Political Quotes

“Mr. President, last Thursday marked the fifth time this year the majority has initiated a vote on the so-called millionaires' surcharge--a tax that primarily affects small businesses--in order to ``pay for'' a piece of legislation. Notably, Thursday also marked the fifth time this year this tax increase failed to pass the Senate, which suggests, of course, it is being used for political purposes. President Obama and his supporters have argued that the tax increases they support--such as the millionaires' surcharge--will not affect anyone but the wealthiest Americans, and that those people have to start doing ``their fair share'' because they ``can afford it.'' They repeat the phrase ``shared sacrifice.'' In a recent campaign speech in Kansas, President Obama took the class warfare argument to a whole new level, injecting his speech with false economic moralisms and evoking what he calls the ``you're on your own'' economics of Republicans and suggesting that the ``breathtaking greed of a few''--these are his words I am using--has been crushing the middle class. The President's object seems to be purposefully conflating all upper income taxpayers with those reckless few who helped cause the financial crisis, ignoring, I might add, those in Congress who also helped to create that crisis. The President's rhetoric is not only wrongheaded, in my view it is irresponsible. I wish to make three points in response.…”