President Bill Clinton on B*sh Tax Cuts For the Rich - 2004 Democratic Convention

[blazerunner]

...At home, the president and the Republican Congress have made equally fateful choices, which they also deeply believe in.

For the first time when America was in a war footing in our whole history, they gave two huge tax cuts, nearly half of which went to the top 1 percent of us.

Now, I'm in that group for the first time in my life.

And you might remember that when I was in office, on occasion, the Republicans were kind of mean to me.

But as soon as I got out and made money, I became part of the most important group in the world to them. It was amazing. I never thought I'd be so well cared for by the president and the Republicans in Congress. I almost sent them a thank you note for my tax cuts until I realized that the rest of you were paying the bill for it. And then I thought better of it.

Now look at the choices they made, choices they believed in. They chose to protect my tax cut at all costs while withholding promised funding to the Leave No Child Behind Act, leaving 2.1 million children behind.

They chose to protect my tax cut, while cutting 140,000 unemployed workers out of their job training programs, 100,000 working families out of their child care assistance, and worst of all, while cutting 300,000 poor children out of their after-school programs when we know it keeps them off the streets, out of trouble, in school, learning, going to college and having a good life.

They chose — they chose to protect my tax cuts while dramatically raising the out-of-pocket costs of health care to our veterans and while weakening or reversing very important environmental measures that Al Gore and I put into place, everything from clean air to the protection of our forests.

Now, in this time, everyone in America had to sacrifice except the wealthiest Americans. And most of us, almost all of us, from Republicans to independents and Democrats, we wanted to be asked to do our part, too. But all they asked us to do was to expend the energy necessary to open the envelopes containing our tax cuts. Now, if you like these choices and you agree with them, you should vote to return them to the White House and the Congress.

If not, take a look at John Kerry, John Edwards and the Democrats. We've got a different economic policy...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/26/politics/main632008.shtml


transcript portion at 9:43--->>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nKwDhjY_m0

[Imagevision]

1. At least the repugs are fighting to protect Clintons Bush era tax hikes

Thank you John Boner

[blazerunner]

2. Bill Clinton 2005

Clinton also took particular issue with the Bush administration’s penchant for tax cuts that benefit high-income people such as himself, and the country’s subsequent dependence on foreign loans. “We’ve never cut taxes in wartime before, and asked other countries to pay for it,” he says. “We can go forward together, but not if people like me demand a free ride, while we send the children of middle-class America and poor America around the world to put their lives in danger and refuse to pay for it.”

He questioned the ethics and the wisdom of such economics, which he said uses 80 percent of the world’s savings in order to loan the United States necessary funds. “Until this country walks away from it, we are going to pay the price. Other people aren’t stupid; they know we do this. Don’t you think people around the world know this about us? Don’t you think this has something to do with the way they look at us?”

http://www.wakemag.org/cities/putting-students-in-their-places/
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/11/05_mccalluml_clinton/

[Vicar In A Tutu]

3. And back then, perhaps there was hope that it could be changed

But Republicans do not govern any more. They merely take hostages. Their audacity and lack of compassion is such, that people like Obama and Clinton were left with little choice.

[blazerunner]

4. kick

[phleshdef]

5. No inconsistency. Bill Clinton still opposes tax cut extensions for the wealthy.

He made that clear during the presser.

[Martin Eden]

6. Thanks for clearing that up.

I was under the (apparently false) impression that at the presser Bill Clinton was lending his support to Obama's recent "compromise" with the Republicans.

Because, it would be extremely inconsistent to oppose tax cuts for the rich yet still lend support to Obama on this.

[phleshdef]

7. Obama and Clinton both oppose them.

They also both oppose middle class tax increases and allowing a huge gap in unemployment benefits for those that haven't yet exhausted them. When you are between a rock and a hard place, you go with the hard place.

[Martin Eden]

9. Looks like we can never again say that Obama Rocks!!!

But seriously, did it ever cross the president's mind for just one minute that the Republican's were between an even bigger rock and a harder place?

The Democrats for a few more weeks have majorities in both chambers of Congress and have White House Veto power -- in other words, they hold considerably more political power and will continue to hold more power after the Republican majority is seated in the House.

Unfortunately, on the field of political battle President Obama bargains as if he is outnumbered on every front -- even though he was holding the winning hand on this issue! Hell, even Republican voters were against extending tax cuts to the rich!!

The president needed to stand firm and call the Republicans on their bluff even if they weren't bluffing, for two reasons:

1) The Republicans would pay a much higher political price, unless the Dems are totally inept at political messaging.

2) Obama's "compromise" legislation does more long term harm than good to the American people, especially the middle and working class.

[tritsofme]

8. He stole the show.

That was a great speech.