The Official Republican Debates Thread

[red states rule]

RSR, have you had your Klan Robes dry cleaned lately?

That is you, 3rd from the right back row isn't it?

Na, that is your brother

standing next to him is Sen Byrd - he runs the laundry service

You took the picture for them

 

[TeddyRoosevelt]

is the RepubliKKKan party the rich white-man's party? Because they are all-inclusive? The $10,000-a-plate dinners? Their opposition to social programs to help the poor and minoroities? Their opposition to raising the minimum wage? Their lack of support for labor unions? Their opposition to women's rights? Their support of the intolerant religious right? Their disregard for our Constitution- especially the 1st, 4th and 8th Amendments? Their out-of-control deficit spending without raising taxes? Their tax cuts that favor only their wealthiest constituents? Take your pick-

 

[CSM]

is the RepubliKKKan party the rich white-man's party? Because they are all-inclusive? The $10,000-a-plate dinners? Their opposition to social programs to help the poor and minoroities? Their opposition to raising the minimum wage? Their lack of support for labor unions? Their opposition to women's rights? Their support of the intolerant religious right? Their disregard for our Constitution- especially the 1st, 4th and 8th Amendments? Their out-of-control deficit spending without raising taxes? Their tax cuts that favor only their wealthiest constituents? Take your pick-

Now that you mention it, I have noticed how econimically inhibited the leading democrats are...I mean Kerry, Gore, Edwards and all the rest barely have two pennies to rub together. Maybe you should take up a collection for those poor souls!

 

[TeddyRoosevelt]

for concurring on what Repubs stand for. Dems can be wealthy too- don't feel too bad about that now. I know you want to keep all the wealth to yourselves.

 

[CSM]

for concurring on what Repubs stand for. Dems can be wealthy too- don't feel too bad about that now. I know you want to keep all the wealth to yourselves.

naw, I just don't want YOU to have it!

Thanks for concurring on what Dems stand for....taking money they didn't earn....and you should feel bad about that!

 

[TeddyRoosevelt]

Ummm....link???

 

[CSM]

Ummm....link???

Just as soon as you post one for:

"I know you want to keep all the wealth to yourselves"


Until then.....

 

[TeddyRoosevelt]

so????

 

[CSM]

so????

Didn't we go through this a few days ago?

 

[red states rule]

Perhaps TR should get some updated DNC talking points

1) Tax cuts go to people who pay taxes. The top 25%of earners pay 85% of all Federal income taxes (this is after the Bush tax cuts)

2) With a Federal budget of nearly $3 trillion - records amounts are being spent on government handout programs

3) The minimum wgae HAS passed Congress but is held up in the DEM run committiees because the House Dems passed tax CUTS for business owners to offset the increased cost of wages. The Senate Dems are angry over the tax cuts and it is the DEMS who are not passing the minimum wage bill

4) The annual Federal deficit is shrinking and has gone down for the last four years - because reveunes to the US Treasury are at record highs. Yes, tax CUTS increase revenues TR

5) Labor unions has been going downhill for years. They make up less then 8% of the private workforce. It is mostly government workers who now make up union members

Strange how as the union membership drops in the private work force - the US economy has grown and grown

Meanwhile, as union membership in government grows, we see how "well" the government fuctions on the local, state, and federal level

 

[Care4all]

3) The minimum wgae HAS passed Congress but is held up in the DEM run committiees because the House Dems passed tax CUTS for business owners to offset the increased cost of wages. The Senate Dems are angry over the tax cuts and it is the DEMS who are not passing the minimum wage bill

House Democrats on Wednesday were unable to override President Bush's veto of the Iraq war spending bill, which also contained an increase in the federal minimum wage and $4.8 billion in tax cuts for small businesses.
In a vote of 223-203, the House fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to proceed.

Doesn't look like it is the tax break holding it up as you implied there rsr...?

Care

 

[red states rule]

3) The minimum wgae HAS passed Congress but is held up in the DEM run committiees because the House Dems passed tax CUTS for business owners to offset the increased cost of wages. The Senate Dems are angry over the tax cuts and it is the DEMS who are not passing the minimum wage bill

Doesn't look like it is the tax break holding it up as you implied there rsr...?

Care

Dems are desperate to get away from the fact the can't settle their own infighting

Tax breaks linked to minimum wage hike
Saturday, February 17, 2007

By Jim Kuhnhenn
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The House overwhelmingly approved business tax breaks worth $1.8 billion over 10 years on Friday, a key step toward forging a congressional compromise on increasing the minimum wage.

The vote on the tax cuts was 360-45.

Passage of a wage hike for the lowest-paid workers now depends on how quickly the House and Senate work out differences between their tax packages. The Senate tax breaks -- worth $8.3 billion -- are more than four times bigger than the ones passed in the House.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said House and Senate negotiators could reconcile differences in the bills within two or three weeks.

"The minimum wage provision is going to trump all of this and is going to drive us to get this thing done pretty quickly," Baucus said.

Under the House bill, small businesses would see an extension in some tax write-offs that are scheduled to expire and would be able to continue to claim a tax credit for hiring disadvantaged workers. The legislation also would ensure that restaurants, which can deduct Social Security taxes paid on tips above the minimum wage, would not be hurt by the wage hike.

The House bill also would raise revenue by closing a loophole that permits wealthy taxpayers to shift income to their children and avoid higher taxes on capital gains and dividends.

The House vote displayed the influence the Senate's Republican minority can have on congressional legislation. House Democrats had demanded a minimum wage bill without any tax provisions. Senate Democrats insisted that without some tax relief, the minimum wage would lose necessary Republican backing.

