Jones, whose father was a Democrat Congressman from NC until 1992 or so, is a former Democrat (he came very close to being elected to Congress as one in the black-majority NC-01 in 1992, falling just 2% short of avoiding a runoff in the Dem primary), but used to be a solid conservative. However, after he did a 180 on the Iraq War and started opposing it he began to vote liberal on a lot of issues, probably due to his new “friends” in the anti-war caucus (most of whom were liberals). This type of economic populism doesn’t surprise me coming from Jones, especially since he no longer cares much about loyalty to the GOP to keep it in check.
Jimmy Duncan is also the son of a Congressman, and he has represented his daddy’s old Knoxville CD for years. He has cast many disappointing votes in the past, but this vote surprised me.
Ron Paul is ether an idiot or a lunatic or both. He’s the type of guy who could easily vote against a package that reduces taxes for everyone because the bill also includes a statement in support our ally Israel, under the “principle” that the Constitution does not specifically authorize Congress to pass symbolic statements of support. Few people miss the forest for the trees as bad as Ron Paul. Here Paul played into the hands of Pelosi and Obama by voting for a bill that, if it passes the Senate and gets signed into law by Obama (and the Senate is obviously our only chance at stopping it), will make it impossible for a tax increase for the higher tax brackets to go into effect on January 1 and go away any time soon.
Republicans can’t let the higher-bracket tax rates be treated differently from those for lower brackets, or else the Democrats will be able to use their standard demagoguery to say the the Republicans want “tax cuts for the rich” instead of lower tax rates for everyone. For example, we can’t allow for the tax rates for lower brackets to be made “permanent” (i.e., unexpiring on January 1) while the tax rates for higher brackets are merely extended for two years, since two years from now they will likely win the propaganda war. And what those three Republicans voted for is even worse, since tax rates for the higher brackets would not even be extended temporarily, so our economy will take yet another hit starting on January 1 (Democrats still don’t understand that those in the higher brackets tend to be the ones that create jobs when the government doesn’t bleed them dry).
Republicans should either vote to make all the tax rates “permanent,” or to extend all the tax rates for two years. Any other vote plays into the hands of the Democrats and will harm the U.S. economy, especially in the long term.
I agree with your opinion 100% Divide and conquer has been an underlying strategy of the left for decades now.
Thank you for the details on Jones and the info on Duncan. I knew nothing about him at all. I don’t know what can be expected from somebody from Knoxville. Knoxville seems to be somewhat of a city of poor, parasitic types rather than an upbeat, successful area. It seems kind of like a smaller version of Memphis, but my take is based on just one trip through the area and what I read of the place in connection with the Christian-Newsome murders. Not impressive.