How’s this for a quote?

“When they expire in two years, I will fight to end them,” Obama said. “Just as I suspect the Republican Party may fight to end the middle-class tax cuts that I’ve championed and that they’ve opposed.“

That this man is thoroughly unqualified to be President is, at this point, singularly incontestable. That his manner is classless, undignified and beneath the dignity of the office is hard to dispute.

But this quote shows something else to be true – Obama is a shameless, bald-faced liar.

Obama needs to show specifically which “middle-class tax cuts” the Republicans are planning on fighting or that they’ve opposed. If he’s talking about the marginal tax rates, he’s lying – no Republican has said they want to raise taxes on the middle class. As Gabriel Malor at Ace Of Spades points out…

It’s certainly a continuation of the liberal scaremongering that extending the tax cuts for everyone somehow takes food out of the mouths of starving (?) middle class Americans. I can’t find it now, but last week I saw some graphs circulating that put the Bush tax cuts for those earning less than $250 thousand on the Democratic side of the ledger and the tax cuts for those earning more than $250 thousand on the Republican side of the ledger, to demonstrate “who got what” out of the tax compromise.

The truth, of course, is that the “middle class” cuts have always been part of the Republican proposal.

Democrats excel at “framing” issues in such a way as to obscure the truth. They have to be good at this because most of the time their proposals are so awful, if people knew what they were really about, they’d freak. This is no different. Let’s “unframe” what the Democrats want when it comes to the Bush tax cuts: “We want to raise taxes.”

And when Obama brought that ridiculous proposal to raise taxes — absurd in good times, but particularly laughable in this economy, when the proposal would most affect those likeliest to create jobs — to Republicans and asked to make a deal, Republicans rightly said: “FY, NQ.“

He’s probably talking about the multitudes of special-interest tax breaks and subsidies he’s proposed since becoming president, in the theory that since some middle-class folks might benefit from them they’re middle-class tax cuts. But that’s just more evidence of a president without the ability to speak plainly to the American people on virtually any subject.

The public isn’t impressed with his prevarications, or much else about Obama.

According to this national McClatchy-Marist Poll, President Barack Obama’s approval rating has dipped to its lowest point since taking office.  Currently, 42% of registered voters approve of the job the president is doing while half — 50% — disapprove.  Eight percent are unsure.  When McClatchy-Marist last asked this question in its November 24th survey, 45% thought his performance was on the mark while 48% thought it was subpar, and 7% were unsure.  Prior to this survey, voters gave Mr. Obama his lowest approval rating in early October.  At that time, 43% of registered voters thought he was performing well in office.

The change has occurred among members of the president’s own party.  74% of Democrats think Obama is performing well in office while 21% do not, and 5% are unsure.  Late last month, those proportions stood at 83%, 11%, and 6%, respectively.  Among Republicans, most — 87% — disapprove of Mr. Obama’s job performance while 7% approve.  Six percent are unsure.  Similar proportions of Republicans held these views late last month when 84% disapproved, 11% approved, and 5% were unsure.  There has also been little movement among independent voters.  Currently, 52% disapprove, 39% approve, and 9% are unsure.  Late last month, those proportions were 54%, 38%, and 9%, respectively.