Two Courts

So I spent my time last night with two courts. The basketball court and the court of opinion. Not that anyone really cares about pre-season basketball, but I watched our hometown pro team kick the crap out of Lebron James, and do it with defense...did I just say defense? Yes, defense - a rare word in reference to the Washington Wizards. The second round draft pick from Fresno State is big, mean, and could be the defensive stopper that the Zards have been in need of for the past few years. Oh that he were 7 feet tall and not a paltry 6'8".

On to the opinion. The GOP debate. Now it might just be me, but these guys seem to be running to the left. Chris Matthews asked them if they supported free trade, and low and behold it was not a yes across the board. this is a rarity in the Republican party. Mostly you hear about fair trade from lefty democrats, Edwards and Kusinich, not Tom Tancredo. Then after the usual, "were taxes to the max" lines, when the debate shifted to health care and energy independence - suddenly everyone in the field started talking about fixing the problem and starting Apollo type projects. Who the hell do they think they are? Everyone knows you can't do either without raising taxes; moreover, the American people are definitively not taxed to the max. If the country is running record deficits 6 years after a tax cut that took place during a surplus the idea that we were taxed to highly is just plain ignorant. The middle class in this country already over contributes, and does not benefit from the kind of tax cut that Republicans institute. Why? Because far and away the middle class are small business owners and GOP tax cuts are targeted way over those SBO's heads - at the CEO's. So unless your the owner of a subcontracting business that provides services to a larger corporation - and somehow have not been put out of business by China or India - you can't possibly benefit from the so called "trickle down." Huckabee even tried to co-opt Edwards' "two America's" line, shameful.

Anyway, what I took away from this debate on the economy is that Republicans are worst than Democrats, because at least Democrats will be honest about having to pay for what they want to do. Not all of them, but most of them. Republicans are far more likely to say something about climate change, health care, or taxes - and then do nothing at all, because they never intended to do anything in the first place.

Oh right, and Fred Thompson...um...well lets just say that I think Nixon was right about him.