Mullings A Political Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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Nothin' But Net

Monday, March 26, 2001

The other March Madness: Tax Relief.

We can't help but be amused by the amount of elbowing going on under the basket of tax relief with almost every Republican and every Democrat in the House and in the Senate jockeying for position to put back the rebound of the Bush tax bill.

Here's a secret: Just as Republicans can never outbid Democrats on issues like minimum wage increases, Democrats can never outbid Republicans on issues like tax cuts.

The Democratic team wants to accelerate and increase tax cuts to low and middle income people, grabs the ball off the defensive board� Oooh, with the left hand off the back rim! Two points.

The Republican team wants to fix the marriage penalty, decrease estate taxes and cut marginal rates on middle and upper income individuals, strips the offensive board, moves to the right, kisses the glass! Two points.

Billy Packer? What do you think? The Administration will take the best of these ideas, repackage them into some rational form, pull up behind the line, and let fly a three-pointer at the buzzer for the win.

Swish!

Each year the most holy of the Big Time Journalists in Washington who belong to an organization called "The Gridiron Club" put on a minstrel show known as the "Gridiron Dinner."

I am only being cranky about this because I wasn't invited. When I was invited, of course, I thought it was the best thing ever and I wore my White-Tie-and-Tails outfit for three straight days - to the office, to lunch, to the grocery store, to the cleaners.

Oh, this? You know? I went to the Gridiron Dinner the other night and I forgot I still had it on.

This, from the AP coverage by Lawrence L. Knutson:

[Bush] dismissed suggestions that Cheney is the decision-maker in the White House. "To those people, I say. ..." At that point, he paused, turned to Cheney and said, "Dick, what do I say?"
Bush admitted he had "foot-and-mouth disease" when it comes to the English language, saying he has been told that his lips "are where words go to die."

To see a really good history of the Gridiron Dinner by Knutson and the usual foolishness, go to the Secret Decoder Ring.

In a NY Times article by Steven Greenhouse on the Administration's views toward labor unions ("Unions See Bush Moves as Payback for Backing Gore"):

"In recent days, President Bush has signed legislation to repeal union- backed workplace safety rules and has intervened to stop a mechanics' strike at Northwest Airlines. He has issued an executive order ending the preference that unionized companies had in many federally financed building projects. And he has issued another order intended to make it harder for unions to use their members' dues for political activities."

After which Greenhouse writes, "Union officials view those moves as punishment for their backing Al Gore and as part of a broader strategy to weaken organized labor on national issues in general and in politics in particular."

The Administration denies it is anti-union, but let's take the union position - that they are being punished - as true for a second.

In the words of the immortal Roy Biggins: "Yea? Your so-called point being �?"

This is from the Common Cause database (which, by the way, does not list its own donors):

Contributions in the 2000 election cycle from the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) to DEMOCRATS: $4,991,104.

Contributions in the 2000 election cycle from the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) to REPUBLICANS: $0.

Here, from their web page, is AFSCME's position on McCain-Feingold: "The bill would prevent unions and corporations from airing TV and radio ads about federal legislative issues sixty days before a general election and 30 days before a primary � AFSCME cannot support the measure in its present form."

Memo to Gerald W. McEntee, International President, AFSCME and chairman of the AFL-CIO's political committee: Don't spend too much time checking the mail looking for your invitation to a State Dinner.

Memo to Big Time Journalists: What is the AFL-CIO generally, and the chairman of its political committee in particular, doing to "improve" McCain-Feingold? What changes are they asking for? Who are they talking to? Who are they leaning on? Why do we see article after article on Bush v. McCain and no articles on AFL-CIO president John Sweeney v. McCain?

This is why I will NEVER get another invitation to a Gridiron Dinner.

Here's all I'm going to say about the Academy Awards: If everyone in the Shrine Auditorium took a drug test, next year's show would be hosted by Robert Downey, Jr. In the exercise yard.

-- END --
Copyright © 2001 Richard A. Galen

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