January 6, 2004
Iowans are in for some weird entertainment on Wednesday, when the right-wing Club for Growth begins running a television ad attacking Howard Dean. According to the AP, the announcer asks a couple leaving a barber shop what they think of Dean's "plans to raise taxes on families by $1,900 a year." The man says, "What do I think? Well, I think Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading ...,'' and the woman continues, "... body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show back to Vermont where it belongs.''
Wow, what stupidity, and here we just argued yesterday on these pages that Republicans weren't stupid. For some, at least, we take back that statement.
This so-called Club for Growth was founded in 1999 by the president of the National Review, the president of the Cato institute, and other "like-minded, pro-growth conservatives." Wealthy all, they believe that mom and pop down at the corner barber shop will fall for their ludicrous attack on Howard Dean. Neither mom nor pop in this ad say anything about Dean's tax plan, which would focus on repealing part of Bush's tax cuts. Instead, they attack a caricature, that Hollywood, body-pierced freak.
Iowans, we believe are smarter than this rich white man's club gives them credit. They know what "club for growth" really means. It means rich conservatives grow their own wallets. It means rich conservatives like Bush's tax cuts, which were overwhelmingly tilted toward the very rich. It means the rest of us, the working class, will pay for it all. It means Iowans will continue to suffer from cuts in their state budget, a continued loss of services and cutbacks in education, road building, veterans benefits, and increasing Medicare bills, payroll taxes, and state income tax rates.
Iowans will be entertained all right, but they will not be laughing at Howard Dean; they will be laughing at those rich white men who think the rest of them are suckers.
Sources:
Club for Growth
http://www.clubforgrowth.org/ New York Times
http://nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Political-Ads.html