Average

It's good to see Bush talking about taxes again and busting out some classic dishonesty. Back when he initially passed his tax cuts, he argued they were "affordable" and cited what they would cost if we assumed they would phase out. Today he's outraged by the idea of letting the taxes phase out. Meanwhile, we're back to talking about the "average" tax cut, which is pretty large, in much the same sense that if you take me, Bill Gates, and a homeless guy the "average" one of us is a billionaire.

Comments

Jesus H Christ, I can hardly wait for the day when this lying, ignorant pile of maggot feces has to leave the White House.

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | January 28, 2008 9:19 PM

1) Again, you see the incompetence of the Democratic Leadership. The Republicans are cheering and clapping Bush's every point -- like a claque.

2) The Democrats should have let out a roar of laughter when Bush argued that "American families have to balance their budget, the government should do the same."

This ,after all, is the Republican President who personal signature has made the debt $4 TRILLION more than what he promised it would be in Feb 2001.

3) Two faced deceit and hypocrisy should be greeted with jeers and laughter, not respectful silence.

Posted by Don Williams | January 28, 2008 9:23 PM

Maybe it's just me, but doesn't Bush seem to have lost all interest in persuading anyone? I mean, it's not the same as going through the motions exactly. He's still giving a speech, but he's giving it as an expression of a kind of psychological, ideological aesthetic. The point is obviously no longer to change the political landscape because that power has been lost to Bush since he used the last of his capital on the failed (by Bush's metric, political progress) surge.

Bush is talking to a historical aesthetic as well. There's an effort to weave together the incoherence of his policy push with the placeholder eloquence of historical certainty. Somehow the American enterprise is entirely instantiated in this madness and yet this madness itself stands outside of anything American.

Bush speaks tonight to himself. What we hear depends little on what is said at this point and entirely on the circumstances of utterance.

The dying days of the most catastrophically failed presidency in the history of the Republic.

Posted by Vincent. | January 28, 2008 9:25 PM

Yes the balanced budget BS received a standing ovation. Democrats don't have to rude but they sure as shit should not applaud.

Posted by blindjoedeath | January 28, 2008 9:28 PM

Well, here's something else to consider. What's the average current income of the members of the Democratic members of Congress? Now let's add in the income of their spouses and children, who are quite frequently highly-paid "lobbyists".

And what's been the trajectory of those incomes over the Bush Years, especially now that K Street has to give them a much bigger share of the national loot instead of having the greedy Republicans keep it all?

I'd bet that the Bush Years have been extraordinarily good ones for the after-tax income of all those Democrats applauding Bush's speech...

After all, even if the faction and family of the Duc d'Enghein were temporarily out of favor at the Court of Louis XVI, they certainty wouldn't have regarded themselves as "enemies" of their glorious king.

Posted by RKU | January 28, 2008 9:53 PM

Re "I'd bet that the Bush Years have been extraordinarily good ones for the after-tax income of all those Democrats applauding Bush's speech"
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And even better for those millionaire TV reporters covering the news.

Posted by Don Williams | January 28, 2008 10:08 PM

"The Edwards campaign never caught on because America rejects class warfare."

"Bush was hailed for his effort make his tax cuts permanent. Raising taxes at this point could send the economy into recession."

Posted by talking heads | January 29, 2008 2:39 AM

I'd bet that the Bush years have been extraordinarily good years for MOST home-owning, tax-paying americans with 401ks and the like.

If you intellectually dishonest, hate-filled slobs can't acknowledge that, it is you who are out to lunch.

Posted by Jozef | January 29, 2008 7:04 AM

Re Jozef's comment "I'd bet that the Bush years have been extraordinarily good years for MOST home-owning, tax-paying americans with 401ks and the like. "
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Yes, I just loved that $60,000+ additional debt that Bush dumped on me. That's on top of the $60,000 plus dumped on me by those fiscal conservative Ronald Reagan and George H Bush.

Actually, I get a warm fuzzy feeling at how Bush has fucked all those middle -class Republican morons. Their 401Ks are toast -- any future government (Republican or Democrat) will heavily tax withdrawals from those 401Ks in order to pay off Bush's IOUS (aka Treasury Bonds)to Social Security/Medicare . About $3 Trillion in IOUS, I believe.

How do you think Bush paid for that $2 Trillion tax cut he gave to his superrich patrons??

Oh, but I suppose you think a former drunk and bankrupt businessman was going to favor the common people -- instead of the rich buddies who sobered him up, gave him some money, gave him his self-respect back, and found him a job.

That because a politican wears jeans, a Cowboy hat, and drives a pickup, then he must favor the little people.

Geez, what a fool.

Posted by Don Williams | January 29, 2008 7:52 AM