Whit Ayres’s comments on the Super Committee | November 23, 2011
Carol E. Lee and Janet Hook
The Wall Street Journal
“They cite as an example of new GOP flexibility an offer by supercommittee member Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.), which called for $250 billion in tax increases over 10 years mostly by curbing deductions for upper-income people. That plan also would have permanently lowered income taxes below the Bush era rates, Toomey aides said.
‘It undermines the Democrats’ charge that it was Republican intransigence that caused the deal to fail,’ said Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster. ‘We’re going to emphasize that we made a good-faith effort to meet Democrats in the middle and they turned their backs.’
Democrats had said the Toomey proposal was an empty gesture because it also would have lowered tax rates for upper-income people.
Republicans also argued that the failure of the supercommittee could be traced to Democratic opposition to changes in health-care entitlements.
Both sides carry risks from the supercommittee’s failure. Mr. Obama kept his distance from the panel, a contrast to his engagement with lawmakers during the debt-ceiling showdown earlier this year, which wound up fueling public disenchantment with both political parties. But the panel’s collapse could feed public unease with his leadership abilities, nonetheless.
‘It demonstrates a chronic failure to lead,’ said Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R., N.H.), whose 2010 Senate campaign focused heavily on fiscal issues. ‘He will be held responsible—especially here in New Hampshire, where every ad I ran was about cutting spending and getting our fiscal house in order.’
‘This will reinforce the desire for a new and different direction for the country leading up to the November 2012 elections,’ Mr. Ayres said. ‘That is not good news for an incumbent president, no matter how he tries to point fingers and shift blame.’ ”
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