Monday, July 27, 2009

Reasserting dominance over the intellectually vapid.

Buckeye State Blog is up with a post this evening that takes stupid to another level.

They take this statement from John Kasich as it appeared in the Youngstown Business Journal:
[Kasich wants to] reduce the tax burden once the economy regains stability and offer incentives for employers to create jobs in the state.
And interpret it as:
Kasich: Ohio may never be able to afford my tax proposals
Now, it's one thing to be intellectually dishonest. And it's another to be downright moronic.

Their issue is with the "once the economy regains stability" comment. The only way to interpret that as "Ohio may never being able to afford my tax proposals" is to believe that Ohio's economy may not recover in the next five years and four months.

While I believe Strickland's inaction has put Ohio into a death spiral, that doesn't mean we won't pull out of it.

Economies recover. That's what capitalist societies do.

It just some take longer than others. [cough, TED STRICKLAND!, cough, cough!]

Also, in regards to Kasich's comment, when Ohio is facing massive unemployment, what good is it cut taxes on people who aren't making any money? They aren't paying anything anyway.

Once the economy stabilizes, Ohioans are employed at normal levels and able to use money gained via tax cuts to reinvest into Ohio's economy.

Which leads me to another favorite line of mine from the guys at Buckeye State Blog is this one:
Kasich is suggesting a change in course: no tax cuts until the economy stablilizes, whatever the hell that means.
You don't know what that means? Fine. Here, see this graph?

When that funny red line goes back down and straightens out again, that means we're stable.

Let's see, what else did they say that made me shake my head and laugh.

Ah, yes. My favorite.
Strickland is a doer. Kasich is a sayer.
Honestly, I have no idea how they wrote that while keeping a straight face.

A doer?

Ted "Does Anyone Else Have Any Ideas" Strickland is a doer?

Ted "Mmmmm....Jello" Strickland is a doer?

Ted "I Used My Line Item Veto to Cut Early Education for 15,000 Kids" Strickland is a doer?

Ok yeah...I guess it works for that one.

And John Kasich is a "sayer"?

The same John Kasich who is widely regarded as the chief architect of a federal budget that produced the first back-to-back federal surpluses since 1957.

The same John Kasich who went against his own party to cut unnecessary funding for B-2 bombers.

The same John Kasich whose actions as a leader in Congress brought Newsweek to name him one of their "100 People for the 21st Century".

Seriously, fellas. You're gonna have to do better than that.

This lesson was brought to you by the letters J, E, L, L, and O and the number 11.1.

3 comments:

  1. Fact: Ted Strickland has cut income taxes every year he's been office.

    Fact: Ted Strickland is the first governor to reduce state spending (not just the growth in state spending) in modern Ohio history.

    Fact: Kasich is promising to cut taxes and shrink government, but Ted Strickland has already done that.

    Fact: Two months ago, Kasich called his tax proposal a cure for Ohio's unemployment blues, now you and he are citing it as grounds as why he'll wait to pursue it.

    You can spin and spin all you want, but the trend is that as time goes on Kasich is starting to add conditions and caveats to his promise to eliminate the state income tax.

    BTW, Kasich's own federal budget projections at the time never predicted the surplus. That was the result of a booming dot.com and housing bubble economy. And the federal government was well on its way to balancing the budget before the Republicans took over in 1994 when it passed the first Clinton budget with no GOP votes.

    Kasich the "Maverick" is just laughable. So is your analysis which confirms what I'm saying: whereas Kasich was once using the growing unemployment rate to JUSTIFY his tax proposals, he's now citing them as grounds as to why they may have to been put on hold indefinitely.

    Kasich doesn't define what benchmark he'll use to determine when the economy has stabilized.

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  2. Jon is pretty well versed in the spinning game...

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  3. Fact: Ted Strickland has cut income taxes every year he's been office.

    You mean, Ted Strickland did nothing. These cuts were enacted before he came to office. He didn't have to do anything to let them continue.

    Fact: Ted Strickland is the first governor to reduce state spending (not just the growth in state spending) in modern Ohio history.

    And those 15,000 kids without early education classes thank him.

    Fact: Kasich is promising to cut taxes and shrink government, but Ted Strickland has already done that.

    Yep. Please keep up that message: John Kasich will cut taxes and shrink government. Thanks!

    Fact: Two months ago, Kasich called his tax proposal a cure for Ohio's unemployment blues, now you and he are citing it as grounds as why he'll wait to pursue it.

    A cure? Link?

    You can spin and spin all you want, but the trend is that as time goes on Kasich is starting to add conditions and caveats to his promise to eliminate the state income tax.

    You do realize we have 15 months til the election, right? He's not just adding conditions and caveats, he's developing brand new plans and policies that will be unveiled over time.

    It's politics. You speak in generalities until your plan is formulated. And to think he can or should have detailed policy this far out is absurd.

    BTW, Kasich's own federal budget projections at the time never predicted the surplus. That was the result of a booming dot.com and housing bubble economy. And the federal government was well on its way to balancing the budget before the Republicans took over in 1994 when it passed the first Clinton budget with no GOP votes.

    It may not have predicted it, but who cares?

    On its way to balancing without him? Clearly you have no understanding of history.

    Kasich the "Maverick" is just laughable. So is your analysis which confirms what I'm saying: whereas Kasich was once using the growing unemployment rate to JUSTIFY his tax proposals, he's now citing them as grounds as to why they may have to been put on hold indefinitely.

    Saying it's laughable doesn't make it so. The actions are there. Your choice to ignore them is up to you.

    Kasich doesn't define what benchmark he'll use to determine when the economy has stabilized.

    LOL! So? If you want a longwinded policy speech detailing specifics, sorry bro...you'll have to wait.

    The smart and responsible thing, politically and on principle, is to take the time to develop the right solutions and present them to Ohioans during the 2010 campaign season when most voters are actually paying attention.

    ReplyDelete

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