As a result, over the upcoming years, average taxpayers will pay dearly for this tax cut plan in reduced public services, a return to budget deficits or, most likely, both." Citizens for Tax Justice (05/26/01)