Posted on 12/30/2002 4:13:26 PM PST by Republic of Texas
Because I want to be a truly informed and well-rounded individual, I subscribe to an e-newsletter of the Democratic National Committee – called Democratic News.
Now, I usually don't mind when Republicans bash Democrats or when Democrats trash Republicans. I'm an independent, so I don't take any of it personally. And, frankly, most of the time, I try to be a plague on both their houses.
But the latest issue of this e-rag from the Democratic National Committee is amazingly deceitful – transparently so, deliberately so, shamefully so.
Maybe it's a joke – a parody?
"It's almost too ridiculous to believe – but that's the Bush White House for you!" it begins. "President Bush and the GOP think that low- and middle-income working families don't pay enough taxes!"
OK, now, I'm in the news business. And, frankly, if such a statement were uttered by any elected official in the Republican Party, let alone Bush, it would make the Trent Lott debacle look like the greatest public-relations coup of the century.
So, I feel safe in reporting to you, America, that this never happened. Nothing like it ever happened. Nothing remotely like it. But the outright, bald-faced, blatant lies continue.
"The Wall Street Journal said America's poorest families are 'lucky duckies' because they pay less taxes than the fat-cat CEOs who fill Bush's campaign coffers," the DNC says.
Now, I could go on with more of this absurdity, but you get the point. Let's deal now with some facts about the 2002 election cycle brought to light by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Prepare to be shocked:
Republicans raised more than Democrats from individuals who contributed small and medium amounts of money;
It was the Democrats who outpaced the Republicans among the "fatcats";
Among donors who gave more than $200, but less than $1,000, Republicans raised $68 million to the Democrats' $44 million;
Among those who gave $1,000 or more, Republicans raised $317 million to the Democrats' $307 million;
Donors of $10,000 or more gave $140 million to the Democrats and only $111 million to the Republicans.
Among those who gave $100,000 or more, Democrats raised $72 million to the Republicans' $34 million.
Among those who gave $1 million or more, the Democratic Party raised $36 million to $3 million for the Republicans.
Fatcats? It sounds like the Democrats have practically a monopoly on them.
The lying party has done pretty well. I think about half this country believes the liars. What does that say about the Republicans? To me, it says they're stupid – really, really dumb.
Surely they have access to this same information and the means to show up their competition – really take them on. But they don't, they let their opposition, which has nothing to offer but lies, set the political agenda. The Republicans just react.
President Bush doesn't want to raise taxes on the poor and middle-class. Republicans don't want to do that. Quite the contrary, the idiots in the Republican Party have given tax "rebates" to some of these people who didn't pay any taxes at all!
Democrats have to lie to compete even with an incredibly stupid party like the Republicans.
Some of the lies are downright mean – like this one from the same newsletter: "Bush's heartless decision to cut $300 million in heating assistance will cost Americans their lives!"
In other words, Bush is murdering poor, innocent, elderly Americans who can't afford to heat their homes without the help of the federal government. Never mind the fact that the Constitution in no way authorizes anything remotely like subsidies for home heating bills. Never mind whether the federal government is the best vehicle for determining this kind of need. Never mind whether the federal government solves problems or makes them worse. Never mind whether it's fair that some of us are forced to pay our own heating bills and those of our neighbors.
Never mind any of that. You'll never hear it from the Republicans.
This isn't about fair and honest debate with the Democrats. This is about defamation, the politics of personal destruction, incendiary hate speech of the worst kind.
And Tom Daschle has the nerve to attack talk radio?
Maybe you'd like to tell the Democratic National Committee what you think of these tactics – of these lies, of this kind of demagoguery.
Here's the contact information.
Remember, according to present and past behavior on behalf of the repubs, bipartisanship means: conceding small amounts to the democrats, rather than winning any concessions at all.
In addition to stating on FNC that she hopes that we do poorly in the war so that Bush will not be re-elected, Ratner's current column on WND tells the same blatant lie that Farah is complaining about in this article.
From Ratner's column:
"...they will succeed in ... in ... in turning an awful budget deficit into a horrific one and such will force them to actually raise taxes on ... on ... on the backs of the working class.
"Think I made this up? Nah! It is already being reported that the White House has directed the Treasury Department to study the possibility of raising taxes on the bottom 50 percent of income earners."
This has been the pattern for years. The media will simply not report it.
I wish that could be true. Today, something like 48% of the voting population pays no income taxes at all. That's dangerous for the economy. When over half the voters can vote to make the highest earners pay more tax, we get more lower income people and fewer entrepenuers or business folk.
It's only when all of the voters are equally invested in gov't that we can get responsible gov't.
Your points are well taken. In addition, these voters will (directly or indirectly) vote themselves largesse from the government because someone else will have to pay for it. America the land of free money as long as you stay on the DemocRAT plantation where you can have "pride".
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