Recent Molly Ivins

Call it inflammation of the wallet

If some Democratic presidential candidate really wanted to distinguish himself or herself from the pack, he could try running on a platform of closing down offshore tax shelters and having everybody pay the taxes they owe. And be sure to use the word patriotism when you do it.

Cozying up to the fringe right

"To attend CPAC is to crash through the looking glass into a world where passionate worship of the president is part of a brave rebellion against government, where Sweden is a hellish dystopia and Tom Daschle a diehard Marxist," Goldberg observes. "It's to realize that despite the conservative hold on the White House, the Congress and the Supreme Court, and the utter dejection among Democrats, right-wingers still fancy themselves to be an embattled minority facing an army of wily, ruthless leftists, whom they hate with the righteous fury of the downtrodden."

A few words from our president

We will not pass along our problems to other Congresses, to other presidents, and other generations. -- George W. Bush, State of the Union address, Jan. 28.

Even though hundreds of other government programs would be squeezed, the president projects the deficit will still hit record highs of $304 billion this year and $307 billion in 2004. Over the next five years, the deficits would total $1.08 trillion. … Taken together, the new stimulus measure and making the tax cut permanent would add up to $1.3 trillion in new tax relief, on top of the $1.35 trillion tax reduction Congress passed in 2001. -- The Associated Press, Monday.

The question is, does the president believe himself?