Clearly Carl's Comeuppance is Coming

Not much time.

Just gotta post.

Dionne's on it.

Rove vs. Reality
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006; Page A17

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That Rove needed to make this case in the first place tells you the trouble the administration faces. All the polls, which Rove played down but acknowledged reading avidly ("I love all these polls," he said before dismissing the idea of poll-driven policies), show large majorities disapproving of Bush's handling of the economy.

There is also a rather widespread sense that the economy did very well under Clinton -- better than under Bush -- and it's doubtful that getting voters to think about the Clinton days will do Republicans much good in November 2006.

Most astonishingly, Rove tried to make the case that Bush's tax cuts actually left the rich paying more. Everyone knows the Bush cuts in levies on dividends, capital gains and inheritances overwhelmingly benefited the wealthy. But here was Rove playing class politics by arguing that the wealthy now pay a larger share of total income taxes than they did before Bush.

This is statistical flimflam, of course. It leaves out payroll taxes, which hit most Americans the hardest. And the wealthy are paying more of the total share of income taxes, even though their rates are much lower, because their share of national income has gone up. Rove's numbers actually prove the rich are getting richer. But the fact that Rove tried to sound like William Jennings Bryan is the surest indicator that the administration is worried about its image as protector of the privileged.

[The Rest]