Most firepups know by now that when it comes to diaries perpetuating the ”Republicans are bad, Democrats are always better” kabuki, my shit meter runneth over.

I am, however, more than happy to use useless Democrats to prove the point.

Yesterday a sound bite from Mitch McConnell made the rounds on radio and TV. Apparently news directors (and trust me, you have no idea how apt that title really is, unless you are a refugee from corporate media as I am) found the real nugget in this diatribe to be :

It’s time Washington learn[ed] to make some sacrifices of its own.

From the moment Ronald Reagan first began fertilizing the fascist fields with such trickle-down hokum thirty years back, Democrats relentlessly attacked the premise that keeping taxes on the rich lower creates jobs. I mean, they were ruthless.

But despite the softball McConnell lobbed with this widely broadcast (and telecast and podcast) piece of fear-the-government red meat, this time there was no rebuttal from the oh-so-much-better alternative across the aisle. Why?

Well, even as lesser-of-two-evils enablers complain that Blue Dogs and Lieberman Pincers are the reasons Barack Obama and his party are unable to truly lead, it would serve us well to remember an old adage. It’s one even the most viscious dog will eventually learn, and it goes like this: “Never bite the hand that feeds you.”

A little over two years into the Obama Regime, it seems what remained of his party’s attack dogs are on a short leash indeed.

After all, next year they’ve got another election to “win.”

Cross posted at NewProgs.org

And finally, the question must be asked:

Was it worth it, Mr. President?

Was the repeal of DADT, passage of new START, and 13 more months of unemployment compensation worth it?

Much has been made of these achievements in the past few days, and even as one of your strongest supporters in 2008 – who since, like all other self-respecting Lefties, has become one of your biggest opponents for 2012 – I must admit they are valuable in varying degrees:

DADT: Just flat-out good news.
START: Ditto.
13 months: A half-victory.

Still, in the context of what you gave up who you sold out, Mr. President, each of these victories is bittersweet at best.

The fix is clearly in. Thanks to your deal with the Devil John Boehner, your carefully negotiated, one-after-the-other rolling-out of these three wins in recent days feels a lot like your last hurrah. Then again…

Next month, the GOP takes control of the House (as if they didn’t control it already). And then – in the long, dark days following this Season of Lights – reality will set in.

The rich will go on getting richer.

The poor will become poorer still.

All because you swallowed that Right-wing malarkey about how “the American People sent a clear message in November.”

For how long are you willing to deny the truth, Mr. President?

For how long will you profess disbelief that November’s losses had everything to do with your lack of spine since Inauguration Day, 2009? For how long will you continue to engage in trashing your base for pointing this out, and in tossing away the Hope you so repeatedly touted to a new generation of voters on the way to your victory in 2008?

These, sir, are rhetorical questions of course.

Your real agenda is now clear, your Bill Clinton-on-steroids selling out for a second term all too obvious.

But on the off-chance that a decent bone still remains in your body, Mr. President, please:

- Spare us the great Social Security/Medicare Reform Waltz of 2011 and tell us now, since it is clear that you already know: Which of our most rudimentary retirement benefits of any developed country have you already dealt away?

- Tell us, was omitting wireless from the Net Neutrality deal a bone you threw to the Right to ensure that the underclass, which largely lacks web access except on mobile devices, cannot easily organize against the draconian immigration “reform” that is sure to be floated by the Right on or about – oh, January 3?

- And last but not least, sir, enlighten us: How will economic recovery that reaches wide and deep throughout the American electorate – upon which you are apparently confident enough to stake your re-election – actually occur, based on the economic policies you have followed up to now and outlined for the future?

Or have your discussions with Mr. Boehner perhaps assured you – based on future deals, of course – that a broad-based recovery won’t be necessary in securing your re-election?

(Edited 12/22/10 at 9:22 EST to remove erroneous reference to DREAM Act passage.)

My name is Anthony Noel. I am, by every accepted definition of the term, a middle-income wage earner.

And I am not paying enough taxes.

Congressman Tom Pence (R-IN) and MSNBC’s Chris Matthews agreed Monday night that they have never before met anyone like me. The specific claim (from Pence) was, "I’ve never met anyone who says they are not paying enough taxes."

To which that dogged journalist (ha!) Matthews conceded, "O.K., you’ve got me there."

So, Congressman Pence, allow me once more to introduce myself. I am Anthony Noel. I live in Greenville, North Carolina. And I am not paying enough taxes. Now, I’ll thank you to NEVER make your bullshit claim again.

These two Einsteins were discussing the GOP-inspired deficit frenzy now amok in D.C. (but nowhere else, as polls have consistently shown, since everybody is looking for work). Matthews was doing as good a job as possible (well, as good as Matthews does… which, frankly, is not very) of trying to pin Pence down on exactly what programs he would cut to bring the budget into balance. To which Pence, naturally, had only mealy-mouthed retorts, (i.e., "Well, you have to start by electing the party with the record of being opposed to deficit spending"), notable among them that old standby about nobody wanting to pay more taxes.

Well, gentlemen, let me repeat it once again: I am not paying enough taxes, and will gladly pay more. In exchange, I want an America that walks the Judeo-Christian "values" Pence and people like him invoke on a regular basis – but conveniently forget when they are legislating. Values like…

…The idea that charity begins at home, not in Afghanistan.

…The truth that some things should be beyond profit or economics or capitalism, among them the right of every individual to health care, a college education, and workplace rights.

…Doing unto others as we would have them do unto us. (What Would Jesus Bomb?)

(An aside to Mr. Matthews: While the fact that you are no journalist is beyond dispute, if your intent is to be a lefty advocate in journalist’s garb, please, do us all a favor and at least ADVOCATE, for crying out loud. "You’ve got me there"??? That’s the best you can do? No, he doesn’t. Wouldn’t YOU pay more taxes if doing so produces the kind of America I describe? Hint: Answer no, and not only are you no journalist, you’re completely without clue.)

Boys and girls, the simple fact is that we are not going to bring America into the 21st Century if we are unwilling to do what citizens of other nations have done: PAY for universal health care and low- to no-cost college and realistic parental leave and reasonable work weeks. The way we pay for – and GET – these things is by demanding them and by paying more taxes. I for one will be glad to do both, because when you run the numbers, each of us will pay LESS for them by funding a non-profit, government-run system which guarantees and delivers them than we EVER would pay by also covering the profit demands of the corporations which now provide (or, at the last minute, deny) them to us.

It’s time to stop letting our UniParty get away with its lame claim about nobody wanting to pay more taxes. It is, perhaps more than any one other thing, what allows the Washington Follies to continue unabated.

I am Anthony Noel, and I will GLADLY pay more taxes instead of continuing to pay Blue Cross; or a private or state university; or risk losing my job because I want to give my newborn the six months s/he deserves with me at the beginning of his or her life; or drain my life away due to not having the four to six weeks of paid vacation annually that everyone needs to be truly productive.