Politics: Where we struggle to kneel in the muck.

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
and is a rollback of the tax cuts an increase?

RT, please don't pose this question, even rhetorically.

Though introduced with nifty flashing lights and funny terms like "sunset," GOPers have adapted to make these tax cuts their alpha and omega, a regular staple of their diet. Asking this question is like pissing in their breakfast cereal.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally posted by sgtclub
Are you kidding? If you need me to define a tax increase for you I will.

OK <getting snide>, how many tax increases in the most recent Pork bill</getting snide><shit eating grin>Bush is going to sign?</shit eating grin>

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
Is the health care system an individual's problem?

Health care is an individual's problem. The system is all of our problems.

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by Gattigap
RT, please don't pose this question, even rhetorically.

Though introduced with nifty flashing lights and funny terms like "sunset," GOPers have adapted to make these tax cuts their alpha and omega, a regular staple of their diet. Asking this question is like pissing in their breakfast cereal.

So I don't get to count all of those GOP votes for sunset as votes for tax increases? Damn, I thought I was finally getting the hang of the GOP calculation of a "vote to raise taxes."

ETA: Math is hard.

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
OK <getting snide>, how many tax increases in the most recent Pork bill</getting snide><shit eating grin>Bush is going to sign?</shit eating grin>

No idea, but how is that relevant? A tax hike is a tax hike, no matter who signs or votes for it.

[dtb]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
Everybody with me...

Freres Jacques,
Freres Jacques
A dorme vous?
A dorme vous..."

Well, at least you know nobody will mistake you for a Frenchy!**

There's a boy in my son's kindergarten class who is French, and apparently, something of a rabble-rouser. My son described that kid thusly: "He's French and he's CRAZY!!" (He makes it sound as though they are one and the same -- and I suppose maybe they are...)




It's "Frere"(with an accent mark that I don't know how to make on this program) and "dormez vous?"

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by Gattigap
Asking this question is like pissing in their breakfast cereal.

Gatti gets me.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally posted by sgtclub
No idea, but how is that relevant? A tax hike is a tax hike, no matter who signs or votes for it.

It's just fun to drive home the point that Bush is a fiscal liberal. Frankly, in this case, where we are dealing with brazen pork, I believe that the outcome in a Kerry presidency would be significantly greater fiscal constraint, since the Democrats and Republicans usually want to deliver pork to different constituencies and the fight over the spoils lessens the pork. Though I recognize that what the house leadership did was to say, we'll take our pork but put enough in front of you guys so you won't be able to attack us for it, effectively doubling the snouts at the trough.

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by dtb
It's "Frere"(with an accent mark that I don't know how to make on this program) and "dormez vous?"

Now, be nice. It wasn't too long ago that Slave learned that "LMNOP" was more than one letter.

[SlaveNoMore]

dtb
Well, at least you know nobody will mistake you for a Frenchy!**

Ribbit!!!

My son described that kid thusly: "He's French and he's CRAZY!!" (He makes it sound as though they are one and the same

Smart kid. Must be that apple not far from the tree thing.

It's "Frere"(with an accent mark that I don't know how to make on this program) and "dormez vous?"

Serves me right for checking my French spelling against googled Fugees lyrics.

Oh well. Ding ding dong.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
you do admit that this was complete bullshit, don't you?

Not at all. And you may believe that he will break his word in any event, but at the very least he will now pay a much greater political price for doing so.

[dtb]

I just heard audio of Jon Stewart's appearance on Crossfire (I don't know who the host is -- is it Tyler something-or-other?).

It's a live show, and he called the host a dick. HA!

[PB etiquette frowns upon posting something like this sans a link -- t.s.]

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by sgtclub
We should be discussing both and then some. Kerry will spend at least as much and more likely more than Bush and will raise taxes to do it. My guess is that the deficits under Kerry will be about equal to Bush's current, but who the hell knows. In any event, big spending + hire taxes = liberal. Math is hard, but that equation is easy.

I brought up the other items because he I think they make him a liberal as well. This will sound trite and is an over simplification, but anyone who believes that government is better suited to solve an individuals problems than the individual is a liberal.

I think this is wrong. Wrong because the Republican party, under Bush, is so captive to corporate interests that the government is not going to stop flowing. Republicans are less interested in using money to solve social problems, but that's only part of the picture. And it's wrong because Kerry and a GOP Congress will balance each other, whereas Bush and a GOP Congress will be a massive porkathon (again). Kerry is not running for Tom DeLay's job. He's running to be President.

To borrow from Posner, the question is not whether government is best suited to solve an individual's problems, but whether free markets will function well, or whether there's some sort of market failure calling for government intervention.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
Don't worry. If you're a working lawyer making over $200,000 per year in a high tax state like California with a mortgage, it is likely that the AMT ate your Bush tax cut (it did mine).

So, the rollback probably won't hit you, because the cut got cut already.

And bilmore wonders why some of us are so bitter.

[SlaveNoMore]

dtb
I just heard audio of Jon Stewart's appearance on Crossfire (I don't know who the host is -- is it Tyler something-or-other?).

It's a live show, and he called the host a dick. HA!

Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala [on this particular show].

From the Corner (apologies to Gatti, who I already sent this to):

Jon Stewart--who i often find hysterically funny--was just on Crossfire and...made Crossfire worse than it usually is. They had him on, of course, to...be funny. And they had him on the whole blasted show. He was...not funny. He lectured Begala and Carlson on journalism--like, um, do they pretend to be journalists? He said they are "hurting America"? And whined on and on about the absurdity of the political "process" and told Tucker to go to journalism school. At first, I thought he was trying to be funny, but then he just wouldn't shut up being self-righteous--to the point Tucker Carlson had to yell over his pathetic pleading. It was really unfortunate and CNN-ers have got to be justifiably ticked