I'm just the guy that can't stand cant. ___________

 
HAPPY NEW YEAR: The Self Made Pundit is back from vacation and wishes you all a happy new year (even my few masochistic Republican readers).

I hope to get back to regular posting next week. I had not planned to post today, but I could not resist commenting on President Bush's latest assault on rational discourse. According to The New York Times, Bush is attacking the Democrats for having the temerity to actually propose relief for the unemployed and other Americans hit hard by the Bush economy.

"Some would like to turn this into class warfare," he said after giving reporters a tour of his Crawford, Texas, ranch. "That's not how I think. I think about the overall economy and how best to help those folks who are looking for work."

So who are "those folks who are looking for work," that Bush would like to help?

While Bush refused to disclose any details of the plan he will unveil in a speech in Chicago next Tuesday, the plan is expected to have three major components -- an acceleration of tax relief already included in the massive 2001 tax act but not scheduled to take effect until later years, a reduction by possibly half in the current tax on corporate dividends paid to investors and an increase in tax breaks for businesses investing in new plants and equipment.

Well that makes sense. I'm sure that "those folks who are looking for work" are in the upper tax brackets that are currently scheduled for tax breaks in future years, are collecting corporate dividends and are considering investing in new factories while they look for work.

The Democrats are proposing a relief plan that is geared toward those who actually need relief and Bush has the gall to call it class warfare. On Bush's Bizarro World, however, his plan to aid those who are well off is in the public interest.

While I enjoy being one of the unofficial chroniclers of Bush administration mendacity, I had hoped to expand into new areas of punditry this year. But I question whether I'll be successful. Bush and his minions have this infuriating penchant for wrapping the most outrageous falsehoods in buzz words that have been stripped of any meaning. It's just too tempting a target. Just when I thought that I was out they pull me back in.
posted by Gary at 6:03 PM