Who Wants a Tax Cut?

A new poll by CBS News finds that 61 percent of Americans want a large tax cut. But only 42 percent of respondents think George W. Bush has enough support to get the initial $460 billion, five-year installment through Congress. And only 11 percent said lowering taxes should be Dubya's top priority.

Only 61 percent of Americans want a large tax cut? Where are the other 39 percent? Don't they see the huge wad of cash the federal government takes out of their paychecks? Are these people even employed? Probably not. They're net tax consumers, not net tax producers. They get more freebies from the government than they pay into the system. So a tax cut is the last thing they want.

And that last statistic gives the Democrats some ammunition in their all-out war against the Republicans. They can hide all they want behind their talk of "bipartisanship," but they're mad and they're willing to take it out on Dubya – even if nixing a tax cut causes the country to slide into a recession.

It's official. Senate Democrats have succeeded in killing the bill that would have allowed voting booths on U.S. military bases. Republicans wanted to push for a quick floor vote before the 106th Congress adjourns, but they were told that Democrats would object. And that would have meant the Senate would have to debate the bill over the weekend.

Republicans, in a typically gutless move, decided to let the bill die and promised to try again next year.

What if this had been a bill to make it easier for welfare recipients to vote? What if it was a bill that would require states to establish a voting precinct in every welfare housing project in the nation? What if it had been a bill that provided for an absentee ballot to automatically be sent to every person who receives food stamps? You know what would have happened – the Democrats would have leaped at the chance to vote for it before adjournment.

If the Republicans had dared to oppose the bill, the Democrats would be screaming at the top of their lungs about rich Republicans wanting to deny the vote to poor working families.

Democrats throw themselves on the tracks to stop a bill that would make it easier for our men and women in uniform to vote, and what do the Republicans do? Trent Lott says, "Well, we don’t want to stay here and debate this thing over the weekend, so we’ll just give up."

Are the Republicans ever going to learn how to fight?

Imagine if "Milquetoast" Lott had said:

The Democrats think we’re going to lie down on this one. They think our desire to get home for the holiday weekend is more important than our desire to ease the voting process for our sons and daughters in the armed forces. They’re wrong.

There are American men and women guarding the peace in places like Korea and Bosnia, and protecting America in places like Ft. Benning and Camp Pendleton, who won’t be going home for Christmas. And if we have to stay here over the Christmas weekend to make sure they can participate in our electoral process, well, our sacrifice is nothing compared to theirs.

So, if our Democratic colleagues want to fight this bill and send it to defeat, they can stay here with us this weekend and give it their best shot.

Yeah, just imagine – tough talk from wimpy, Beltway Republicans like Lott.

Residents of Washington, D.C., protest too much. They keep whining about how they face "taxation without representation" in Congress. But a new study by the National Taxpayers Union Foundation firmly plants D.C.'s foot in its money-hungry mouth.

The study found that American taxpayers funneled $24 billion into the District of Columbia in 1998. By comparison, D.C.'s taxpayers paid out only $1.9 billion in federal income taxes.

That means D.C. gets $12 back for every $1 its residents pay in taxes!

And it doesn't end there. On average, the federal government spends $5,491 on each American citizen. But each D.C. resident gets $45,955 from the government!

Does the District of Columbia really deserve statehood privileges when it's the biggest per-capita recipient of taxpayer money? They want to be in the driver's seat even though they're getting a free ride.

What about those celebrities who vowed to leave the country if Bush were elected president? Are they packing their bags? Nope. Alec ("Let's stone Henry Hyde!") Baldwin and Robert Altman aren't going anywhere. Typical Democrats, their word means nothing.

Barbra Streisand told Variety that Al Gore's defeat was "a very sad occasion, and one that could set a terrible legal precedent. Al Gore is not the only loser. It's democracy and the American people as well."

Meanwhile, Rob Reiner – in typical "Meathead" fashion – said that, because of Gore’s defeat, he "almost cried."

Aww…