31 Democrats Rebel on Taxes as Tea-Party Gains Pose Dilemma for GOP Leaders

A 9-9-2010 post is entitled "No guts (and looking for campaign glory): Tax Cuts Dividing Democrats."

The subject of that post has occurred. Damn the deficit and any guts, its politics as usual.

From The Wall Street Journal:

The two major parties began the general election sprint Wednesday roiled by the fallout of a primary season marked by furiously anti-incumbent voters and major rifts over strategy.

In the House, 31 Democrats rebuffed their leadership on the expiring Bush-era tax cuts, signing a letter calling for temporary extension of all the breaks and signaling a possible impasse in Washington's bid to deal with the thorny political problem.

The letter provided the most dramatic sign yet of Democrat jitters over voting for the Obama administration's plan to extend current tax levels for middle-class earners—families making less than $250,000—while allowing taxes to rise for higher earners starting January.

House Democratic leaders had hoped to use the tax cuts as a rallying cry in the run-up to the election, casting Republicans who favor extending all the breaks as obstructionists and allies of the rich. Instead, the party now faces long odds in passing its tax plan before the November elections. The 31 Democrats, plus House Republicans, come close to forming a majority in that chamber.

For Democrats, much of the recent debate has centered on the pending expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts. An impasse on a bill to extend them for the middle-class before the election would leave incumbents vulnerable to criticism by Republicans that they are effectively letting taxes rise.

But a number of incumbent Democrats in both House and Senate worry their exposure is higher if they vote for the administration's proposal, and can be tagged with explicitly approving tax increases.