Joe Biden - breakfast. Barack Obama - tax cuts
By Jimmy Orr | 08.20.08
Welcome to wacky Wednesday morning. It’s hard work staking out a Senator’s house, watching every move, waiting for him to board a plane to Illinois. But that’s where we find the story this morning. Reporters are camped outside Senator Biden’s house watching for tell-tale signs that he’s Barack Obama’s huckleberry.
It’s the political paparazzi. Joe Biden though, not one to haul off and roundhouse kick a reporter, instead delivered coffee and bagels. Sean Penn - pay attention.
A reporter from ABC News, a recipient of the fly-by breakfast, reported diligently on the pertinent exchange:
“…when he [Biden] pulled back into his driveway at 9:15am he had made a pit stop at the local Brew Ha Ha Espresso Cafe and Newsstand and Cafe.
“As he rolled into his driveway he stopped his pickup and, without saying anything more than, “Hi” and “Nice talking to you,” to waiting reporters, he handed a brew box of coffee and a dozen bagels out the window.”
To some pundits, a dozen bagels is the key. Vice President. 13 characters. A baker’s dozen? 13.
Well, now that this mystery is solved, we’ll move on to Barack Obama’s latest ad.
This one is called “Three Times.” Unfortunately it is not entitled “Knock Three Times” which could mean an appearance by Tony Orlando and Dawn - something many pundits are saying both campaigns need a lot more of.
Instead of the power trio from the 70s, we hear from another hushed announcer contrasting John McCain’s tax plans versus Barack Obama’s tax plans (according to the Obama campaign).
Hushed announcer: “John McCain’s tax plan. For corporations - $200 billion in new tax breaks. Oil companies - $4 billion. Companies shifting jobs overseas keep their tax giveaways while 100 million Americans get no tax relief at all.”
Then the music gets light and the hushed announcer no longer sounds so distressed.
“For the change we need, Barack Obama,” says the now-happy ad voice, “a plan that cuts taxes on middle class families three times as much as John McCain would.”
Here’s the video.
<< New poll shows McCain - Obama in virtual tie | MainComments
2. john mccain shirts | 08.20.08
Sounds pretty good to me too!, O wait I hate Obamas tax plan! He wont help me since I make WAYYY over $5 million
3. Anon | 08.20.08
Biden!!! God no!! The guy would be a disaster. PeeWee Herman could do a better job as a VP than Joe Biden.
4. QED | 08.20.08
What happens to prices of retail goods when the companies that make them are taxed more? They go up.
What happens to prices of retail goods when the companies that make them are taxed less? They go down.
Tax hikes on corporations and cuts for middle-class income tax sounds good on the surface, but if you have any common sense at all you will see that retail prices will go up and the middle-class will be the ones actually paying the extra cost.
Lower taxes for all = good economy for all.
Q.E.D.
5. cmnsns | 08.20.08
Trouble is Democratic Party elites (who make 6+ figures) don’t benefit from their own plan like republicans benefit from the theirs. That might explain why the Democratic Party elites are so wishy washy in backing their nominee vs. the Republican Party. McCain can say/do anything, make huges gaffes and the Republican Party is right there to cover for him and put pressure on the media to do the same. But where are the Democratic Party when it comes to supporting Obama? Most seem to be awol.
Many democrats like me will be looking elsewhere for a party if the Democratic elites don’t come around and aggressively help Obama make the case for fairer taxes and healthcare that don’t dump the overheads on workers while the 6+ figure types of both parties get wealthier in an increasingly unproductive way.
7. Okeif | 08.20.08
To the Q.E.D. poster
The system you speak of, the way things have gone for the last 8 years, has certainly worked so far foe the US. I mean, this pro-Corporation (Haliburton, Enron, et al.) government hasn’t cost American workers their jobs, pay, or their homes; while the price of normal goods (milk, gas, bread, et al) has been steadly rising; and the family-based farmers who provide some of those commodoties eats the inflating overhead so the cost of those goods don’t go through the roof.
