JOHN MCCAIN UNVEILS ECONOMIC STIMULUS PLAN
For Immediate Release
Thursday, January 17, 2008

ARLINGTON, VA — Today in Columbia, South Carolina, John McCain unveiled his plan to stimulate the American economy. McCain’s plan will lower the corporate tax rate, allow expensing of equipment and technology investments and establish a permanent research and development tax credit. …

Dr. Holtz-Eakin is smart to want to walk away from this absurd Norquist pander, but will the media let Sen. McCain do the same?

Coming soon from Sen. McCain: I was against irresponsible tax cuts before I was for them.

UPDATE: My bad. Although this article didn’t mention expensing, it did mention the corporate rate cuts. Sorry for the error.

A senior White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity because most staff members are not authorized to speak about the vacancy, said the push against Mr. Gonzales would not influence Mr. Bush’s thinking. “He has talked at some considerable length about his view on who he thinks would be qualified to be a Supreme Court justice,” the official said. “And he’s going to make his decision in a deliberate manner.”

The official added, “At the end of the day, the president is going to decide this based on those principles, not from any pressure from the groups.”

This echoes the Times’ piece on Monday about the role of ideology in nominations hearings. It featured this gem:

A senior White House official, who insisted on anonymity in discussing the early phases of the nomination, echoed Mr. Sessions and other Republicans on the Judiciary Committee, saying, “There has been a long-term standard that the appropriateness of questioning does not include asking judges to take specific sides or positions regarding cases they may hear one day.”

Come on. Why is self-serving spin and empty assertion being treated like a scoop? We all need help understanding the nomination process, but this isn’t helpful. As one well-known jurist, Judge Judy, puts the point: Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining.