by Zack Beauchamp
Greg Sargent attempts to clarify Grover Norquist's position on letting the payroll tax cut expire. Jonathan Bernstein wonders how voters interpret this kind of rhetoric:
[F]or all I know low-income folks hear the "half of people don't pay income taxes" rhetoric and believe that it's about how working class people do pay taxes while the rich find ways to get out of it. And I say "for all I know" — but you can be sure that someone is polling and focus-grouping this stuff, so Republicans who are pushing this line are working from evidence. Class warfare, indeed — but class warfare in which Republican politicians manage to align themselves with virtually everyone who is listening to them, against an unspecified "them" who is getting away with something.
Some interesting attempts to explain the GOP's behavior from Steve Benen, Kevin Drum, and Jon Chait.
The Dish 