For those of you who keep harping on the 60 vote myth...

[ProudDad]

From an unusual source:

Tax-Cut Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda

"Keith Hennessey, a former economic adviser to President George W. Bush, lays out how he thinks the Democrats could — and should — have dealt with the Bush tax cuts:

"In early 2010, pass a budget resolution conference report that creates a reconciliation bill for the President’s preferred tax policy.

"This is the partisan path that would have eliminated Republicans’ ability to block the Democrats’ preferred policy. With a simple majority of the House and Senate, Democrats could have had a complete policy win."

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/10/tax-cut-woulda-coulda-shoulda/?src=busln

51 votes to pass -- just like the ORIGINAL BUSH TAX GIVE-AWAY!!!

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/mar/04/alan-grayson/bush-tax-cuts-were-passed-reconciliations-50-votes/

http://demopedia.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=538333&mesg_id=538610

[elias49]

1. Great! When is it going to be 'early 2010' again? eom

[ProudDad]

4. Proves the fix was in early

Obama "economic policies" = bush "economic policies"

[valerief]

8. Yep, sure looks that way. nt

[yurbud]

34. you nailed it.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. You Are So Silly

Harry Reid can just borrow Doc Brown's DeLorean...

[Still a Democrat]

40. He'll need to change the rules as he passes past July 2010 or so

The limit is one reconciliation per year

[mbperrin]

2. Thank you! Just more evidence of complicity or incompetence

of our elected officials.

[ProudDad]

12. Too true, too true (n/t)

[BrklynLiberal]

37. That must be the answer.....

:mad: :puke:

[Caretha]

46. I vote complicity

Obama etc. can't be that dumb. Why they are playing 13th dimensional chess, don't you know?

[ProudDad]

3. More

The Wrong Political Game

The administration didn't lose a game of political daring -- it failed to pay attention to the economy.

"Heading into a likely series of midterm-election defeats, Democratic incumbents would do well to remember two points -- large losses were likely inevitable, and insofar as they were avoidable, the party has only itself to blame for not handling the economy better.

"Conventional wisdom is likely to disagree with both claims. Jonathan Martin wrote in Politico Monday that Democratic leaders' growing criticisms of the flood of anonymous money into the midterm elections is morphing away from being a campaign gambit into "a main talking point to explain -- and fend off the recriminations over -- what many Washington Democrats assume will be a brutal election night." On the right, of course, Democratic losses will be spun as demonstrating that true Americans march to the tune of the Tea Party drum. Among the establishment, the results will be spun as showing what all election results are said to show -- that Democrats are too far left and need to move to the middle.

"The truth is simpler. The president's party usually loses seats in a midterm. Large congressional majorities are very vulnerable because the other guy is left with only his safest seats. Most of all, a bad economy is bad for incumbents. Specifically, as a nice set of charts from political scientist Seth Masket demonstrates, there's a significant correlation between growth in real disposable income and fewer losses for the president's party in Congress."

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_wrong_political_game


Hiring Summers and Geitner was the first nail in Obama's pResidential coffin...

[NorthCarolina]

6. I think the confusion arises from a misunderstanding of the 'President’s preferred tax policy'

To clear it up, the ONLY policy that he has publicly been pushing is the sol called 'compromise' policy. That, in a nusthell, IS quite obviously Obama's preferred tax policy.

[Tesha]

7. I see the unreccing crew is hard at work...

But history is history and this clearly was a path that
would have lead to success had they actually wanted
to succeed.

Tesha

[ProudDad]

15. They always show up when I post an OP

<shrug>

And a lot of them are spewing their venom in this one...

I'm sure you recognized their names in this thread but I'm not allowed to voice them on this new heavily censored version of DU...

[DemocratSinceBirth]

23. Why So Serious?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQHfoz9Be7U

[Aramchek]

30. did you consider that it's because your OPs are unrecommendable?

[Lorien]

41. Yep, they don't like the idea of having one of their best excuses exposed as a complete

lie. If this thread makes it much further up the Greatest page they'll be attacking the messenger and posting one unrelated link after another to distract, distort, and spin!

[Recursion]

45. Once. Per. Fiscal. Year.

It's really pretty simple.

[Recursion]

9. Nope. Reconciliation was already used in FY10. You get one per year

Once we get another budget and not a continuing resolution, we can do reconciliation again.

