By JOHN BOXLEY

Not That You Asked

I'm telling you this job just gets easier and easier. Just last week I wrote about the effort to overturn some of the tax breaks oil companies get since they are making record profits. I also wrote that one of the arguments against ending the tax breaks would be that raising those taxes would cost jobs. It happened. The Senate voted on the proposal last Tuesday and, while it passed 52-48, it was a loss because it came short of the 60 votes that would have made it filibuster proof. Our two senators voted along party lines with Democrat Mark Pryor voting to end the tax breaks and Republican John Boozman voting to keep them in place. And get this, part of Boozman's reasoning for keeping the tax breaks was that ending them would "eliminate well paying American jobs." You see why I say this job is so easy? Compared to this shooting fish in a barrel would be a challenge. And now on to an entirely different subject, but again, an easily predictable one. Arnold Schwarzenegger has joined the ever-growing fraternity of politicians who have cheated on their wives. The fraternity has grown so big you might just wonder why these stories are still considered news. It's almost as if such behavior is just part of a politician's career path. First you decide to run, you get elected, and you cheat on your wife. Then when you're caught, you announce that you've made a mistake, your wife has forgiven you, and you have found Jesus. Since Arnold is a Republican, he may try the same excuse Newt Gingrich used. You remember don't you? He claimed that at times when he was working hard for the country he would be overcome by a wave of passionate patriotism and have to have sex with the first woman who came along. In Arnold's case that woman just happened to be the maid, who was willing to go along because she too is a patriot. Maria can take solice in that this was the first Kennedy sex scandal where the Kennedy was the innocent victim. The Kennedy men have all been notorious womanizers. Her grandfather Joe was so brazen he brought his mistresses home with him. Her uncle John once claimed that if he didn't make whoopie at least once in a 24-hour period he woud get migraine headaches. Her other uncle Bobby was not quite as active as the others, but he and Ethel did have 11 children. The men in Maria's generation have also held up the family tradition. One of Bobby's sons had an affair with his kids' babysitter. William Kennedy Smith was put on trial and charged with rape. You may not have liked the Kennedy's politics, you have to admit, they did keep us entertained. What's the moral to all of this? It's that politicians are far too predictable. With very little effort you can predict how any one of them vote on any issue and how he will defend that vote. Also, most of the men will be tempted to forget their marital vows and most of them will.

Not that you asked

Monday, September 27, 2010

Republican leaders have got to be feeling like Dr. Frankenstein this week. The TEA Party that they at least foster parented if they didn't exactly create, has turned on them. Their "baby" has grown up and decided that while the GOP talks a good game, it's just not conservative enough.

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