Plunging Neckline Offers Propaganda Over Poor RIch People's Tax Cuts
It’s Thursday, so naturally, we bring you a Fox Cheerleader for the NeoCon agenda on Fox & Friends talking out of both sides of something…and you’ll pardon me, but I don’t think it’s her mouth. Before we get to the predictable argument that we shouldn’t tax the rich, let’s pause here to note that while the men on Fox News appear in suits, the women don plunging necklines, short skirts, bare legs and are made up to look more like beauty queens than reporters. It wouldn’t matter except that this is not only pandering to the patriarchal neo-con daddies, but it’s also rather distracting — a bonus when you’re not being honest.
See if you can follow her “argument” here and note where your eyes go as she delves into talking points. Video courtesy of Media Matters:
Doocy and the Cheerleader are moaning about the poor rich people having to pay taxes; very sad that they pay the “lion’s share of taxes already”. Practically seems like someone has canceled Christmas. Much oohing and ahhing over the horrible predicament of the rich. I only want to pause here to point out that actually, in reality, the super rich don’t pay the majority of the taxes and their tax rate is lower than the middle class via the tax codes shelters and dodges – See Warren Buffet. So many lies, so little time. Then Doocy really kicks off the fun with this gem:
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Doocy: …Why not give them (the super rich) a little break?
Poor Juan Williams looks shocked here. It’s as if he had no idea just how bad it would be on Fox. Yes, Juan, Doocy really did just say that.
And how about it, Doocy! I mean, it’s not like they had a break over the past ten years. And certainly, if we have any spare compassion to be doled out this holiday season, it should be spent on the super rich who have suffered so what with all of the negative press after we bailed them out with our tax dollars. Wait, why can’t they pay taxes again? Don’t they owe us? I kid, I kid. I know they don’t owe us crap. We’re the less privileged part of the Darwinian experiment and we must pay.
Juan Williams: (barely recovered from the shock of his realization that reality has no home on this Fox set) Because Republicans are saying, no, unless you give the super rich the people who make a million or more the tax cuts we’re not going to let this go forward—
Note the verbal cues as Doocy and Cheerleader dismissively shake their heads no as if entertaining a wild puppy. ‘No, Republicans aren’t doing that’ is the message the unsophisticated viewer gets. Of course, actually, yes, that is what Republicans are doing. Must pay attention to verbal cues and lower thirds if one is to break down the entire Fox propaganda machine.
So fully armed with her plunging neckline and Cheerleader’s grasp of economic issues, she’s called out for her tired trickle down claim that the top 2 percent are the “job makers” and shouldn’t be taxed because of the deficit:
Fox Cheerleader: They (the rich) need their money so they can pay for all of these spending proposals!
I do wish someone would ask her who exactly was going to pay for the Republicans spending proposals without letting Bush tax cuts expire for the top 2%. Math….only for the elite liberal evils, apparently.
Juan Williams: Don’t you even feel like you are talking out of two sides of your mouth –
Fox Cheerleader: –NO!
Of course not, Juan! I no speaky from there, honey. Look HERE where wardrobe barely managed to secure these two fragile wisps of fabric over my heaving —
Juan Williams: — when you say we have a huge deficit we have to be responsible and we have to pay down the deficit but oh no–
Fox Cheerleader: –but taking more than half from the rich guy is the way to do it? Stop spending is the way to do it!
RAH RAH! Stop spending! DOH. Why didn’t the Republicans think of that at some point in the last 40 years? And gosh, I can feel something trickling down over those poor rich guys having to pay something but it’s not economics.
This enthusiastic quip is followed by a beauty pageant smile of self-satisfied simplicity: “Yes, I want world peace in the Iraq also too in other countries. Again.” No, I’m not mocking her for her ignorance, that’s a given on Fox and frankly, most morning shows aren’t known for their in-depth discussions of economic policy, I just find the proud Poujadism of the proletariat fighting for the rich cheer routine a bit tough to take so early in the morning.
