August 1, 2001

Bush tax cut hits home

Through A Glass Darkly, by John Myers, Internet Photojournalist

I haven't written about politics - local, state or national - since the Monica mess hit the fan during President Clinton's second term.

When you write a personal column, you're putting yourself on record and if you don't feel strongly about something enough to defend it, you'd better not put it into print with your name on it.

But I have reached that point with President Bush, or more particularly his recent tax cut. It's one thing to read in the paper about Congress approving the President's tax-cut plans. It's another thing entirely when you get a letter in the mail from the IRS saying you - personally - are going to be getting a check from the government.

I am narrowing down on my 54th birthday, which means I have been working for wages and filing taxes for more years than I care to count and I've never, ever in those nearly four decades of paying taxes gotten any money from Uncle Sam beyond the fortunate years when I overpaid and got a refund instead of paying more taxes.

But I've already gotten my refund this year, piddling small as it was, and to know I have a few hundred more coming from Uncle Sugar, well, frankly I'm amazed, flabbergasted and almost speechless. Almost. It's the new game going on in Washington that has compelled me to step up and speak a word in defense of Bush.

Only if you're a news junkie like me who reads every news item he can get his eyeballs on will you be likely to have heard of this new game. It's called, "How will you spend your tax-cut check?"

That's the question the news people in D.C. have been asking members of Congress and it's gotten some amazingly imaginative answers from the left side of the political aisle. The Democrats - in case you've been vacationing in outer Slobovia for the past few months and missed it - have called the Bush tax cut everything from irresponsible to dangerous to the end of all life as we now know it.

So how are they answering the question? Conservative columnist Cal Thomas printed a few of their answers recently. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-oomsayer I) says he's spending his to pay "energy bills." Notice he didn't say the energy bills for his Mercedes limousine or his palatial mansion, just the vague term, which the common man could identify with. After all, we all have energy bills, even if we don't all have limousines and mansions in the country.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-oomsayer II) said he's donating his rebate to charity. How noble. I'm surprised he didn't burn it. After all, it's dirty money, coming from that awful Bush. But I'll bet he'll be sure to claim that deduction on next year's taxes.

A spokeswoman for House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-oomsayer III) says her boss hasn't received his check yet and "doesn't know" what he will do with it. Now there's the worst cop-out of all. Gephardt just plain ducked the question, without even any attempt to put any face on it other than that.

Thomas notes there's one thing not one of the liberals who opposed the tax cuts has done, though all agreed during the fight to stop it that it would be economic Armageddon should it be passed.

Not one of those who opposed it so strongly has felt strongly enough about it now that the checks are in the mail to simply say they will send it back to the government. If the Bush tax cut will really bankrupt the nation, why will they keep and spend theirs?

I guess you have to remember that these are the same yellow-dog Democrats who defended Clinton to the last breath, even with the evidence before their eyes that we had a liar, a cheat, a crook and even worse in the most corrupt administration in our history. Now we have a man who graduated from Yale and has a master's in business from Harvard who is portrayed as an idiot in the White House by the liberal media and their cohorts in Congress.

Those of us in the media who are conservative - few and far between though we may be - cringe when we read what most of our liberal brethren are writing and saying about our current President.

At worst, it is yet to be seen how smart or dumb Bush is, but I think I can accurately say he's not a liar, cheat and crook, or at least hasn't been proven to be one yet, which his predecessor cannot say.

There, now I feel much better. Slamming liberals is always fun.

Now what will I do with my tax-cut check? First of all, I agree with my colleague Catherine Monk at the Richmond Daily Journal. It is none less than my patriotic duty to spend it all, and do so quickly. I've already got my eye on a sexy, little digital camera.

Coming soon to a website near you will be digital photos taken by yours truly with a new camera courtesy of the Bush tax cut. I hope you'll enjoy the photos as much as I will enjoy taking them with my new digital toy. Oops, I forgot it's not a toy, it's a legitimate business expense and I can prove it to the IRS.

And if I may be so bold I'd like to make a prediction. The Democrats have also witheringly criticized the tax-cut checks as too small to be of any consequence. I predict that every soul who gets a check, even if as piddling small as mine, will feel good about the Bush tax cut. And next year, when their taxes are even lower, they'll feel even better about the Bush tax cut. I know I for one surely will.

Who knows, the Bush tax cut may even go down in history as an economic milestone on the way to a recovery and continuation of the boom times we were so fortunate to enjoy the past few years. Or at the least it should give Bush a nice jump in his popularity polls.

And if he should be so fortunate as his predecessor to run for re-election while the economy is booming, the Bush tax cut may be his ticket to another four years and something that Clinton sought for in vain - a legacy. The only legacy Clinton can claim is Monica.