Senator Bernie Sanders’ face after he accidentally said of the GOP’s middle class tax cut, “it is a very good thing.”

Democrats continue to have a messaging problem with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The problem is that the middle class tax cut “is a very good thing,” as Senator Bernie Sanders put it on CNN.

You see, liberals and Democrats know that their hollering and shouting about tax cuts for the rich are going to ring hollow when working Americans realize they, too, are actually paying less in taxes next year; that they’ll keep more of their money.

In anticipation of this problem where facts and reality interfere with their campaigns, Democrats have been trotting out the talking point that these are impermanent cuts and therefore meaningless; they expire, are temporary, go away, vanish, and so don’t matter. They say it with alarm and sneers and make it sound like it happens after a month.

Of course, that’s not so. In reality, the cuts are good for 10 years. That’s no chump change. Would you take a raise for ten years, knowing that you could lose the raise in a decade? My guess is yes. I sure would if editing blogs were the kind of job that included raises.

Democrats, of course, make their living bemoaning the plight of working class Americans without ever doing anything about it. They march and protest over pennies and dollars per hour. Now that the GOP is putting actual money in the actual pockets of those same Americans, Democrats suddenly think more money paycheck after paycheck for an entire decade is of no consequence to those workers. Odd.

Still, it is better to keep tax cuts than to have them expire, philosophically speaking. Conservative philosophy thinks so, anyway. (Democrats would rather you never get a cut in the first place.)

Reality, though, has never stopped a Democrat from spouting a talking point.

“Independent” Bernie Sanders, former primary Primary opponent to Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, spoke to Jake Tapper about tax cuts this week, and Tapper asked him point blank why tax cuts for the middle class aren’t something to celebrate. Bernie pulled the Dem talking point about permanence immediately.

.@jaketapper: “Next year, 91% of middle income Americans will receive a tax cut. Isn’t that a good thing?”@BernieSanders: “Yeah, it is a very good thing. And that’s why we should’ve made the tax cuts for the middle class permanent” #CNNSOTU https://t.co/ei8xTHGo1E — CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) December 24, 2017

I just want to repeat this question because it’s awesome. “Next year, 91% of middle income Americans will receive a tax cut. Isn’t that a good thing?”

I love that. Bernie’s answer, though, is meant to suggest exactly what the Dems are trying to run with: that it’s really no big deal since it’s not permanent. At least he mentions the timeline. Most liberals won’t. He’s still making the same point, though: That this is all nothing.

But, just as he did during their debate on socialism, Senator Ted Cruz was quick to disarm Bernie with a simple but devastating retort.

I agree, @BernieSanders — let's make the middle-class tax cuts permanent. Join me, we'll co-sponsor legislation (I've already got it drafted) that does exactly that, and we'll get it passed in January! https://t.co/7A3Wg6c4M9 — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 27, 2017

Happy. To. Do it.

And he has the legislation ready to go.

So much for that talking point, Bernie. Now you’re trapped by your own words. Will you work with Senator Cruz? Will you make the middle class tax cuts permanent? Or are you just quoting from the DNC playbook for effect and without substance?

I leave it to our readers to guess the answer.