Part of the panel discussion on Larry King Live March 3, 2009. I was really hoping I'd seen the last of former Koch Energy lobbyist and McCain campaign spokesperson Nancy Pfotenhauer when he lost the election, but sadly not. The discussion starts out with the topic du jour of whether it is effective or not for the Democrats to be tagging Rush Limbaugh as the leader of the Republican party and Arianna Huffington says the important thing to remember is how we got to where we are rather than focusing on Rush Limbaugh.
Pfotenhauer and Larson have their GOP talking points down as usual but this particular statement hit me as one our side needs to be challenging whenever they say it and that didn't happen here.
Pfotenhauer: Clearly we can debate and I would love to how we got to where we are and actually let me answer one of Arianna's earlier points and say that the thing that George Bush did wrong and that Republicans as well as Democrats did wrong is they spent the taxpayers' money carelessly. They were, they were, it was a taxpayer funded party for eight years.
Now my problem is that President Obama is George Bush on steroids when it comes to spending. He has met him and raised him and he's added like I said tax increases into the mix. If he were advocating economic policies that were good for this country I would support him. I supported him when he's talked about things like entitlement reform. But when he advocates things that are bad for Americans it's people's duty to challenge him. That's patriotic.
When any of these talking heads says something like this they need to immediately be called out and asked what Social Security would look like right now if the GOP had had their way and privatized it. How's that stock market looking to you right now Nancy? And they need to be told that NO, the GOP does not want to support anything that the Democrats are trying to do right now whether they think it is good for the country or not. They want Democrats to adopt Republican ideas or they're going to obstruct. And the only new ideas they have are the same ones they've had for thirty years or more.
Stephanie Miller reminds Pfotenhauer just who the tax cuts under Obama's plan will be going to.
Miller: Nancy, Barack Obama's doing the exact same thing he said during the campaign. 95% of Americans are getting a tax cut under this plan. It is the top 1% that's finally paying their fair share. You Larry.
Pfotenhauer: How can they pay more than the 70% they already pay?
It sure sounds like she's trying to leave the impression that there is someone out there in a 70% tax bracket while leaving herself some wiggle room if she's challenged on it later.