Maybe you also favor an $.18 “tax holiday” that would at best provide Americans with $300-400 “releif” while systemicaly undercutting and already under-funded and under-budgeted (federal and state)highway and infrastructure by billions.
Your Q.E.F. has certainly painted a happy sounding picture though, to bad it’s lacking in results.
9. BN | 08.20.08
To #4:
Taxes on corporations go up = they raise their prices because of “taxes”
Taxes on corporations go down = they raise their prices because of “inflation” or “increased energy costs” or “big labor” or “still not low enough taxes” or “health care costs”.
Raising taxes on corporations who will nevertheless clamor to have access to the vast American consumer market and lowering them for the lower to middle class means a stronger consumer market, meaning greater competition and lower prices. Not to mention a greater standard of living for more people.
10. margoharris | 08.20.08
McLame wants to cut corporate taxes? Why is it that MOST companies don’t even pay ANY taxes.
The problem with the economy is that it is out of balance. The middle class
s wages not kept up with inflation. Corporate profits up executive pay up. Stated in the 80″s with Reagan with air traffic controlers. That gave the signal to bust unions, causing wages to actually fall. Not having an increase in the minimum wage, the minimum wage should be about $9.88.
We need a government that is For the People, Of the People and By the People.
Not big corporations, Not the industrial military complex. McBush wants to start the Cold War up again. Won’t that be a boom for the Defense Contractors?
McBush = YOY0 (You’re.On.Your.Own.)
McBush = IGMFU (I’ve. Got. Mine. F. U.)
11. TheMutton | 08.21.08
I’m 56 years old and never, in my life, have I seen such a lame society as we have now. Every single facet of our country is going to hell in a handbasket and the biggest marches on Washington are by groups of Japanese tourists. We don’t protest anymore. No burning bras, no marches on Washington, no throwing boxes of tea into the harbor - NO PASSION! We blog. That’ll show ‘em. Yep, nothing like a good old fashioned blog to strike fear in the hearts of incompetent politicians. Martin Luther King, Abbey Hoffman, the SDS, Country Joe & The Fish, Woodstock, Kent State, Birmingham - any of this sound familiar? How about Lexington & Concord, Boston Massacre & Tea Party. No? Drawing a blank? I’m not surprised. Go on and debate McCain vs. Obama. Vote for either, vote for both, vote for neither. You think it’s going to make a difference? You think party partisanship and gridlock government won’t continue? Why shouldn’t it? What are you going to do about it? Blog? Good luck. Ever hear of a recall petition? It would require a stamp and the actual application of a signature and maybe a trip to the mailbox at the end of your driveway. That may be too much to ask of Americans today but it would do the trick.
12. Ed G. | 08.23.08
Will Obama really cut taxes for the middle class? Not if he follows in Bill Clinton’s footsteps (he promised them but didn’t deliver), and not if he listens to Democratic economist Robert Solow, who says “the government needs the money” more (I’m not making this up!).
See http://www.middleclassimpact.com/2008/08/will-obamas-middle-class-tax-cuts-go-the-way-of-clintons/ for a skeptical view.
13. Obama Biden Shirts | 08.29.08
It’s Official Obama Biden is the Democratic Ticket! Let’s see how it all plays out. God Bless America!
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Jimmy Orr has worked in politics for the majority of his professional career working for two U.S. Senators, two Governors and one President. Most recently, Orr served as White House Spokesman and Internet Director for President George W. Bush and Special Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger for Internet Communications.
David Cook is Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor and host of the Monitor's newsmaker breakfasts. He was the Monitor's editor from 1994 to 2001. Cook is a graduate of Principia College, served in the U.S. Army, was a Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, and is a member of the Gridiron Club, Washington's oldest journalistic organization.
1. Blake | 08.20.08
They’ll cut your taxes and bring you breakfast. Now that’s what I call a winning ticket!!
Obama/Biden ‘08!!!!!!