CNN 2012-07-11

 Hey, I’m Anderson Cooper. Welcome to the podcast. The new fibrin of your taxes will “Keep Them Honest” also “RidicuList.” Let’s get started. 

 

Well, presidential elections happen every four years, but deja vu is forever. Keep that in mind as you listened to President Obama's announcement say that he's seeking to extend the Bush era tax cuts for incomes of a quarter million dollars or less. 

 

I'm not proposing anything radical¹ here. I just believe that anybody making over $250,000 a year should go back to the income tax rates we were paying under Bill Clinton. Back when our economy created nearly 23 million new jobs. The biggest budget surplus in history. And plenty of millionaires to boot. 

 

Now, if it sounds familiar to you it should. Here's Senator Obama four years ago on the campaign trail. 

 

I can make a firm pledge under my plan no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll² tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes. 

 

Well, that promise to end the Bush tax cuts except for higher earners helped sweep him into office. "Keeping Them Honest," he couldn’t fulfill³ it despite Democrats⁴ controlling both the House and the Senate. Republicans opposed letting any of the cuts expire. So did a number of Democrats and the process obviously dragged on. Then, the 2010 election came along, the Tea Party election, as a lot of people called it. Republicans took over the House. President Obama settled for passing a two-year extension to all the tax cuts during the lame-duck session. 

 

In exchange, he got additional jobless benefits and payroll tax cuts. But now that two-year extension is nearly up. And once again, Republicans are calling any tax increases economic poison and politically motivated. 

 

Mitt⁵ Romney didn't make any appearances today. His spokeswoman did say this, quote, "President Obama's response to even more bad economic news is a massive tax increase." She goes on, "It just proves again that the president doesn't have a clue how to get Americans working again and help the middle class." And quote, "The president's latest bad idea is to raise taxes on families, job creators and small businesses." 

 

Now "Keeping Them Honest." A lot of policy wonks are fighting over all that. The bottom line, just like last time, this may not be settled until after the election. Until then for both sides it's a campaign issue. The question is, who exactly benefits?

 

"Raw Politics" now with Democratic strategist and Obama 2012 pollster Cornell Belcher, also Republican strategist and senior Romney adviser⁶ Bay Buchanan, whose new book out is called "Bay and Her Boys," about her raising boys as a single mom. 

 

So, Cornell, Republicans say this is all about politics and the president is just trying to call them on the carpet while diverting attention from Friday's poor jobs report. Are they wrong? 

 

Yeah, I think they are wrong. I think what you see here is the president doing something what the vast majority of Americans want to do. Look, the poll after poll show that the National Journal Poll had two-thirds of Americans wanting to extend the Bush tax breaks only for those under $250,000. 

 

But by a lot of accounts, this proposal stands virtually no chance of passing Congress. Some Democrats may even vote against it. If that's the case, if it's about politics or not, why, I mean, why push it now? 

 

Well, I think it does set up a nice contrast. Look, I'm not going to sit here in Washington as a political consultant⁷ and say that, you know, politics doesn't play into what happens here in Washington. But it does set up a nice contrast. I mean, the contrast, you know, Obama sort of fighting for the 98 percent of Americans who would benefit from this tax cut. And the pivot⁸ is, you know, why do Republicans continue to sort of hold the 98 percent, hold the middle class hostage, to the wealthiest 1 or 2 percent? Particularly when, again, two-thirds of Americans want this extended only for those making under $250,000 a year. 

 

Well, Bay, what about it? I mean, Cornell just said it. You look at these polls. Most Americans do support letting tax cuts expire on the wealthiest Americans. Why not make that deal as a Republican? 

 

The key is, it is increasing taxes on a million, about a million small businesses. That's the engine that drives the economy. That's who creates jobs in this country, is small businesses. The president himself said a little over a year ago or, I think, this was even a little bit further back than then. He made it very clear that you never raise taxes on businesses in a recession. Because it's … . (What’s up?)

1 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

2 payroll   

n.工资表，在职人员名单，工薪总额

参考例句：

• His yearly payroll is $1.2 million.他的年薪是120万美元。
• I can't wait to get my payroll check.我真等不及拿到我的工资单了。

3 fulfill   

vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意

参考例句：

• If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了，你就要履行你的诺言。
• This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。

4 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

6 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

7 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

8 pivot   

v.在枢轴上转动；装枢轴，枢轴；adj.枢轴的

参考例句：

• She is the central pivot of creation and represents the feminine aspect in all things.她是创造的中心枢轴，表现出万物的女性面貌。
• If a spring is present,the hand wheel will pivot on the spring.如果有弹簧，手轮的枢轴会装在弹簧上。