Senate Republican officials predicted the final tax package would be closer to the House version than the Senate's. Small business groups have sided with the Senate, but the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is lobbying for the House version.

The bipartisan agreement behind the House tax package was in stark contrast to the largely partisan debate on Iraq that consumed the House for most of the week. Lawmakers held up the House bill as a model for legislative cooperation. Still, some Republicans complained that Democrats prevented them from offering amendments on the House floor.

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., the chairman of the House tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, said the legislation "should set the tone for the rest of the Congress as we search for common ground and solutions to tough issues."

The minimum wage bill had become the new Democratic majority's first legislative challenge. The $2.10 an hour increase -- from $5.15 to $7.25 over two years -- was a Democratic campaign issue last year and was at the top of the party's legislative agenda. But the bill stumbled when House and Senate Democrats disagreed on the need for tax cuts.

With its $8.3 billion tax package, the Senate would extend tax credits and tax write-offs, and provides new tax preferences to certain companies. It also would eliminate some tax shelters and add new taxes on lawsuit settlements and punitive damage payments and on deferred compensation packages for higher paid executives.

"The House package is puny," said Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. He called for a compromise that would close tax loopholes, raise more revenue and "help small businesses that sometimes are hurt by an increase in the minimum wage."

Groups representing small businesses, such as the National Federation of Independent Business, prefer the larger Senate bill. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports the House bill because it objects to the Senate's revenue provisions, particularly the plan to eliminate deductions for payments in lawsuits.

http://www.timesfreepress.com/absolutenm/templates/politicalnews.aspx?articleid=10959&zoneid=67

 

[maineman]

3) The minimum wgae HAS passed Congress but is held up in the DEM run committiees because the House Dems passed tax CUTS for business owners to offset the increased cost of wages. The Senate Dems are angry over the tax cuts and it is the DEMS who are not passing the minimum wage bill

Doesn't look like it is the tax break holding it up as you implied there rsr...?

Care

stand by for a newsbusters editorial!

 

[maineman]

I was close!

 

[red states rule]

stand by for a newsbusters editorial!

No, a MSM newspaper

The Dems cannot even agree with each other

 

[red states rule]

I was close!

Not even in the same ballpark

It seems libs cannot agree with each other and pass a bill when they control both the House and Senate

 

[maineman]

a problem both parties have had for a long time. Consider the fact that republicans controlled the congress and the white house for six years. DId they outlaw abortion? did they pass a gay rights constitutional amendment? did they roll back welfare? DId the eliminate the department of education? did they privatize social security? No...there was much that the republicans wanted to get done when they didn't even have to worry about passing the legislation with a veto-proof majority.... and they STILL failed to muster the support within their own party to pass those measures....why?

Because republicans could not even agree with each other. Not everything is liberal v. conservative....dem v. rep.... black and white simplistic issues.... there are great divisions and spreads of ideology in the rank and file of both parties.

Why make such a big deal out of it when it happens to democrats in 2007? It has happened to every party since the founding fathers.

 

[red states rule]

a problem both parties have had for a long time. Consider the fact that republicans controlled the congress and the white house for six years. DId they outlaw abortion? did they pass a gay rights constitutional amendment? did they roll back welfare? DId the eliminate the department of education? did they privatize social security? No...there was much that the republicans wanted to get done when they didn't even have to worry about passing the legislation with a veto-proof majority.... and they STILL failed to muster the support within their own party to pass those measures....why?

Because republicans could not even agree with each other. Not everything is liberal v. conservative....dem v. rep.... black and white simplistic issues.... there are great divisions and spreads of ideology in the rank and file of both parties.

Why make such a big deal out of it when it happens to democrats in 2007? It has happened to every party since the founding fathers.

It seems the newly elected Dems are more conservatives then liberal. They are giving Reid and Pelosi probelms

Dems wanting to pass tax cuts to offest the minimum wage increase?

If libs REALLY cared about the working poor - they would pas the bill and the tax cuts

But it is nice to know those working for minimum wage will go to bed knowing the Dems blocked any more tax cuts for businesses - at their expense

 

[maineman]

It seems the newly elected Dems are more conservatives then liberal. They are giving Reid and Pelosi probelms

Dems wanting to pass tax cuts to offest the minimum wage increase?

If libs REALLY cared about the working poor - they would pas the bill and the tax cuts

But it is nice to know those working for minimum wage will go to bed knowing the Dems blocked any more tax cuts for businesses - at their expense

here is a tip for ya: those working for minimum wage will go to bed knowing that minimum wage has been stagnant for a decade because of YOUR party...and they know that your party wanted to slip another handout to the fatcats AGAIN rather than just pass the minimum wage. THey know that if republicans cared about them, they would have passed a minimum wage increase SOMETIME in the last dozen years or so.

 

[red states rule]

here is a tip for ya: those working for minimum wage will go to bed knowing that minimum wage has been stagnant for a decade because of YOUR party...and they know that your party wanted to slip another handout to the fatcats AGAIN rather than just pass the minimum wage. THey know that if republicans cared about them, they would have passed a minimum wage increase SOMETIME in the last dozen years or so.

YOUR party is running things and Republicans did NOT block the bill MM

YOUR party is so obsessed with tax INCREASES they will not get the bill passed out of committee - so they would rather keep the raise form the workers then grant a tax break for employeers to cover the cost of the raise

People know the Dems are running things and they know Dems can't agree on tax cuts - that is why they are not getting the increase

No matter where you look - Dems are screwing things up

That is why they poll numbers are only slightly above Pres Bush

THAT reallys PO's libs when you remind them of that number