Forty-seven members of the Democratic caucus in the House have broken ranks with their party’s leadership and signed a letter expressing their support for an extension of all Bush-era tax cuts.

WASHINGTON – A group of 47 House Democrats are telling party leaders they want to continue Bush-era tax cuts on investment income, breaking ranks with President Barack Obama and exposing divisions among Democrats over their party’s pre-election message about taxes.

The lawmakers, led by Rep. John Adler, D-N.J., have sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying they strongly support extending the current tax rates on capital gains and dividends.

“Raising taxes on capital gains and dividends could discourage individuals and businesses from saving and investing,” said the letter, dated Friday and released Tuesday. “We urge you to maintain the current tax rate for both dividend and long-term capital gains taxes.”

Forty-seven vulnerable members of the House demonstrating their need to buck the party line in order to remain employed after November? Or forty-seven members of the Democratic caucus who understand that raising taxes in the middle of a recession is a very, very bad idea? Probably a mixture of both, though more the former than latter.

If Republicans held together and these forty-seven Democrats kept their word, an extension of all Bush-era tax cuts would pass the House of Representatives. Perhaps that’s why Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have put off such a vote until after the mid-term elections, as cowardly and sleazy as that may be.