With your gigantic font so impressed with yourself, you did not take into account that Huff Post was the ONLy organization that put this story out. Good job.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/11/the_morning_plum_129.html
The Morning Plum
By Greg Sargent
UPDATE: White House denies giving in on Bush tax cuts: The White House is sharply denying the Huffington Post story I noted below claiming that David Axelrod signaled a willingness to accept a temporary extension of all the Bush tax cuts, claiming that their position remains unchanged.
Axelrod emails:
There is not one bit of news here. I simply re-stated what POTUS and Robert have been saying. Our two strong principles are that we need to extend the tax cuts for the middle class, but we can't afford a permanent extension of the tax cuts for the wealthy.
And White House comm director Dan Pfeiffer adds:
The story is overwritten. Nothing has changed from what the President said last week. We believe we need to extend the middle class tax cuts, we cannot afford to borrow 700 billion to pay for extending the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, and we are open to compromise and are looking forward to talking to the Congressional leadership next week to discuss how to move forward. Full Stop, period, end of sentence.
The question remains, though, whether the White House will hold fast to Obama's demand last week that the extension of the tax cuts for the middle class remain permanent while extending the high end ones temporarily. The main sticking point is that Republicans won't allow the two categories to be extended for different durations, because that would force them to push for just an extension of the cuts for the rich later.
ORIGINAL POST:
* White House giving in on the Bush tax cuts? The Huffington Post is reporting that David Axelrod signaled in an interview that a temporary extension of all the cuts, including those for the rich, is the only way to prevent taxes from going up on the middle class:
"We have to deal with the world as we find it," Axelrod said during an unusually candid and reflective 90-minute interview in his office, steps away from the Oval Office. "The world of what it takes to get this done."
"There are concerns," he added, that Congress will continue to kick the can down the road in the future by passing temporary extensions for the wealthy time and time again. "But I don't want to trade away security for the middle class in order to make that point."
I'm not sure this amounts to the White House giving in quite yet, but it seems to suggest that's where things are headed. The White House wanted a permanent extension for the middle class cuts and a temporary extension of the high end ones. But Republicans have refused any effort to "decouple" the two categories, insisting on extending both for the same duration, in order to avoid having to push for extending just the tax cuts for the rich later.
Also: Axelrod's acknowledgment that this solution amounts to merely kicking the can down the road is another indication that this would not represent a compromise in any meaningful sense. It would mean doing it the GOP's way for now, on the understanding that we'll have the exact same conversation again in a few years. It would mean temporary capitulation, pure and simple.
