Orrin Hatch: Either Stupid or Lying

I was reading an article about today’s hearings to ‘grill’ oil executives and discuss revoking tax breaks for oil companies when I came across this bit:

Looks like Mr. Hatch has been cooped up indoors too long and needs to stick his head out a window: U.S. Taxes At Lowest Level Since 1958

Why are taxes so low? The short answer is that this (formerly) Democratic Party-controlled government has cut taxes, and not just a little- they’re at their lowest rate in over 5 decades!

So. Is Orrin Hatch stupid, or is he merely lying? Such a debate can only occur in the pit, and here it is.

The Republicans have set the plate and Americans are eating it. They believe our taxes are high and should be cut. They believe the problem is we spend too much. That is what they have been fed, and they are eating it with gusto.

This is from the same GOP playbook that brought you the concept of not renewing the Bush tax breaks = raising taxes.

I see no difference, except for the planet sized balls it takes to invoke this kind of spin with oil companies as the beneficiaries.

This is Orrin Hatch, so stupid and lying is the usual suspect of this answer.

Lying.
Yeah. Lying.

I’m gonna go with The Second Stone’s answer…it’s not an either/or question.

Self-righteous. disingenuous hypocrite.

I actually threw something at the TV last night when he was on.

I thought that we were talking about Orren Boyle.

Actually, the hypocrite is Obama. Like so many issues (ahem… Gitmo…) he campaigns one way and governs another.

If he believes (and the lefties believe, as per the thinkprogress.org cite) that taxes are too low, then he needs to take a stand and raise them. Frankly, his buddies were in charge for two full years and did nothing about it (well, they raised S CHIP, which made my cigars more expensive).

So your fight isn’t with Orrin, he’s only saying what his constuency wants him to say. It’s with Mr Competent.

PS the bullshit with the oil companies is actually another issue, especially the so-called “subsidies”. Not one person in 50 understands what’s really going on there, I bet.

What irritates me, is this is a hearing on an important matter – budget, taxes, spending, the whole schpiel is pretty forefront on the ‘let’s get shit done’ list that congress has in front of them right now. And this dick refers to it as a ‘dog and pony show,’ complete with oh so humorous pictures of dogs and ponies.

This isn’t a dog and pony show. If Orrin Hatch needs a refresher on Congressional dog and pony shows, he needs look no further than Peter ‘It Doesn’t Count When The IRA Does It’ King’s House UnChristian Activities Committee or whatever bullshit title he slapped on it when he made Keith Ellison cry.

Of course, what constituents “want to hear” all too often qualifies exactly as stupid or lying. Your terribly weak excuse on behalf of little ol’ Orrin is some powerful stupid itself.

More succinctly: your debilitating anti-Obama complex is naught but a red herring.

Obama campaigned on lowering taxes for people making under $225,000, and he did. It’s true that Obama’s administration hasn’t quite lived up to its campaign promises, but unfortunately you picked about the one spot where they did, and now you look kind of stupid.

What a fucking stupid response.

OP: Hatch is an idiot when he complains that taxes are so high, because they are clearly much lower than in the past.

Mr. Smashy: Ya, well the Democrats should lower them if they think taxes are too high.

Me: What a fucking idiot who missed the point of the OP.

Your own cite shows that your short answer is seriously deficient -

Not to mention that your idea of raising income taxes on all Americans has little to do with taxation of oil companies.

And, of course, when Hatch says

and you respond with a justification for tax increases, you are demonstrating that Sen. Hatch is entirely correct.

So, you must be stupid, or lying, or both.

Regards,
Shodan

Well not renewing the Bush tax breaks would have been raising taxes. It would have been a good idea, but it certainly would have raised taxes, if only back to their prior levels.

There’s no clash between what Orrin Hatch said and what you are saying. Orrin Hatch said “Democrats always want to raise taxes.” You said “taxes now are low.”

There would be clash only if Orrin said “taxes now are high” or you said “Democrats do not always want to raise taxes.”

That’s funny, I haven’t noticed that my taxes have gone down.

In fact, the percentage seems to have increased.
Maybe I should get thinkprogress.org to help me prepare my income tax.

I seem to have somehow misplaced all of my Democratic tax cuts. My Republican ones seem to be amiss too.

Not renewing the Bush tax breaks would have resulted in increased taxes. It would not have been “raising taxes”, which implies an affirmative action rather than an omission.

Well I’m convinced. If they haven’t gone down for you they must not have gone down for anybody. But seriously, I’d try and find out who is stealing your cut in SS taxes. You could use that money to buy an informed opinion.