Procrastinet

"You Need Some Wood?"

filed under: Hey, What's The Big Idea

"This is IT this is IT..."

Remember that weird moment over the "timber industry" when you couldn't really tell what Kerry was accusing Bush of, and Bush was all confused? He said "Wait... I own a timber industry? It's news to me." And then he landed a good joke, with "Need some wood?" to an audience member.

Well, ho-lee shit. Turns out (according to factcheck.org, remember them?) that he claimed $84 in income from part-ownership of a timber company, which qualifies him, under GOP-enforced tax standards, as a "small business owner."

So: Bush is a tax cheat, who exploits a loophole. Bush is so rich he doesn't have any knowledge of the schemes his accountants get up to. Bush doesn't even know what businesses he "owns" as a tax shelter. Bush doesn't know what's happening with his OWN money.

Go see Brad DeLong for all the details I'm too excited to keep straight.

If it's pushed right, this is small enough and easy enough that it can become the "yeah, but didya hear" around the watercooler from this debate. It's just like Cheney's "we've never met" crack. BUT - people won't be paying as close attention to this one, because unlike Cheney's fib, this wasn't in the middle of a zinger. So the blogosphere needs to jump all over it. Letters to the Editor, online buzz, etc.

Oh, and talk about it around the watercooler.

Posted by rjt at October 8, 2004 11:38 PM