The catalyst for Occupy Wall Street, the idea that the wealthiest Americans get all the breaks while the middle class and working poor pay for them, remains popular with voters. OWS's call for a level playing field has gained traction with voters who understand the well-to-do have become wealthy because of the rest of us, not despite the rest of us. Some 66 percent of those surveyed in a recent CNN/ORC International poll favor tax increases on wealthier Americans as well as spending cuts on domestic programs.

In an effort to cloud the core issue - the one with which most everyone agrees - the far right noise machine has been working 24-7 to cast OWS and its supporters as (mix and match any of the following) unhygienic, law breaking, Communist, anti-Semitic, fascist, drug-addled, Nazi, whining, sex-crazed, nihilist, Marxist, spoiled, lazy, disorganized, unfocused, stupid, manipulated, socialist.

None of it really matters. A year away from the 2012 elections, GOP lawmakers seem determined to whistle past this graveyard in their effort to protect their well-to-do benefactors.