Tea Party Downgrade

While Republicans in Washington try to shift the blame for Standard and Poor's first-in-history downgrade of the United States' credit rating, Republican politicians in Wisconsin face recall elections tomorrow for the same irresponsible behavior that led to our downgrade: putting tax breaks for millionaires ahead of what's best for ordinary Americans. The people of Wisconsin are speaking out and leading the way.

CORE MESSAGE

We have a choice: take away millionaire tax breaks or take away more middle-class American jobs. 

Connect: We've all had enough of reckless political brinkmanship -- we need responsible leaders who put our jobs above theirs.

Define: Republicans in Congress threatened us with economic disaster to protect millionaires from paying a dime more in taxes -- and they say they'll do it again.

Illustrate: Their recklessness brought us this Tea Party downgrade, and it's brought us to the brink of a Tea Party recession.  

Offer solutions: It doesn't have to be this way. We can get rid of massive tax giveaways for millionaires and use that money to pay Americans who keep our country running.

Core values: America works best when we value working people.

ATTACKS & RESPONSES

"Democrats are responsible for the credit downgrade and the political gridlock."

• Republicans in Congress brought us to the brink of default. They threatened to stop paying our nation's bills to get their way, and say they plan to do it again and again.
• Republicans refused to compromise, even with our economy on the line. This is the political brinkmanship that cost America our perfect credit rating.

"This downgrade is the result of out-of-control spending."

• We need to rebalance our books, but more spending cuts mean laying off more Americans -- and that means less customers in our stores. The best way to reduce the deficit is to put Americans back to work, and that should be our top priority.
• Republican policies under Bush exploded government spending, more than doubled our national debt, and created the trillions in deficits that we're still dealing with today. 3 out of every 4 dollars of our nation's debt are the result of Republican policies.

"We don't need or want tax increases to get our fiscal house in order."

• Republican politicians need to face reality. Experts, including conservative economists, agree that spending cuts alone just are not enough. We need serious solutions, not irresponsible tax pledges.
• Most Americans say the best way to reduce the deficit is to raise taxes on millionaires and eliminate giveaways for oil companies, but Republicans won't even put that on the table.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

JOBS

• Americans want Washington to focus on jobs, not spending cuts.
• The final debt deal could put almost 2 million people out of work next year. That's why it's so important that the new deficit reduction super-committee focus on creating jobs.
• Republicans in Congress have tried to eliminate nearly 7 million jobs this year. Just recently, hard-line Republicans in Congress bickering over a Federal Aviation Administration bill created an impasse that sidelined thousands of workers and stiffed taxpayers by almost $400 million.
• Republican politicians across the country are demanding tax giveaways for millionaires and corporations while slashing funding for education, health care, and transportation -- and that means laying off teachers, nurses, and construction workers.

REALITY CHECK ON TAXES

• Experts, including conservative economists, agree that spending cuts alone are not enough to balance our budget.
• President Reagan's budget include three times as many tax increases as spending cuts.
• The Bush tax cuts were followed by the slowest job growth since World War II and they're the number one driver of our deficits today.
• When Presidents Reagan, Bush Sr., and Clinton told millionaires and big corporations to pay their fair share, it led to millions of new jobs and economic growth.
• Most Americans say the best way to reduce the deficit is to raise taxes on millionaires and eliminate giveaways for oil companies, but Republicans won't even put that on the table. Today, America's millionaires are enjoying skyrocketing incomes and plummeting tax rates.
• Corporate profits are at an all-time high, but corporations are paying lower taxes than ever before -- and some aren't paying any at all.

DOWNGRADE

• The credit downgrade is a rebuke of political brinkmanship. We have lower debt loads than other countries that still have their perfect AAA ratings. The truth is that our country has the ability to pay all our bills and responsibly manage our debt, if our elected leaders choose to.
• We should keep in mind that S&P helped cause the 2008 financial crisis. They got paid by the big banks to award their AAA-stamp of approval to all manner of financial products that were actually of terrible quality and crashed our economy when they went bad. Also, the initial S&P downgrade document included a "$2 trillion mistake."
• Republican leaders are touting their tactic of refusing to pay our bills in order to get what they want as "a new way of doing business in Washington."

We develop messaging by aggregating, analyzing and distilling polling, tested messaging, and expert recommendations, and monitoring the media to identify what is and isn't working. See here for some of the experts and organizations we draw on.