SHAME

What the hell were a whopping 42 House Democrats doing voting for a permanent repeal of the estate tax?

UPDATE: Keep in mind, of course, that every Republican in the House save one voted for the permanent repeal. Also keep in mind that most of those Republicans are the same people pushing the idea that Social Security is in trouble. Take it away, Josh Marshall:

There's no hidden complexity here. It's a zero-sum game. They say Social Security is in trouble because we don't have enough dollars to make good on the Trust Fund (which today holds roughly $1.7 trillion in Treasury notes). And here they are voting to take a trillion more dollars off the table.

In other words, they could not care less about Social Security and everything they say on the subject is a joke.

If someone tells you that at least the Republicans have a plan and the Democrats don't, laugh in their faces. The Republican agenda (the actual bills they are passing right now) is to keep weakening Social Security at every opportunity, just like they're doing today. The most constructive thing anyone can do under present circumstances to protect Social Security, the only 'plan' that isn't a joke, is to oppose the Republican agenda in Congress, to stand up and say "do no more harm."

Yes. Remember this when Tom DeLay's apologists stand in front of microphones and say that the pressure on him should be blamed on "Democrats who have no agenda of their own". Even if we are to believe that Republicans want to "save" Social Security, they can't think that their other actions, such as this vote, occur in a vacuum. The reality, of course, is that they don't give a damn about saving it. Their agenda can't be to save Social Security by repealing taxes on the super, super-rich. If it is, then they're a lot worse with money than most people thought.