November 06, 2011
Boehner pushes back
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) appeared on ABC's "This Week" today for a one-on-one interview with the always insufferable Christiane Amanpour. She was, as expected, mind-numbingly condescending, and Boehner was surprisingly combative, especially during the exchange dealing with class warfare and the so-called "fairness" issue.
She whinges on about "income inequality," which is what I'd expect from a socialist who loathes free-market capitalism and, by implication, a meritocracy. What does fairness have to do with income? Should the best player in the NBA make the same salary as, well, as me, a middle-aged short Jewish guy from Brooklyn with no discernible talent for shooting hoops?
What's that? I'm not as good at the job as Kobe Bryant? What does that have to do with anything?
Equality of opportunity is what has made America different from all other nations; "income equality" sounds a lot like, "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs," comrade.
AMANPOUR: Now, you obviously disagree with the idea of paying for this with extra taxes. Some 75 percent of Americans agree with a increase in tax on millionaires as a way to pay for these jobs provisions. Do you not feel that by opposing it, you're basically out of step with the American people on this issue?
BOEHNER: Well, over half of the people who would be taxed under this plan are, in fact, small businesspeople. And, as a result, you're going to basically increase taxes on the very people that were hoping will reinvest in our economy and create jobs. That's the real crux of the problem. And, secondly, I would point out this: we have a spending problem. We've done all this stimulus spending in the last couple of years and, clearly, it has not worked.
[...]
AMANPOUR: You talk about fairness, and of course a lot of the conversation in this country over the last year or so has been about spending cuts, getting the deficit under control. But it's sort of shifting, as you know now, to the whole big disparity in income, the income gap, the income inequality that people are talking about. Latest reports say that something like one in 15 Americans live in extreme poverty, which is defined as something like $11,000 per year for a family of four. Are you concerned that these budget cuts are going to hurt the people who can least afford it?
BOEHNER: No one here in this Congress, Democrat or Republican, wants to do anything about putting holes in the safety net for Americans. There are Americans who are poor. And I think it's the responsibility of the rest of us to ensure that they have food in their stomachs and they have a roof over their head.
You know, John Kennedy said some 50 years ago, a rising tide lifts all boats. We have to get our economy moving again. And until we get our economy moving again and we start producing more jobs, we're going to have all kinds of uncertainty, concern and, frankly, fear about the future.
AMANPOUR: You talk about a rising tide lifting all boats. And, of course, that is the American way. That's what all of us look to America for. And yet, not just income inequality has expanded, but also the idea of social mobility is kind of slowing down. It's even slower than in some other parts of the world. And clearly, the Republicans are being portrayed as the party that doesn't really care and are really, quote, unquote, the servants of the rich.
BOEHNER: Well, I think that...
AMANPOUR: Does that need to change?
BOEHNER: I think that's very unfair. Listen, I come from a family of 12. My dad owned a bar. I've got brothers and sisters on every rung of the economic ladder.
What our job here in Congress is to do -- and the reason I came here 21 years ago -- was to make sure that the American dream that was available to us is available for our kids and our grandkids. That -- most people don't believe that's the case today. And, frankly, I've got concerns that it may not be the case. We can't have government debt that's snuffing out the future for our kids and grandkids. We can't have a government that's taking in 30, 40 cents out of every dollar from our kids and grandkids to pay for government. That's -- you can't have both. And I do believe that my -- my job and my vision is to make sure the American dream is alive and well for everyone in America.
AMANPOUR: You look at Occupy Wall Street. I think you've said that you understand their frustrations. People such as, let's say, Eric Cantor, called them a mob not so long ago. Do you agree with that? Are they a mob?
BOEHNER: Listen, I understand people's frustrations. I understand their concerns. And, frankly, I understand that we have differences in America. We are not going to engage in class warfare. The president is out there doing it every day. I, frankly, think it's unfortunate.
AMANPOUR: You say…
BOEHNER: Because -- because our job is to help all Americans, not -- not to pit one set of Americans against another.
AMANPOUR: And do you think that's what's happening?
BOEHNER: The president's clearly trying to do it. And it's wrong.
AMANPOUR: You say class warfare. I asked Bill Gates last week about this whole notion. And he said, look, class warfare is when you've got people in the streets manning the barricades, you know, fighting each other. And that's not what's happening. It's not so much a redistribution of income that the president is talking about, but much more a shared and much fairer sense of sacrifice. And there doesn't seem to be the sense amongst people here that the sacrifice is being shared, because they point to taxes and tax cuts and who it benefits and who it doesn't.
BOEHNER: Come on. The top 1 percent pay 38 percent of the income taxes in America. How much more do you want them to pay? I'll tell you, well, let's take all the money that the rich have, all of it. It won't even put a dent in our current budget deficit, much less our debt.
Posted by Mike Lief at November 6, 2011 03:20 PM
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