http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/taxes-americans-arent-buying-what-republicans-are-selling
"if there’s one consistency in recent public-opinion surveys, it’s the fact that the American mainstream doesn’t want Congress to pass massive tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. This has been bolstered by poll after poll after poll after poll – and yet, it’s precisely what GOP policymakers are eager to do. Indeed, Republicans have convinced themselves that the key to their success – not just as a matter of policy, but in purely electoral terms – is passing massive tax breaks. They’ve come to believe this with absolute certainty, insisting publicly that they believe their party will be politically “dead” unless they pass the still-unwritten tax plan. It’s become “an existential issue” for GOP leaders. This is a bizarre dynamic because Republicans are trying to become popular by doing something unpopular. GOP officials are working from the assumption that if they ignore popular will, they’ll be rewarded by the voters whose wishes they’re ignoring."
