"Who do you side with?"

Nancy Pelosi is made of steel.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi tonight implored House Democrats in a private meeting to consider a pre-election vote on extending the Bush-era tax cuts for the middle class while letting those for the rich expire, framing the debate in partisan terms.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee told TPM after the caucus that Pelosi ended the meeting with a "resounding" and impassioned speech that fired up the Democrats and might even have brought more on board for a vote.

"She made it clear it's a black and white issue of who do you stand with," Lee told TPM. "It's the middle class and they need to know we are pushing for them. We have to say it over and over again. They've gotta see it, smell it, sense it, taste it."

Lee (D-TX) said that Democrats should be as consistent as President Obama has been, and attempt to define the Republicans as favoring the rich.

I can't even begin to understand the thinking of any Democrat in Washington who doesn't get this. Dems have as a party railed against the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest since the 2000 campaign. It is good politics. It makes fiscal sense. It paints Republicans as opposing middle class tax cuts if tax cuts for the rich aren't extended as well. What is the downside?

I am baffled (again).