After a pledge of compromise by President Barack Obama on the future of the Bush tax cuts, top liberal Democrats went on the offensive, promising that they would not back down to Republicans over unemployment benefits or tax cuts for the wealthy. Vermont senator Bernie Sanders told Rachel Maddow, “It’s absurd to give tax breaks to billionaires when you have a $13 trillion nation debt,” while Ohio senator Sherrod Brown on Hardball said he thinks Democrats can force the GOP into a showdown over middle-class tax cuts, which would result in the country shaming Republicans into folding. However, John McCain made it very clear to Sean Hannity that a two-year extension of all Bush tax cuts is what his Republican colleagues consider their “fallback position” and that he’s confident the Democrats will fall in line with Obama’s strategy of compromise.
