Heh...just like Sarah Palin was?
Paul Ryan explains why he voted for the McConnell-Biden deal and H.R. 8.
In his words:
“We had been hit with a $4.4 trillion dollar tax increase yesterday, and I had the opportunity to knock it down by $3.8 trillion dollars. That means 98% of the country don’t get hit with a tax increase.”
To think that passing H.R. 8 was a “good choice” is clueless conservatism. The Republican Party is either the party of economic growth, or it is nothing—and being nothing loses elections. H.R. 8 is not something that anyone who is concerned about economic growth (and who knows how to produce it) would have agreed to.
From 2012 levels, H.R. 8 raised all of the taxes that negatively impact economic growth (the top rates on ordinary income, dividends, capital gains, and inheritances), while capping those that have little or no effect on the rate of GDP expansion. As a result, compared with maintaining all of the 2012 tax rates, H.R. 8 will reduce economic growth and yield lower, rather than higher, federal revenues.
Very deceptive. The reality is that the majority of the American people DID vote for a Democrat House of Representatives - by over 1.3 million votes actually. The only reason the Republicans hung on was through skillful gerrymandering.
The only person that I would even think of putting my gun and bible down long enough to go vote for is Rand Paul.
Is this really what the voters did? No way. It seems more like the electorate was more clueless than even the GOP. Confused, incapable of firing a failed and inept president for fear of not being cool, incapable of doing anything other than fearfully leaving the status quo to continue ruining all things good.
Let's hope the GOP has some kind light bulbs pop off in its collective heads before they continue acting as if they lost the House already. Let's hope that we as conservatives stop being the circular firing squad that enables the left to win forever.......
????
No, if the House GOP successfully held out for all the rates to revert to Clinton levels (beyond New Years Day) the American people would have seen them as the party that raised their taxes for the exact goal this author states he wants above, to get all the Bush rates.
This strategy only works if Obama got blamed for it and that wasn't happening, they would simply believe the House GOP raised their taxes for the purpose of exactly what this author suggests, to get all the upper income cut too.
. Either they all were going up or a small % were going up.
BTW : After most Americans figured the GOP raised their taxes (for the purpose this author states he wanted it done for_) and blames Rs for it instead of Dems this author would blame the failure of his great idea on the MSM in typical ritual fashion.
Maybe this author should have run for Speaker and shown us how it is done.
That's true, unless it borrows it from the Federal Reserve, instead.
To subscribe to the uninformed electorate, a sophistication necessary in their voting to send messages, indicates to me the author doesn't know the voting public.
Poll after poll of the voting public shows how ill informed they are about Government and the candidates. - Tom
I agree--and frequently posted articles to that effect at my Conservative Intelligence Center, in the previous decade--that George W. Bush was "clueless." But he was certainly no Conservative. Calling oneself a "Conservative," is not, after all, the measure.
On the other hand, Ryan has some superb qualities. Does he sometimes makes mistakes? Yes. He is still developing. But rather than denounce him, personally, for making a mistake in common with many others; why not simply explain why what you believe was a mistake, was--in fact--a mistake?!
The essential point is that we have to persuade many millions of Americans, that we are on a totally disastrous path; that we must reverse that path--either by political or other means--or we are going to lose the heritage that all true Conservatives cherish. Can't we concentrate on the issues for a time, rather than denouncing those who while not perfect are still 85% on our side? Have we forgotten the brief surges of those changing their perspectives, after the Reagan victory in 1980--something reversing the shifts against us, after the Roosevelt shift to the Left in 1933; or the LBJ use of the Kennedy Assassination in 1964?
With the right formulas for persuasion; people can be converted, either in a good or bad way. Constantly attacking those not quite completely on our side, is rather a precise way not to aid the path to benign conversion.
William Flax
P.S. Check out Whither American Conservatism.
This author and this article are DEAD ON right!!!
If you stop and think about it, most of the ‘clueless conservatives’ do have been sold on the belief that the economy depends on what the government does or does not do. This is what it’s come down to.
Yes, the govt can ‘incentivize’ or ‘penalize’ by way of the tax code, but all this talk of “STIMULUS” (govt spending)...starting with BUSH...was nothing but ‘political’ shenanigans, that ultimately cost the taxpayers (the ‘hardworking’ ones).
And, yes, the Paul Ryans out there are nothing but ‘GOVT’ solutions politicians. Sadly the Republican party is now dominated by these so-called ‘clueless conservatives’ (i.e. Keynesian types).
The debate, sadly, has been - and continues to be - shaped by the ‘socialist’ ideology of GOVT can control the economy.....and the ‘clueless conservatives’ have bitten the bait to engage in debating ‘the degree’ of that ‘involvement’.
Wake up! Smell the bacon!!!!
I’m not a member of any party, though I once donated to a Republican candidate and I once voted in a Republican primary - only once in both cases. I’m convinced the entire political class at every level is rampant with crooks, shysters, thugs, vapid liers and traitors.
I’ve come to the realization that similar to how the Democrats co-opted the term libralism about 100 years ago the Republican Rinos have been worked to co-opt the term conservative.
I’ve decided however with this co-opt that I will only profess my political belief in one way. I’m for Freedom and Liberty. If you want my vote you must show me how you will protect or expand my freedom and liberty.
No values discussions, no financial discussions, no explanations or reasons or excuses. If you decrease the freedom and liberty of me or mine you are the enemy - end of story.
I learned that people do what they mean rather than say what they mean, and this is especially true with politicians.
What I see is a party suffering with the same internal progressive takeover the country is suffering. The eGOP types would much rather lose to their kindred spirits across the isle than have a true Reaganesque conservative in the party win.
What else explains their abandoning Palin and her family to the attacking left, including McLame's lack of effort? They want to eliminate that threat? I think so.
They don't believe the words conservatism makes them say, economically or otherwise. Those thoughts and ideas, along with those who speak them from the heart, make them uncomfortable.
So...they sell out. They compromise instead of take the win, lose instead of fight, and all while they search for tested sound bites they can use to cover their tracks to what appears to be their deliberate loses.
Maybe McLame was right when he said we had nothing to fear from obama. It's the eGOP sellouts we should be afraid of.