Senate Democrats postpone tax cut vote until after elections

From Washington Post.

Senate Democrats said Thursday that they had abandoned plans for a pre-election showdown with Republicans over taxes, postponing any vote on extending Bush administration tax cuts until after the November midterms.

It's stupid politically for them to do this. But they know what they are doing. It isn't as if they don't realize what the political issues are. The problem apparently is that some "conservative Democrats" don't want to be put in the position of voting to allow the tax cuts to expire on people making more than $250,000. And that's the real problem. The Democrats have done so badly at making their case in the public conversation that they can't make this simple argument. Even the most "conservative" Democrats should be able to make the case to let the cuts expire on the most wealthy. But the Democrats have so given up the floor to the Republicans that they can't even get that point across. The Republicans are simply in control of the public forum. It's outrageous both that the Democrats let that happen and that my fellow citizens are so easily taken in. It makes me very angry on both counts.