“The spectacle of high-income Americans, the world’s luckiest people, wallowing in self-pity and self-righteousness would be funny, except for one thing: They may well get their way,” columnist Paul Krugman wrote about the rich being angry about possibly losing their Bush-era tax breaks. “Never mind the $700 billion price tag for extending the high-end tax breaks: Virtually all Republicans and some Democrats are rushing to the aid of the oppressed affluent. . . . And when the tax fight is over, one way or another, you can be sure that the people currently defending the incomes of the elite will go back to demanding cuts in Social Security and aid to the unemployed. America must make hard choices, they’ll say; we all have to be willing to make sacrifices. But when they say ‘we,’ they mean ‘you.’ Sacrifice is for the little people.”
A spokeswoman for Sam Brownback’s gubernatorial campaign said that Democratic opponent Tom Holland confused Brownback’s school finance reform plan with one proposed last week by Rep. Arlen Siegfreid, R-Olathe. “Speaker Pro Tem Arlen Siegfreid’s plan is not our plan,” Sherriene Jones-Sontag said. OK, so what is Brownback’s plan? So far, Brownback has mostly made broad statements about wanting to “break the cycle of litigation.” He has said he supports letting local voters decide whether to spend more of their own tax money on education — which sounds similar to what Siegfreid proposed. Brownback needs to clear up the confusion and explain to voters specifically what he supports.
“Lindsay Lohan is back in rehab. All part of the Republicans’ Pledge to America.” — David Letterman
President Obama has “been having these backyard talks. He met with a family in Iowa and a family in Virginia. Both families said the same thing. ‘It’s Wednesday. Shouldn’t you be working?’” — Jay Leno
“I don’t know what (the Republicans’) problem is with ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’ Even if it is repealed, there will still be a major American institution where gays are still forced to hide in shame and secrecy: the Republican Party.” — Bill Maher
