One of the Main Reasons I Was Against Harris Miller...

...was that he told me he wouldn't vote to repeal the Bush tax cuts on the top 1% of Americans. Now, unfortunately, we seem to be hearing this garbage from another Democrat.

Some Capitol Hill Democrats want President Barack Obama to extend tax cuts for wealthy Americans now scheduled to expire at the end of 2010, arguing that a tax increase could hinder economic recovery.

"I think there is a certain logic to leaving well-enough alone for now, given the fragility of the economic recovery," said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D., Va.). "It's a question of prudent judgment and timing."

[...]

Connolly said the decision on whether or not to extend the tax cuts should be weighed against the impact of doing so on the deficit. But "re-instilling confidence in the economy" should be paramount, he said.

This is misguided on every level. For starters, keeping the Bush tax cuts for rich people would be morally wrong. This was one of the worst policy moves ever made by George W. Bush, turning Bill Clinton's surpluses into huge deficits as far as the eye can see. Second, politically speaking, supporting such a move would do nothing to endear Rep. Connolly to the Democratic base. In fact, it would have quite the contrary effect, which could prove disastrous for Connolly at the polls this November against (most likely) Pat Herrity. Third, keeping the Bush tax cuts for rich people would blow a hole in the budget at a time when we're running TRILLION dollar deficits! Fourth, I thought Rep. Connolly's top priority was reducing the budget deficit, which is why he proposed taking half the money from the extra TARP funds and using them for that purpose. For all these reasons, I'm baffled at why Rep. Connolly's doing this.

Fortunately, most Democrats don't share Connolly and his fellow Blue Dogs' views on this:

Their view, while gaining clout, remains in the minority among congressional Democrats. Rep. Jim McDermott (D., Wash.), a member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, dismissed the argument that allowing taxes on investment to rise now would slow the recovery.

"There's no proof that the Bush tax cuts had anything but a negative effect," said McDermott.

Rep. McDermott is absolutely right, the Bush tax cuts for rich people had nothing but a negative effect, causing the deficit to spiral out of control, worsening income inequality, fueling the asset bubbles we saw in the last decade, etc., etc. Why on earth would we repeat this same mistake, especially after we worked so hard for a fundamental change in course to the Bush Administration? Answer: we wouldn't and we won't.