Mullings A Political Cyber Column By Rich Galen

�

Click here for the Secret Decoder Ring to this issue!

Tax and Spend, Again and Again

Wednesday, May 16, 2001

According to the Treasury Department, tax receipts for the first quarter were slightly above projections. Of course, the taxes we paid on April 15 were on last year's income, but a spokesperson pointed out to us yesterday that with unemployment remaining pretty low, the surpluses are in no danger - at least not from those of us who are paying the taxes.

However, an article by Mark Preston in the Roll Call newspaper, points out that West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd has threatened his Democratic colleagues that if they voted FOR the Bush tax plan (or any variant of it) then they will not be eligible for any pork barrel spending.

Byrd, who is the senior Democrat on the Appropriations committee, is making this argument: If you don't vote to bring in more money than we need, then you will be punished by our not spending as much money as you want.

So, if the surpluses do begin to shrink, it will be because Robert Byrd and his pals are spending our money faster than they can force us to pay it in.

Mullings did the O'Reilly Factor Monday night. The issue was the Jeb Bush statement that he was not having an affair with a state employee.

The issue was: Should Governor Bush have "dignified" the charges with a public statement. Bill O'Reilly said he should not. I said he needed to do it.

Here's why:

1. Unlike Bill Clinton (or Gary Hart before him) there has been nothing, absolutely nothing in Jeb Bush's past which would lead an observer to suggest this allegation might be true.

2. When it was nothing more than bar-room rumor fodder (this, from the Associated Press: "For months, talk in Tallahassee bars and state offices and Internet Web pages linked the Republican governor with �") it was properly ignored by the main stream press and required no comment from the Governor.

3. But when major Florida dailies began printing stories about the rumors - hiding behind the discredited method of quoting each other - the Governor had to absolutely, clearly, unequivocally deny it.

4. Now, newspaper editors are faced with an on-the-record denial from the principal against unsubstantiated rumors. Most editors will realize this story is now officially - and properly - dead.

Even the Miami Herald, not exactly a mouthpiece for conservative thought, wrote in an editorial yesterday morning:

"Gov. Bush yesterday became so fed up with rumors alleging infidelity and marital problems -- rumors unsupported by a shred of proof -- that he felt compelled publicly and forcefully to deny them. That's unfortunate for him and for the news media's credibility."

The web site run referred to in the AP story is run by (surprise!) a former Clinton White House employee. The Florida papers which printed this stuff are the true descendents of William Randolph Hearst who, never deterred by the facts or lack of them, might well have said in this case: "You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the whore."

Paul Eckert writing from Beijing for Reuters on the Chinese position toward the U.S. plan to develop a missile defense system: "China, the most obdurate opponent of President Bush's missile defense system, rebuffed a U.S. bid, Tuesday, to persuade [China that] the plan is good for world peace."

Which is the strongest argument made to date for why we NEED a missile defense system.

Rolling Gray-Out Alert: According to Julie Tamaki in the LA Times, "Faced with a daunting combination of rising energy costs and a precipitous drop in tax revenue from stock options, Gov. Gray Davis unveiled a pared-down budget Monday that protects public school funding but spends much of the emergency reserve and takes money from road construction."

When the Texas surplus declined, the Democrats in Your Nation's Capital were over that story like Bob Byrd climbing into a pork barrel. Let's see how many point to Davis' failures running things in California.

Notice, too, that the Times does not refer to Davis as "Democratic" Gov. Gray Davis in a negative story, the way the AP referred to "the Republican governor" Jeb Bush in the piece noted above.

India! Mullings shoves off to India this afternoon beginning a 20-hour trek with stops in Atlanta, Frankfurt and Bombay before moving on to Hyderabad on Friday. See Chapters One & Two of the Made for Mullings Mini-Series: "Currying Favor" on the Secret Decoder Ring.

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

Current Issue | Secret Decoder Ring | Past Issues | Email Rich | Rich Who?