Cheney Doesn't Share

When it came to talking about congressional earmarks -- which he's suddenly very exercised about -- Bush whipped out a stack of papers nearly a foot thick and bound by yellow tape.

"In 2005, we had more than 13,000 earmarks. More than 90 percent of the earmarks never make it to the floor of the House or the Senate. Isn't that interesting? In other words, they're never voted on. They're just dropped into a committee report. And these committee reports are not even a part of the bill that arrives on my desk. And here's what they look like."

Not that anyone was watching. For example, as Bush spoke, CNN anchor Tony Harris ever-so-briefly interrupted his network's coverage of more important matters with this announcement: "The president making a morning address on fiscal responsibility -- yes, that's what I said -- at Micron Technology in Manassas, Virginia. If you want to follow the entire address, hear it for yourself, we want to direct you to pipeline, CNN/pipeline, and you can follow the president's address this morning."

In fact, the most newsworthy aspect of the speech may have been the choice of locale.

James Gerstenzang writes in the Los Angeles Times: "President Bush promoted his newly released federal budget Tuesday at a company that recently settled a class-action lawsuit over alleged price-fixing and antitrust violations.

"Bush used his visit to Micron Technology Inc., a semiconductor manufacturer, to argue that Congress should look to private sector companies as examples of responsible budgeting....

"In January, Micron settled a class-action lawsuit built on accusations that it had engaged in price-fixing and had violated antitrust laws, along with the other makers of dynamic random-access memory chips, or DRAM."

Tax Cuts Don't Pay for Themselves

President Bush has found all sorts of artful ways to imply that his tax cuts have paid for themselves -- without exactly saying as much.

So, for instance, yesterday, he said: "See, low taxes means economic vitality, which means more tax revenues."

But as Lori Montgomery wrote in The Washington Post in October, even the Bush administration's own economists are not actually claiming that its tax cuts have even paid for themselves -- not to mention led to increased revenue.

"The economy has grown and tax receipts have risen at historic rates over the past two years, but the Bush tax cuts played a small role in that process, [economists] said, and cost the Treasury more in lost taxes than it gained from the resulting economic stimulus. . . .

"Robert Carroll, deputy assistant Treasury secretary for tax analysis, said neither the president nor anyone else in the administration is claiming that tax cuts alone produced the unexpected surge in revenue. 'As a matter of principle, we do not think tax cuts pay for themselves,' Carroll said."

When Bush says taxes went down and revenues went up, that is at least technically correct, if not causally related.

But press secretary Tony Snow? He just makes stuff up.

Here's Snow at yesterday's press briefing:

"Q Can I ask you about an argument the President made today and has made repeatedly in terms of the tax cuts? He speaks of the economic output that is raised by the tax cuts. But he specifically is crediting his tax cuts for the increased revenues to the U.S. Treasury. Does the President believe that the tax cuts have paid for themselves, or will pay for themselves anytime in the foreseeable future?

"MR. SNOW: What you're doing is you're getting yourself into abstruse ground. There are any number of ways of calculating it. By some calculations they have paid for themselves and then some. But what I'd ask to do before getting into that thicket is to find out what you want to use as your base, know what your baselines are, because whenever one gets into games like this, it's all about assumptions. And I don't know what assumptions are embedded in the question."

That's just hogwash.

Tax Increases, By Any Other Name

Kevin G. Hall writes for McClatchy Newspapers: "The Bush administration may be squarely against new taxes, but its proposed fiscal 2008 budget seeks to raise almost $81 billion in new revenue over the next five years by hiking user fees and other charges on taxpayers and businesses."

And Ruth Marcus writes in her Washington Post opinion column that by not proposing to fix the alternative minimum tax, Bush is propping up his tax cuts for the rich with a stealth tax increase on the middle class.

Budget Watch

Lori Montgomery and Christopher Lee write in The Washington Post: "Administration officials dispatched to Capitol Hill to defend President Bush's budget received a frosty reception yesterday from congressional Democrats, who argued that the president's proposal to target health care, education and other Democratic priorities suggests a White House more interested in scoring political points than in genuine compromise.

Rove's Warrior

Kevin Johnson writes for USA Today: "The Justice Department acknowledged Tuesday that it fired the U.S. government's chief prosecutor in Little Rock to replace him with a lawyer who had been an aide to Karl Rove, the Bush administration's chief political strategist."

Rove's Inspiration

Al Kamen writes in The Washington Post: "White House consigliere Karl Rove took a few hours off on Sunday to see the Shakespeare Theatre's performance of 'Richard III' with friends, a former Post colleague tells us. It's a bloody rendition of the scheming Richard murdering his way to the throne, dispatching a number of people, including his two young nephews, along the way.

"Rove, on leaving the theater, was heard saying: 'I've gotta get home. I've got work to do.'"

The View From Crawford

Angela K. Brown writes for the Associated Press: "Near the lone stoplight on Main Street, a for-sale sign hangs from a dusty window where a souvenir shop used to sell cufflinks, cowboy boots and denim shirts emblazoned 'The Western White House.'

"Another gift store across the street is shuttered too, though a sign says it will reopen elsewhere. And the biggest souvenir shop in Crawford is reporting a drop in sales.

"The Washington professionals have their polls, their focus groups and their newspaper editorials. But Crawford, the 700-person town where President Bush's ranch is located, has its trinket stores, and they have fallen on hard times, in what some say reflects the president's sinking popularity over the war in Iraq and a daunting influx of anti-war protesters."

Cartoon Watch

Garry Trudeau on Plan B.

Honoring Helen Thomas

The White House may consider her a pest, but over on the Hill, Helen Thomas is revered.

Jose Antonio Vargas writes in The Washington Post that Thomas was honored with a lifetime achievement award from the Washington Press Club Foundation on Tuesday night.

"'On behalf of the House of Representatives, we salute Helen Thomas,' said Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. 'You could have gotten [this award] over and over again, Helen.'

"'One of the greatest reporters in the history of the republic,' [Sen. Edward] Kennedy called her."

Thomas's message: "To the members of Congress, I say, do the right thing. Pass laws that are fair to everyone. . . . To the media, I say, let's follow the truth wherever it leads us, and let the chips fall where they may."