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Steve Benen summed up this statement from Mitch McConnell yesterday on CNN's State of the Union -- McConnell thinks midterms settled tax debate:

The Republican line on taxes isn’t exactly a mystery: shrinking the deficit is important, but not as important as making sure there are no tax increases on anyone at any time by any amount. That tax cuts are the driving factor behind the massive budget shortfalls over the next decade (and beyond) is apparently unimportant.

How do GOP leaders defend this? Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) tried out this line on CNN’s “State of the Union” yesterday.

CROWLEY: And I think I can get a yes or no from you on this. No tax increases will you accept at all in either the short, the medium or the long term, and that includes close tax loopholes?

MCCONNELL: Well, there aren’t going to be any tax increases. You know, that was settled by last November’s election. The president knows that.

I’m trying to think of a dumber line on fiscal policy. Nothing comes to mind.

The usual Republican position — tax increases necessarily undercut the economy — is absurd enough. But McConnell didn’t even rely on the old canard, choosing instead to make an electoral/policy argument. Americans elected a Democratic president, a Democratic Senate, and a Republican House. Ergo, any and all tax increases are off the table. Read on...

These guys really are a broken record on the tax issue. What's disgusting is they're willing to destroy the country's economy with their rigid ideology, no matter what their constituents think.

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Friend of and occasional contributor to Crooks and Liars Bob Cesca appeared on The Ed Schultz Show to discuss his recent column at The Huffington Post, The GOP Plot to Screw the Economy and the Middle Class. Great job Bob. I hope MSNBC gives you some more air time. Here's some of the beginning and end of Bob's post:

We're only three months away from the midterm election when a shockingly large number of American voters will inexplicably vote for Republican candidates. I have no idea if this will mean a Republican takeover of the House or Senate or both, but there will definitely be enough voter support for Republicans to significantly reduce the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.

Why? Because too many voters tend to be low-information, knee-jerk Springfield-from-The-Simpsons types, and the Republicans have lashed their crazy trains to this new wave of inchoate roid-rage to help sweep them into more congressional seats.

[...]

Unless there's some sort of mass epiphany, or unless the Democrats actually speak up and take the discourse by the horns and fight, middle class American voters in November will augment the number of Republicans (and conservadems) in Congress mostly because they've been suckered into endorsing these insane Republican economic policies. Subsequently, the Republicans will balloon the deficit and undermine the economic recovery in order to give more handouts to the super rich. And the middle class will continue to be an accomplice in its own slow-roasted homicide.

Go read the whole thing here.

You can read more from Bob over at his place and at the HuffPo.

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From The Cafferty File:

President Obama has the chance to use tomorrow's State of the Union address to reset his agenda and refocus the attention of the American people.

It's been a rough week for the president and his party - since the Democrats lost control of Ted Kennedy's Senate seat in Massachusetts. Without their filibuster-proof majority, the president's signature issue of health care reform is on life support.

And the public doesn't appear too disappointed about that. A new poll shows 70 percent of Americans think the Democrats' loss of their super-majority is a good thing.

Meanwhile the president is expected to announce a three-year freeze on all non-security federal discretionary spending. He claims this could save $250 billion over 10 years - which is a start, but still just a drop in the bucket considering the country's $12.5 trillion debt.

And, expect some liberals - you know, the president's base - to push back hard. Already critics on the left are calling the proposed spending freeze a mistake of historic proportions. Some compare Mr. Obama to Republican Herbert Hoover, who failed to pull the U.S. out of the great depression.

Others liken this to Democrat FDR's move to cut back on government spending in 1937 - the economy tanked and so did the Democrats in the following midterm election.

There's lots more on the president's plate too, like the jobs situation - which doesn't show many signs of turning around. Unemployment is at 10 percent… up from seven percent when Mr. Obama took office.

Here’s my question to you: What should Pres. Obama emphasize in his State of the Union address tomorrow?

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