Topic: Newsmax
Dick Morris' Jan. 6 Newsmax column claims the following about Barack Obama's proposed stimulus plan:
Under Obama's plan, the majority of American voters would pay no federal income taxes but would get money from the government instead. That is, these "refundable tax credits" are basically welfare checks — and Obama's plan would leave the most of us collecting, not paying.
[...]
Obama's plan — he'd give all couples a $1,000 refundable tax credit and all single people $500 — would funnel more than $50 billion to the lowest half of the country, thereby completely wiping out their total federal tax liability. In most cases, it would trigger a "refund" welfare check.
In one stroke, this would transform the majority of voters from taxpayers into tax eaters, and leave an increasingly small minority to pay the bill. Regardless of whether this is good economics, it is very dangerous politics.
In fact, a tax credit for low-income wage-earners would not "completely wip[e] out their total federal tax liability." In fact, all wage-earners also pay Social Security and Medicare (FICA) taxes, and many pay federal excise taxes on gasoline, which a $1,000 tax credit would likely not "wipe out."
Meanwhile, a Jan. 7 Newsmax column by Morris regurgitates claims by Republican Norm Coleman's Minnesota Senate campaign that Democrat Al Franken is stealing the election by winning the recount and shills for a Republican lawyers' group on Coleman's side:
As John F. Kennedy once said, "sometimes partisanship demands too much." Watching Al Franken and the Democrats steal this election, vote by vote, is a horrific sight that makes a mockery of the electoral process, the fundamental element in our democracy.
If this travesty is allowed to stand, it essentially means that any close election constitutes an open invitation to steal the victory.
We must not allow the Minnesota Democrats to get away with this election heist. The Republican National Lawyers Association is litigating the issue and needs all the support they can get to fund their court case.
Morris repeats the claims that "fraudulent, duplicate ballots" were counted, but as we've detailed, the duplicate ballot issue is largely bogus, and weeding out the purported duplicate ballots would mean that legitimately cast ballots would also be eliminated. Further, as Nate Silver at fivethirtyeight.com, notes, Morris and Coleman are baselessly assuming that fraud is the only possible reason for the existence for those "duplicate ballots" being counted.
