E.J. Dionne: Can’t We All Just Get Along? No

[marmar]

from Truthdig:



Can’t We All Just Get Along? No

Posted on Mar 1, 2010
By E.J. Dionne


The word partisanship is typically accompanied by the word mindless. That’s not simply insulting to partisans; it’s also untrue.

If we learn nothing else in 2010, can we please finally acknowledge that our partisan divisions are about authentic principles that lead to very different approaches to governing?

Last week’s health care summit was a daylong seminar that should make it impossible for anyone to pretend otherwise. But before we get to that, let’s examine the Senate debate over whether to extend unemployment insurance coverage. The matter is rather urgent for jobless workers because 1.1 million of them are scheduled to lose their benefits this month, and 2.7 million are slated to lose them by April.

Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., has put a hold on the extension bill, but one of the key reasons the measure is blocked is the effort of Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., to use it as a way of forcing a cut in the estate tax. Kyl is essentially leveraging the unemployed to get a deal on estate tax relief that would cost $138 billion over the next decade, according to estimates by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The estate tax has already been cut sharply, so the reduction Kyl is pushing along with Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., would affect the estates of fewer than three out of every 1,000 people who die, according to the Tax Policy Center. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/cant_we_all_just_get_along_no_20100228/

[stray cat]

1. Jon Kyl - No unemployment benefits unless estate tax is repealed

I bet the unemployed in AZ really need that tax break for their estates

[Lydia Leftcoast]

3. If the Dems don't absolutely POUND that fact when Kyl is up for reelection

then they have no smarts at all.

[Tansy_Gold]

2. Blanche Lincoln, bought and paid for by the Waltons

And I don't mean John-Boy and Grandpa and Jim-Bob and Erin.