if all democrats di s died in a tomorrow, it would still be happening at the end of this year, absent legislation action. but it has become a very potent political issue for them. >> and still democrats, even if everybody in the country understood that background, and i think not many people do, i still think democrats end up at this sort of massive disadvantage here. because in order to explain why extending the bush tax cuts beyond the date when they're going to expire is bad, you have to ask people to sort of hold on until the end of the sentence. and if the first two words of sentence are "tax cuts," that sounds so positive that nobody can sort of stand sticking through to hear the math about why letting them expire makes so much more sense for the economy, and particularly, for the deficit. >> when you're explaining, you're losing. it's an old political truism. and it stands here. and it's a remarkable trap the republicans have prusprung on t democrats. of the one hand, they get to hammer the democrats for a tax