Within just a few minutes of opening and reading the”Insta-Poll” from Congressman Steve Womack, I fired off a reply questioning the intellectual honesty of what I had just read.

Oddly enough, I haven’t gotten a reply as of yet. Ah well, hope springs eternal.

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Where we once got surveys, we now get Womack`s Insta-Polls” – easier to keep track of, I suppose. Here is the Insta-Question(and only responses possible) offered so that voters could give an Insta-Response, asking if they support the 10 month extension of the Payroll Tax Cut.

Yes, even if it’s not paid for and adds $100 billion dollars to our deficit.

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Yes, provided it’s paid for.

No

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Unsure

There is no space given for voters to give their opinions on the matter, or perhaps offer their views on how the extensions might be paid for. There is no middle-ground offered anywhere on the Wo-Poll. It is all black-and-white thinking. In this sort of one-dimensional world:

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Irresponsible people – you know who you are, liberals – don’t much care about the millions of dollars added to the deficit. You’d bankrupt us all just for “feel-good” politics. A curse on you, and all your progeny.

Responsible, fiscally-minded folks – who pretty much mostly happen to be Republican in The Scowling One’s world view – would like to extend these benefits, but not until they are “paid for.”

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No – well, that’s an easy one.

Unsure? If anyone claims to “unsure” at this late date, perhaps you might do them the respect of taking their pulse, because the rest of their body is probably every bit as dead as their brain.

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TSO sort of reminds of the master in the workhouse when poor young Oliver Twist approached him with his empty bowl and said, “Please, sir, I’d like some more.”

And it was only gruel, at that.

The modern-day Republican Party would have been a gift from hell for someone like Charles Dickens. While he may have found much to inspire his writing, he would also have found much to break his heart.

A deep shiver of terror runs down the spine of many when members of the GOP talk about programs that must be “paid for.” That means it is open season on the programs – and human beings, essentially – that they have little to no use for.

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Quote of the Day

I hate a fellow whom pride or cowardice or laziness drives into a corner, and who does nothing when he is there, but sit and growl. Let him come out as I do and bark. – Samuel Johnson

rsdrake@cox.net

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