[SidDithers]

14. Facts are good...nt

Sid

[ProudDad]

16. Then you are just verifying my theory

that the Dems = repubs and the fix was in early...

Either that or the articles are right in assuming that the Dems are fucking stupid...

[Recursion]

21. Ummm... how?

Reconciliation was used to pass health care reform. Are you saying that was a fix to keep reconciliation from being used to repeal the tax cuts?

:tinfoilhat:

[ProudDad]

25. The fix was in on HCR...

So in order to pass a piece of shit that had NO public support and uniform republican "resistance" they pissed away their opportunity to include the bush tax-giveaways in the bill too...

The Dems are either stupid or complicit...

(I think they're complicit)

[uponit7771]

39. HCR could've been done through reconciliation? WOW...come on peope, we're supposed to be the ...

...informed ones

[ProSense]

10. Um

"Only one reconciliation bill can be passed in any given year."

At the Politifact link, Grayson was talking about reconciliation to pass the health care bill, and that's exactly what happened

Senate Passes Reconciliation Health Bill

Health Care Clears Final Hurdle: House Passes Reconciliation Bill

One per year, already used.

The Senate could pass a bill via reconcilation next year, but Republicans control the House.

[Recursion]

11. And I think only with an intervening budget act

Continuing resolutions don't "reset" the calendar, I think.

[ProudDad]

17. You are verifying my theory...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x562726#562786

[ProSense]

19. I'm doing no such thing. The OP is woefully inaccurate. n/t

[ProudDad]

20. Then they pissed away their chance...

They're either stupid or suborned...

[BklnDem75]

28. Maybe they're not psychics like you are

Perhaps everyone presumed the tax cut issue would be handled sooner rather than later during an election year. You can thank Congress for that, but for some reason, I think you're gonna blame Obama anyway, while giving Congress a pass, once again.

[ProudDad]

29. You should work on your reading comprehension "skills"

or read more of my posts...

I blame Obama and the cowardly Dems (everyone in Congress except a few real Progressives)...

It's shared Dem responsibility this time...

I NEVER GIVE CONGRESS "a pass"...they are as complicit as Obama and the republicans in the corporate takeover of USAmerica... :eyes:

[ProudDad]

31. Then you're saying they're stupid...

I prefer to think they're complicit...

It fits the facts more closely...

[BklnDem75]

32. Congress was stupid

No arguments there. All of a sudden they have a voice? Convenient.

[BklnDem75]

24. This fact is conveniently ignored

6 months and people are still talking reconciliation.

[progressoid]

43. Republicans control the House?

Already?

Gee, I know I overslept a little this morning but is it Jan 5th already?

[Catherina]

13. Rec'd, These facts aren't going away. n/t

[Teaser]

18. ProudDad is an expert on Senate Parliamentary procedure

so he should know.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

22. For Real

.

[ProudDad]

27. And you are, eh?

They COULD have used reconciliation to pass a lot of good stuff including repealing the bush tax-giveaway to the rich...

But they didn't...

They're either stupid or complicit...

They could STILL change the rules the same way that they put them in -- 51 votes...

[Still a Democrat]

42. In all honesty

Did you know the limit was one reconciliation per year?

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[stevenleser]

33. It's pathetic when an OP refuses to acknowledge responses that prove him wrong

and desperately clings to his original and now discredited meme.

[Ikonoklast]

36. This one always changes the subject when pinned down.

"I'm wrong, but I'm the one teaching penguins how to fly, so they can migrate away from Antartica when the ice sheets melt! So...there!"

[yurbud]

35. This would have required Obama and Reid to plan and play the rules on OUR behalf

neither has shown the desire to do so.

They would much rather claim the GOP is twisting their arm to make them carry water for the rich, which they had planned to do anyway.

[Still a Democrat]

38. One reconciliation per year is it

But this is still getting rec'd? Oy.

[izzybeans]

44. And that's where congressional leaders screwed us...

One can't blame just Obama for this.

Instead we went with the symbolic votes and let the Republicans hold 90% of the population hostage in favor of a few plutocrats.

Congress failed on this one. Big time.

[Occam Bandage]

47. Yes, Congress had the opportunity to deal with this before the election. They chickened out.

Since Congress didn't want to go on record as "raising Americans' taxes" before the election, we had to pass things the hard way.