Bush Tax Cuts Better Than Obama Stimulus 2.0, Poll Says

(Bush tax cut, Obama stimulus poll story updated for unified Republican resistance)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- A crack was exposed in Republican resistance to President Obama's plans to repeal Bush tax cuts for the affluent, and readers of TheStreet won't be happy about that based on the results of a recent poll.

On Sunday, the House Republican leader, John Boehner, who has been a fierce critic of Obama economic policy and called last month for the firing of Obama's economic team, said he would vote in favor of tax cuts for the middle class even if tax cuts for those Americans making more than $250,000 are repealed.

House Republican leader Boehner thought Obama's economic team was fair game in this election season, and President Obama has been busy in recent days attacking all Republicans, and Boehner specifically, for threatening to take away tax cuts for all Americans in the event that tax cuts for the affluent aren't preserved. It was a game of high stakes poker bluffing that it seems, at least now, Boehner may not really by ready to defend when the chips are down and the 97% of Americans who would lose any tax relief go to the polls.

On Face the Nation on Sunday morning, Boehner said, "If the only option I have is to vote for some of those tax reductions, I'll vote for them."

On Monday morning, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs appeared on national television and said he hopes Boehner's comments weren't as empty as his previous threat to hold hostage tax relief for all Americans. "Time will tell if his actions will be anything but continued support for the failed policies that got us into this mess."

This White House hope proved to be prescient by Tuesday morning, after the Republican Party showed a unified front in ignoring the concessionary words made by their House leader Boehner over the weekend, and continuing to take the stance that it's all or nothing with tax relief for Americans.

The No. 2 Republican in the House, Eric Cantor, gave no indication that he supported Boehner's stance on Monday. In the Senate, Republican Leader Mitch McConnell proposed a freeze on all tax brackets. Speaking on the Senate floor, McConnell said, "I'm introducing legislation today that ensures that no one in this country will pay higher income taxes next year than they are right now."

It seems that Americans are right back where they were before Boehner's words sparked hope for a compromise on Sunday. Republicans, to use the Democratic rhetoric, are still sticking to the plan of holding all tax relief "hostage" to the Bush tax cuts for the affluent being extended.

The Bush tax cuts for Americans making more than $250,000 a year have become a huge point of controversy in the run-up to the mid-term elections, and as part of the larger debate over the Obama administration plan to keep the U.S. economy on track for recovery.