Guess who's blocking middle class tax relief

Rove and Bush raise taxes on the middle class! At least that's how they would phrase it if some Democrats scuttled a 2-year deal in favor of a 5-year extension. Watch them and see if that is the rhetoric they trot out closer to election time. Anyone who doesn't agree with their plan is in favor of raising taxes. Just like that librul John Kerry, who voted to withhold money from our troops (unless we raised taxes to pay for it!) John Kerry voted in favor of funding the troops, he just wanted to make sure we actually had the money to do it rather than borrowing more.

Bush Quashes GOP Deal on Tax Cuts' Life (washingtonpost.com): President Bush yesterday scuttled a Republican agreement to extend three expiring middle-class tax cuts for two years, deciding instead to push for a more costly five-year extension when Congress returns in September.

On Tuesday night, congressional GOP leaders agreed to a modest, two-year extension of an expanded, 10 percent income tax bracket, a tax break for married couples and a $1,000-per-child tax credit. Congress passed those tax cuts last year, and they will expire at the end of 2004 unless Congress acts.

But White House officials urged Republicans to hold out for a longer extension more in line with the president's call to make the tax cuts permanent. Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. put in a round of angry phone calls Tuesday night, several Senate aides said. Then White House counselor Karl Rove and Bush himself called GOP tax writers yesterday urging them to kill the deal.