Subsequent to my earlier post today about Robin Carnahan and her new-found support for the Bush tax cuts for the highest brackets, another blogger here, Hotflash, forwarded to me an email statement from a  Carnahan spokesman, Linden Zakula:

Robin has always said that we must put middle class families first, but the unfortunate reality is that 14 years of Congressman Blunt’s failed economic policies have left Missourians still reeling from this economic crisis and she believes we must do everything we can to help our small businesses create jobs and get our economy back on track – not raise taxes on families.

I appreciate the willingness of Mr. Zakula to give us the official line and I appreciate that Carnahan has stood up for many initiatives and programs that help small business and the middle class – but, with all respect, this time I can only say: What an effing crock! Raise taxes on families! Rich families maybe – but they aren’t doing too badly now, nor will they when the upper tax rate raises from 35% to 39.5%. What kind of fools do they take us for?

Nobody, nobody is talking about letting those tax cuts that benefit the middle class expire – lots of smart people, though, are in agreement about the wisdom of letting the upper bracket cuts expire. The argument that it will hurt small business is tenuous at best – much weaker than arguments that the failure to renew more directly stimulative spending will hurt small business and Missouri families and I haven’t seen Carnahan out fighting for more stimulus. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities notes that:

… when CBO analyzed the job-creating efficiency of various stimulus policies, extending the high-end Bush income tax cuts came in dead last.

We expect our Democratic politicians to at least respect the truth – or to make a compelling argument if they don’t agree about what is true.  Too bad Carnahan can’t be bothered to come up with a position that doesn’t insult our intelligence.