You Cut Taxes, Remember?

Via Greg Sargent, an excellent example of exactly what I was talking about the other day: Democrats are strangely hesitent to claim credit for a large tax cut, which after all they actually did enact earlier this year as a major part of the stimulus.

The Democrats are taking delight, according to this Politico article, in pointing out the hypocrisy involved in GOP Members of Congress bragging about stimulus dollars back home, despite having opposed the bill that made those dollars possible. Fair enough. But the article, which describes the lines of attack each party is readying for the 2010 elections, says nothing at all about tax cuts. If the Dems want to play gotcha, it seems to me that Republican claims that the stimulus failed are far more vulnerable on the tax issue than on the spending side. After all, odds are that Republicans will run on a tax cut in 2010 -- and so it makes sense, doesn't it, to remind everyone at every possible point that Republicans unanimously (except for Maine) opposed a large tax cut in 2009, and then spent the rest of the year saying (in effect) that tax cuts don't work? Democratic tax cuts, that is?

The usual caveats -- spin only goes so far, etc. etc. But still, if they're spinning, well, they should get it right. If I were advising the Dems, I'd tell them that they want reporters primed to question Republicans about exactly that point all next year -- why should anyone believe that the promised GOP tax cut will work when the actual Democratic tax cut, according to Republicans, didn't work? Does anyone think that reporters are primed to ask that question right now?

Liberal Spin Fail

OK, once again I don't understand the Democrats. This time, it's on the recovery plan and their inept spin on it. And no, I'm not talking about the screw ups with the jobs reports. If I were advising Democrats, I'd tell them:

Stop whining about conservative spin that the stimulus plan didn't work, and start spinning back.

How?

By first and foremost remembering that the stimulus plan contained Massive Tax Cuts. Republicans certainly have every right to oppose the spending portions of the stimulus bill, and to ignore mainstream economists who say that it's working just fine, but I have no idea under what theory Republicans could possibly justify saying that a $288B tax cut won't help the economy, or that the $84B in tax cuts so far aren't working.

Of course, Republicans are free to make that claim anyway, but Democrats are nuts not to call them on it. Democrats should be pounding on it every day: Democrats cut people's taxes, and the Republicans seem to think it's a bad idea. Republicans apparently think only Republican tax cuts help the economy. If Republicans believe that the stimulus has failed, why don't Republicans think that tax cuts work? Why are Republicans for raising people's taxes?

(Frankly, I'd hit on the deficit thing, too. Republicans only care about the deficit -- Democrats care about people. That's why Democrats cut people's taxes. Republicans only seem to care Washington's budget; Democrats care about people, and that's why Democrats cut taxes, so that people could balance their own budgets. YMMV).

I'd love to see some polling about what has happened to taxes so far this year. The Dems seem to be doing a pretty good job of calling attention to the spending side of the stimulus, but not nearly as good a job on the other portions of the stimulus, which after all were probably put in there for political reasons as much as for economic reasons.

Democrats: you passed a major tax cut. Republicans opposed it, and claim it isn't working. Shouldn't that be a major talking point?