Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) appeared on MSNBC with Chris Jansing…to attack President Obama’s new deficit reduction plan…. Taking up the typical GOP talking point, Fleming said raising taxes on wealthy “job creators” is a terrible idea that kills jobs because many of these people are small business owners who pay taxes through personal income rates. Fleming is himself a businesses owner, so Jansing asked, “If you have to pay more in taxes, you would get rid of some of those employees?” Fleming responded by saying that while his businesses made $6.3 million last year, after you “pay 500 employees, you pay rent, you pay equipment, and food,” his profits “a mere fraction of that” — “by the time I feed my family, I have maybe $400,000 left over.”
It seems that one of the hallmarks of today’s GOP is an utter sense of tone-deafness when it comes to what’s going on in the lives of real, middle-class Americans- you know, the ones most definitely NOT like Republican Congressmen. That most Congressman live in the hermetically sealed environment that is official Washington isn’t exactly news. What’s stunning is the degree to which some Republicans clearly have NO idea what Americans have to deal with on a daily basis.
The latest example is Louisiana’s John Fleming, who’s being excoriated (not without justification) for saying that he has “maybe $400,000 left over” after paying business expenses and feeding his family. Granted, I can kind of see where Fleming was trying to get to, but in opening his mouth and inserting his silver size-11, he made it clear that he really has NO idea what middle class Americans are dealing with today. Even when Chris Jansing allowed him an opportunity to gracefully step back on remarks she advised would not be well-received, Fleming doubled down.
Yes, I understand that Fleming, as a businessman, has significant expenses to pay- salaries, supplies, equipment, advertising. It’s what businessman do, and if they do it well they make a profit and perhaps even have the opportunity to grow their business. No reasonable person would begrudge Fleming his success. He took the risks, put in the hard work, made smart decisions, and has been fortunate enough to reap some positive results. That does NOT, however, provide a yardstick for Fleming to judge other people by. Instead of making a defensible argument, or even accepting the graceful exit Jansing offered, Fleming defaulted to tired, shop-worn GOP talking points: JOB CREATORS GOOD, TAXES BAD, OBAMA EVIL SOCIALIST MENACE.
Would that I had to somehow scrape by on “only $400,000”. The first thing I’d do is use some of that money to purchase Fleming a reserved parking spot in Hell.
