There's no beginning to what Dick Morris knows about politics, so it's surprising then that the good people over at Rasmussen polling are giving him room to vent. He also has another new book out at the moment, which I didn't pre-order months ago and am keenly looking forward not to reading the future. But let's look at his latest column, just for shits and giggles.
It's starts as expected, with a rhetorical question.
Have you noticed a change in Barack Obama’s campaign?
Ummm...I'm not sure, but I bet you have, Dick:
Characterizing how the Republicans will attack him, he predicted that they would criticize his "funny name" and add "and by the way, did you notice that he’s black?"
Obama used to go out of his way to avoid this kind of reference, but now he brings it on. Deliberately.
Why?
Yes, Barack has suggested that some Republicans, flakes and right-wing water carriers would try and insinuate that Obama is somehow "too radical" to be President, or that he represents some kind of "DANGER!" to ordinary (WASP) Americans.
Yes, where did Barack get that idea?
Here's Dick's next paragraph:
is he the hope for America’s future or a Manchurian Candidate, a kind of sleeper agent sent to destroy our democracy?
What a pertinent question, Dick. I bet that's what most Americans ask themselves, after another long day at their low-paid job, with no healthcare coverage, no money to fill their car up or properly feed their kids - is Obama a freaking terrorist?
But don't worry working Americans, Dick has the answer.
It is simply a bridge too far to believe that Obama is that evil and that invidious.
Thank god for that. Do you get it though? Obama is definetly NOT a terrorist, who believes what Reverend Wright believes and is a sleeper agent for terrorists. I mean, he's definelty NOT all those things.
Well, I mean, he could be, it's just a bridge too far.
With our dreadful fears allayed by the cool touch of Dick, we move onto the "substance" (ahem):
In our new book, Fleeced, we try to bring the debate back down to earth
I looked up the Amazon listing for this latest tome from Dick. As far as I can see, it's not co-authored. It's all Dick. Why then is he referring to "our" and "we". Is the man's ego so inflated that he now considers himself a collective. Or is he part of the Borg?
In effect, he would legislate a 60 percent tax bracket for upper-income Americans, killing all initiative and innovation. He’d raise the top bracket to 40 percent. He’d apply FICA taxes to all income, not just that under $100,000 as at present. So add 40 percent plus FICA’s 12.5 percent plus Medicare’s 2 percent plus state and local taxes averaging, after deduction, at 5-6 percent, and you have a 60 percent bracket.
Except that, of course, to folks who know something, you know, like, economists, Obama's tax plan reduces tax on average income Americans and increases it on the really super-rich (or "upper-income Americans") a little.
Also, for some unknown reason, Dick repeats this nonsense word-for-word in the column only a few paragraphs later. This suggests to me that the sub at Rasmussen just gave up after a while. Poor soul.
Dick keeps digging.
He would double the capital gains tax, saddling the 50 percent of Americans who own stock with dramatically higher taxes.
Of course, the amount at which your tax was raised would matter substantially on how much stock you owned. Dick says half Americans own stock - this is true. But what's the relevant number here, THIS:
The top ten percent of the U.S. population owns 81.8 percent of the real estate, 81.2 percent of the stock, and 88 percent of the bonds
link
So, you see, Dick, any slight increase in this tax, which is what Barack in proposing, will mostly impact the very wealthiest Americans who own almost all the stock.
The ordinary Americans who may lose a little will more than make up for it with the money they'll save in Obama's other tax plans, not to mention the likely benefit working Americans will experience with a President who actually knows the first thing about economics.
You could be here all day going through the rest of Dicks' "analysis". In fact, do it yourself, it's fun. Just think of his neck desperately trying to become visible above his shoulders, and his smirk, and the smell of sulphur in the air whenever you see or hear from him.
Dick Morris: spreading shit on the walls so you can clean it up.