Surprise, Surprise: Americans Place The Blame On Republicans, Not Democrats, For Fiscal Cliff

This comes as a surprise to absolutely no one. Even Karl Rove.

Article excerpt follows:

Surprise, Surprise: Americans Place All The Blame On Republicans, Not Democrats, For Fiscal Cliff
2012/12/27
By Michael Hayne



Why does it seem like every year since Obama has been president that we've experienced some of the most vile partisan gamesmanship and heightened brinkmanship from the man children GOP that controls the House. Two summer's ago, the GOP was throwing a juvenile "I got mine so screw you" tantrum over the debt ceiling, which resulted in Standard & Poor's downgrading the U.S.'s AAA credit rating for the first time. One would think now that Obama has been reelected, Republican Senate Minority Leader and least likable Albino Turtle, Mitch McConnell (R-KY), could no longer deny Obama another presidential term with flagrant obstruction. Despite receiving a thumping in 2012, the GOP still appears to be heeding their Koch brother puppet masters. You would think that they would be more for gun control since they're constantly shooting themselves in the foot. But America isn't buying the pink-slime infused BS narrative that Fox News has been serving them before Obama was even inaugurated, one in which Obama refuses to comprise and is a reckless socialist who's spending white people's hard-earned money.

According to a new poll, when asked who they believed to be more responsible for the "fiscal cliff" situation, 27 percent blamed Republicans in Congress, 16 percent blamed Obama and only 6 percent pointed to the Democrats in Congress. The largest percentage – 31 percent – blamed "all of the above." (Reuters)

Although a failure to act on the fiscal cliff will affect everyone's taxes, lower-income Americans will be the first ones in the barrel to go off the cliff. According to the Wall Street Journal, wealthier Americans will pay more in taxes if Congress and the White House fail to avoid the cliff, catapulting income, payroll and investment taxes. But naturally the biggest scapegoat here are America's neediest and working poor, with Medicaid, unemployment and SNAP benefits vanishing like a fart in the wind. Once again, if Republicans don't accept a deal, the middle class and working poor will be on the receiving end of a one-sided fight reminiscent of Rocky-Apollo. The President, having received a mandate in November has been Cool Hand Luke (Google it) throughout the entire negotiations and House Republicans know it, so perhaps they're just dragging their feet to the very end to create even more annoying political theater. Worse yet, making the ridiculously redundant "fiscal cliff" phrase a permanent part of the Main Stream Meida's lexicon next to "Obama's [insert feigned Conservative outrage] Waterloo."

Grab your barrel while you can still afford one.