Idiot Hannity I

Last night on Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, co-host Sean Hannity repeated the old claim that that "Reagan cut taxes and doubled revenue in eight years." during his presidency. As with many conservative claims, this is a myth.

Media Matters for America has reported that, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), tax revenues, when adjusted for inflation to constant fiscal year 2000 dollars, receipts (revenues), grew only from $1.077 trillion to $1.236 trillion during Reagan's years in office -- an increase of less than 19%. Even in unadjusted (current) dollars, Hannity's assertion that revenues "doubled" during the Reagan administration is way off: during Reagan's presidency, revenues in current dollars increased from $599.3 billion to $909.3 billion -- an increase of slightly over 50% not a doubling.

In addition, from 1981 to 1984, tax revenues were essentially flat (from $599.3 to $666.5 billion, barely a 10% increase in unadjusted dollars, a $60 billion drop in adjusted (for inflation) dollars. Revnues started to rise AFTER tax reforms were instituted, especially the elimination of the deduction for interest on credit cards. So, lowering tax rates DID NOT increase tax revenue -- the elimination of deductions DID.

From OMB(thanks to Media Matters for America):

FISCAL YEAR	REVENUE IN CURRENT DOLLARS (billions)	REVENUE IN CONSTANT FY2000 DOLLARS (billions)
1981	599.3	1,077.4
1982	617.8	1,036.9
1983	600.6	961.7
1984	666.5	1,016.8
1985	734.1	1,082.6
1986	769.2	1,107.3
1987	854.4	1,196.1
1988	909.3	1,235.6

Idiot Campaigns

Just when I think political campaigns can't stoop any lower, here come the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races. In Virginia, Republican Jerry Kilgore ran an ad saying that Democrat Tim Kaine would not execute Adolf Hitler. Kaine is a devout Catholic, and does not believe in the death penalty. In an interview about the depth of his faith, Kaine said that personally he could not bring himself to support the death penalty, even for Hitler. Kaine has vowed, however, to follow VA law and carry out executions when necessary. Kilgore, a darling of the "rapture" Republicans, has made significant gains with this distortion of Kaine's position. Hopefully, Mark Warner's popularity will spill over to Kaine, his Lt. Governor.

In New Jersey, Republican Doug Forrester has been running an ad featuring comments by Democrat Jon Corzine's ex-wife. In the ad, the ex says that Corzine let his family down and will likely let New Jersey down as well.

Hitler and ex-wives -- what's next? Never mind. I really don't want to even imagine.

Idiot Selection

The president nominated Judge Sam Alito (aka Scalito) to the Supreme Court yesterday. Got to hand it to the administration. When the going gets rough, change the subject. Now rather than a discussion about the Scooter Libby indictment, pundits will be focused on the battle coming up over the Supreme Court.

Alito's record on women's right to choose bothers me (as in his ruling in Casey that states can do anything short of ruling abortion illegal in the first trimester). What bothers me even more, however, is his ruling in a case that positively affected the value of $300,000 worth of stock that he owned. That's a major violation of ethics -- the same kind of violation that forced Reagan to withdraw the nomination of Judge Douglas Ginsburg. I think that type of behavior certainly rises to the level of extraordinary circumstances that should trigger a filibuster.

We'll see if the Democrats and pro-choice Republicans have the courage of their convictions.