Into the Bog

It's still hard to tell if Joe the Plumber would pay more taxes under Obama or McCain. I've heard both sides argued. Whatever. It's a phony argument because McCain would just borrow whatever money he needs that can't be raised in taxes. Someone who frets about $18 billion a year in earmarks but relishes spending $11 billion a month in Iraq isn't going to be watching the taxpayers' interests very closely.

To me the real story about Joe the Plumber was Obama's reply to him that "spread[ing] the wealth around" would be good for the country. We haven't heard that phrase in a long time, and there's something refreshingly honest about it. If we look close, we'll see that McCain isn't against spreading the wealth. Look at his mortgage plan -- his proposal to keep home values artificially high by buying at face value all mortgages in which the amount owed exceeds the appraised value of the home. Nice deal for the banks. He would then reduce the amount of the loans and the interest rate. The taxpayers would pay the bills. Sounds like spreading the wealth to me.

To hell with all "legal" plunderers.