In fight over jobs bill, Democrats will brand GOP as ‘extreme’

“Tea Party Economics.” “Tea Party Downgrade.” “Tea Party Double-Dip Recession.”

Those are the bumper sticker slogans congressional Democrats plan to slap on Republican opponents to President Obama’s jobs plan this fall. Democrats are now dismantling the bill into individual proposals that are popular in the polls after a GOP-led filibuster blocked the package in the Senate. The Republican-led House has declined to take it up.

“The public has a whiff, after the debt ceiling debate, that the Republican Party has become extreme,” said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), his party’s top strategist in the Senate, as he unveiled the new messaging strategy Wednesday during at an “Inside Politics” breakfast at Third Way, the moderate Democratic think tank.

Obama was given a preview during a recent meeting with Democratic leaders at the White House. Schumer, a chief architect of the so-called millionaire’s tax that Democrats proposed to pay for Obama’s jobs bill, cautioned against attacking the rich or specific industries – a nod to his party’s hesitant embrace of the Occupy Wall Street protests.

“If you do it in a way that’s not anti, that’s pro, you win,” Schumer said.

lmascaro@tribune.com