We must point out the little lie inherent in the big lie, and that is the Cheerleader’s scoffing about how “250,000 thousand a year” isn’t “super rich”. If one is a business owner, that 250k is after deductions and write offs and perks like having the business pay for part of your mortgage, car, and living expenses. So, I think it’s fair to say that those folks are well off.
But the big lie is that the super rich getting a tax cut benefits the rest of us. This supply side economic theory of trickle down manna from the sky didn’t work under Bush and it won’t work now. Job creation lessened under Bush, as the deficit ballooned and the economy tanked. Oh, and of course, the granddaddy lie is that these tax cuts somehow fit into dreams of Reagan, when in fact, under Reagan, Americans were paying a much higher tax rate.
We must commend Fox on slyly feeding propaganda through beautiful, semi-clothed women with sweet smiles and innocently daring invitational clothing. Hello, liberals. Enough with the smarty pants women in suits with something to say. Can’t you see, it’s the package, not the content?
Now then, what would have been enlightening is for one of these folks to grasp basic civics. They frame their entire discussion around “Obama” and tax hikes. Nice work if you can get it. It isn’t, after all, the President who passes or funds legislation like extending tax cuts. Yes, he can drive it, he can sell it, but he can’t go into that Senate and make Harry Reid I Just Want to be Re-elected do anything. It’s those three branches of government thingy. This fine point is inconvenient for both sides to acknowledge, as it’s not as fun to hate on Harry as it is to hate on Obama, and plus, Obama is Republican Target #1.
We can’t blame Republicans for not understanding the limits of the executive branch since they so rarely acknowledge them when they are in office if the Bush years are any indicator of their beliefs about unlimited power. Aw, heck, just sign an executive order if you can’t get Congress to do what you want! That was clearly the intention of the founders (as proven in our newly revised history for the neo-con school book).
And we already knew they didn’t understand economics, given what they did to the country with the Bush tax cuts and the wild, frat boy spending and the war they forgot to put on the budget. Perhaps America would be better off treating them like the crazy uncle at Christmas. Let them talk and then get back to work, ignoring everything they said because….they are crazy.
What’s really at issue here is what kind of President did we elect? There are basically two kinds of presidents: the leader and the do-er. Bill Clinton was a leader. Barack Obama is a do-er. The problem seems to be that many thought he would be a leader, speaking to us and for us from the bully pulpit much more often than he does. I can’t criticize the amount of legislation his approach has managed to get passed, but it’s sort of like going to sleep with Brad Pitt from Thelma and Louise and waking up with Brad Pitt of the bearded scruff bohemian when he’s not filming. Both are good; but one was a lot more immediately enticing on a certain visceral level.
See? That’s just my way of pointing out how sexually biased our media is. Half naked women run around delivering “news” with nary a reference to naked men. So, there. Brad Pitt. Neener neener. Hey, maybe Brad could be the spokesmodel for the middle class– we could dress him in a loin cloth or something. Just spit ballin’ here.
At any rate, this President and the Democrats in office have fought hard for the middle class, contrary to what you may be reading online right now. They have fought for small business tax cuts, loans, extending unemployment, and more. The tax cut issue has to get through the Senate. So if anyone has any ideas on how to educate the majority of Americans on reality versus the well-framed right wing talking points of trickle down wealth paying off our deficit, do let the Obama administration hear from you.
Do they have to compromise with Those Who Shall Not be Moved? Yes. They do. No, really, they do.
It’s ugly, it’s tedious and it most likely won’t work. Thank goodness Obama has more patience than I, for right now, if I were him, I’d want to tell the Republicans that when they want to get serious about helping the majority of Americans, they can let me know – but until then, we are moving ahead without them and if that means nothing gets done, fine. They can tell the American people all about it. But of course, fun as that would be, when the American people heard about it, it would be Obama’s fault for “tax hikes” (well done, George!) instead of a pocket veto (he didn’t touch it; just let the Bush tax cuts expire).
If only we weren’t in a recession and the plunging necklines weren’t so easy to believe, reality might have a chance here.
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