Yet, Republicans have tried to spin that voter behavior as proof that Americans by and large want Republicans to engage in the same bizarre political theatre that resulted in their loss of control of the White House and Congress in the first place. Their susceptibility to their own spin has led to the kind of legislative overreach by the GOP that has resulted in recall elections of conservative Republicans all over America for things like union-busting, and which continues in the form of the GOP's stance on deficit reduction.
Indeed, there have been as many as 19 polls taken since the beginning of the year that indicate Americans by and large support tax increases as one of the means of lowering the deficit.
"Contrary to Republican dogma," wrote Fiscal Times columnist Bruce Bartlett in late June, "polls show that the American people strongly support higher taxes to reduce the deficit and improve income inequality."
Meanwhile a Gallup poll released on July 13 concurred. It showed that 80 percent of Americans do not support the GOP position of resolving the deficit problem solely through spending cuts, which nearly all Republicans, via their signing of Norquist's No Tax Pledge, their support of both the Cut, Cap and Balance legislation and the Ryan budget plan, are stubbornly attempting to achieve.
Also, a July 18th Gallup poll revealed that a majority of Republicans, Democrats and Independents favor a compromise on raising the debt ceiling and not the GOP's unyielding my way or the highway "negotiating" stance.
According to the Huffington Post's Matt Finkelstein, writing in Media Matters' Political Correction, blog: --not only that Republicans do not have the American people on their side, but that Republicans do not even have Republican voters on their side."
That being the case, for the sake of their Party, isn't it time for Republican pledge-junkies to make one final pledge to the American people before heading off to rehab -- a pledge not to sign any more pledges?
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