1. Make the Payroll Tax Cuts Permanent

2. Is Mitt Romney as Whiny as Barack Obama? Or Just Not Really Vetted?

3. The College of Hypocritical Big Government Cardinals

1. Make the Payroll Tax Cuts Permanent

I never thought I would see the day, but Democrats are outmaneuvering Republicans on a tax cut — the payroll tax cut. They want an extension again. Let’s understand that the Democrats don’t serious want to help the working-class. They are admitting the working-class is no longer part of their coalition.But they do want to score points against the GOP and, like clock work, the GOP is throwing the ball into the Democrats’ basket for them.Republicans are arguing that another extension will (A) further undermine the solvency of social security and (B) not actually be pro-growth because it leaves uncertainty in the system over whether or not it will happen again.Right now the Democrats are out flanking the Republicans on the payroll tax cut. It’s like the FEMA disaster stuff. Right as images are on every television in America showing houses destroyed by hurricanes, the GOP decides it needs to offset FEMA spending with cuts or else.I have never understood the GOP’s willingness to stand on principle only during suicide missions.The Republican Party is the party of tax cuts. The Republican party believes that temporary tax cuts subject to congressional renewal schemes are not pro-growth because of the uncertainty they leave.So instead of going along with the Democrats’ efforts to temporarily extend the payroll tax cuts, the GOP should make them permanent. In fact, the House of Representatives should pass a very clean piece of legislation doing nothing but making the payroll tax cut permanent.Just do it. The Democrats want to nibble away at the GOP on the tax cut issue. Force feed them a permanent cut.Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. Is Mitt Romney as Whiny as Barack Obama? Or Just Not Really Vetted?

If you haven’t seen the Bret Baier interview with Mitt Romney it is now abundantly apparent why Mitt Romney will not sit in the middle chair and take tough questions from the roundtable — his skin is as thin as Barack Obama’s. (To Bret’s credit, he had the roundtable panel submit questions and Steve Hayes asked an awesome one. You’ll have to watch the interview to see it)Bret Baier asked Romney, “About your book, you talk about Massachusetts healthcare. We’ve heard you many times, in the debates and interviews, talk about how it is different in your mind than the president’s healthcare law, Obamacare. The question is, do you still support the idea of a mandate? Do you believe that that was the right thing for Massachusetts? Do you think a mandate, mandating people to buy insurance is the right tool?”Romney’s response? “Bret, I don’t know how many hundred times I’ve said this, too. This is an unusual interview.”But after the interview it became more troubling. Mitt Romney actually complained that some of the questions were “uncalled for.” Yes folks, the former Governor of Massachusetts actually complained that Bret Baier — Bret Baier of Fox New’s Special Report, the guy I hate because my six year old has a massive crush on him and he could kick my ass on the golf course — that Bret Baier asked questions that were “uncalled for”.Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. The College of Hypocritical Big Government Cardinals

There is an old adage in Washington that describes the political system as consisting of three political parties; Democrats, Republicans, and Appropriators. The Appropriations Subcommittee chairmen, often referred to as the “College of Cardinals,” usually agree to concoct legislation that fuses the worst elements of the evil and stupid parties, resulting in something worse than a pure Democrat proposal.This is exactly what transpired with the so-called minibus bill. The Republican-controlled House passed an agriculture appropriations bill that breached the spending caps of their own budget, but nonetheless remained within the confines of the spending levels established under the Budget Control Act. The Senate, after failing to pass a budget for over 900 days, tacked on two other appropriations bills that funded four other departments, and sent them straight to conference committee without the House ever voting on two-thirds of the bill. They added in more food stamps spending, $2.3 billion in non-offset disaster spending, and gutted all Republican policy riders. Then the bipartisan College of Cardinals went to conference committee for a compromise. This “compromise” contained even more spending on WIC and international food aid, and added a provision, which was inserted into the conference report, to expand the role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.Please click here for the rest of the post.