“Her article said that President Obama's budget amounted to a backdoor tax increase for middle-income and even lower-income people, based largely on the scheduled expiration of income tax cuts passed in 2001. But the president had actually proposed keeping those cuts in place for all but high-income families... some prominent conservatives had seized on the article, and a few — notably Rush Limbaugh— insisted that the retraction meant simply that the media were protecting the president. ”
--Richard Pérez-Peña
For those we can't corrupt nor stymie nor coerce:
We fool. A hint of yearning smells to us like chum.
We'll file her taxes, clean his house—be babe's wetnurse—
To close the spaces keeping us apart and numb.
Apartments filled with books and chess can serve as well—
A confidant or friend can sway as well as threats.
For meatheads, take your pick: you've Rush's glottal yell—
Opinion pages full of spies absolve regrets
For middlebrow elites; for bread and circus freaks
Deranged beyond repair, we sell them fantasy:
A porno wife, a football team, and once a week
A lotto game, or games of war: an ecstasy
For every rube or brain, who thinks s/he rules
But can't control the poll or power's tools.
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