Tea Party Activists: Go Over ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Instead of Agree to Obama Tax-Increase Compromise
Tea Party Activists: Go Over ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Instead of Agree to Obama Tax-Increase Compromise
I left the Republican Party in 2010 because these teavangelical ninnyhammers had gained too much power and were dragging the whole party in terrible direction. It was right to leave then, and it’s right to stay away from this large pack of suicidally destructive fools now.
In more than a dozen interviews with The Associated Press, activists said they would rather the nation fall off the cliff than agree to a compromise that includes tax increases for any Americans, no matter how high their income. They dismiss economists’ warnings that the automatic tax increases and deep spending cuts set to take effect Jan. 1 could trigger a fresh recession, and they overlook the fact that most people would see their taxes increase if President Barack Obama and Boehner, R-Ohio, fail to reach a year-end agreement.
The strong opposition among tea party activists and Republican leaders from New Hampshire to Wyoming and South Carolina highlights divisions within the GOP as well as the challenge that Obama and Boehner face in trying to get a deal done.
On Capitol Hill, some Republicans worry about the practical and political implications should the GOP block a compromise designed to avoid tax increases for most Americans and cut the nation’s deficit.
“It weakens the entire Republican Party, the Republican majority,” Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio, said Thursday night shortly after rank-and-file Republicans rejected Boehner’s “Plan B” — a measure that would have prevented tax increases on all Americans but million-dollar earners.