If you hadn't heard, Chuck Norris is a big Mike Huckabee supporter, and Huckabee's first TV ad features Norris in a change-of-pace, tongue-in-cheek production--frankly, like a lot of Chuck Norris' showbiz stuff.
Hello world!
7 years ago
10 comments:
Cute, except for that business about putting the IRS out of business. Whenever Conservatives say that, I have to wonder, who do they expect to collect revenues if we abolish the Internal Revenue Service? Are we just gonna farm it out to private contractors?
Good point, but isn't it fun (though demagoguic) to hate the "tax collector"? Of course, the FAIR tax would greatly diminish the need for IRS agents, but it isn't quite as pithy to say "emaciate the IRS," you know?
I guess, but I just find the intellectual dishonesty among grassroots Conservatives (and for that matter Liberals) to be annoying. Getting rid of the IRS is on par with creating a department of peace...that is what the state department is for if you have the right President with the right policy agenda.
The IRS is an enforcement agency, they are there to enforce laws passed by the Congress, and then politicians use the IRS to scapegoat their own culpability for the tax system in the US.
I hear you. Some of this is marketing, isn't it? You use terms or phrases that communicate the message and expect people to look into the details thereafter. I don't think any person would say that they perceived Huckabee to be asserting that he won't collect taxes, do you?
Pushing for a"Dept. of Peace" is a whole different issue, in my opinion. I think that idea reflects a very real intellectual/philosophical weakness on Kuchi's part.
And as far as scapegoats, I can see your point with Huckabee who is not someone who has not been particularly critical of gov't tax collection. That being said, I think he and other FAIR tax supporters have an excellent argument when asserting that it would be less of a drag on the economy and less of an enabler to Big Gov't to have a FAIR tax.
Ned,
The Department of Peace, and abolishing the IRS, are two peas in a pod. Its using a gimmick to get across what should be evident by a clear review of said candidates record or intellectual statements.
This is just an overall problem I have with politics in general, as it presupposes that voters are simplistic or ignorant (which, may in fact be true, but its still annoying).
Now, there are some Government departments which probably could be done away with due to a policy change; the Dept. of Education for instance, but so long as we have a functioning Government of whatever size, it will need revenue, and thus a department to collect it.
This is far less a problem with Huckabee than it is with, say, Ron Paul, but nonetheless, Chuck said it, he wasn't sitting next to him, ergo, I react.
That's fair. We report . . . you react.
But I would disagree that a throwaway line like "abolish the IRS" is the same as creating a Dept. of Peace. There's a difference between a succinct, memorable way of expressing your plan and actually pledging to create an mammoth, redundant department of the Federal gov't, don't you? But are you asserting that the FAIR Tax wouldn't radically reduce the role of the IRS in American life? Or are you saying that Huckabee has no intention of attempting to implement the FAIR tax? Or are you annoyed by the shorthand phrase? (If it's merely the latter, Kuchy's is not "shorthand," is it?)
Sorry to post off topic but I think we have a new case of BDS.
Today, one of Bush's top aids has confirmed that President G.W. Bush has committed treason in an effort to discredit a war critic. It is a criminal offense to protect someone who leaks intelligence information damaging to the security of the USA, thus aiding an enemy in a time of war. Not to mention, to use his Press Secretary to deceive the American people and with hold information pertinent to a felony trial - the case of the Vice-President's Chief of Staff, Scooter Libby.
Scott McClellan confirms today that Bush lied and deliberately hid the identity of an administration official who leaked the identity of CIA operative, Valerie Plame, causing significant damage to US efforts to keep Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan writes in his new book, What Happened:
"The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby. There was one problem. It was not true. I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President's chief of staff, and the president himself."
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/11/20/cia.leak.mcclellan/index.html
Pants on fire. We already knew that though. Authoritarians in denial call it "BDS"
No, what you have there is yet another reason that this criminal (every freakin' person in the administration!) belongs in front of a firing squad--come on Democrat-controlled Congress!!!!
I'm glad you can make light of a President who commits treason. The president was involved in a crime. He ruined Libby's career, to save himself, Cheney, and Rove. He fired McClellan apparently after McCellan realized he had been lied to. He then commutes the Libby's sentence to come full circle. And you toss it off with a joke. Nice
Oh, we care about treason now, do we?
But one thing I do know about McClellan (I frankly know NOTHING about this particular accusation other than what you've posted--and I can't help but consider the source), is that he really stunk at his job. I was very glad to see him go. I'll get back to you on all the accusations of treason and general Unamericanness if that's okay.
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