Pun Salad

… but I love to hear him talk:

• Barackrobatics du Jour: Jacob Sullum notes President Obama engaging in a bit of lying historical revisionism about his (Dover NH) campaign pledge to not raise any taxes for families with incomes under $250K.

• Speaking of the president, you may have heard about what he said yesterday about the Tax Day protests:

  President Barack Obama said Thursday he's amused by the anti-tax tea party protests that have been taking place around Tax Day.

  Obama told a fundraiser in Miami that he's cut taxes, contrary to the claims of protesters.

  "You would think they'd be saying thank you," he said.

  Howard Portnoy has a complaint about the tone:

  For a man who rode to power on the false promise of post-partisanship, Obama has missed no opportunity to insult and enrage those who exercise their constitutional right to disagree with him.

  Steve Landsburg, on the other hand, takes exception to the substance:

  The reality is that President Obama, like President Bush before him, has rather dramatically raised government spending and therefore has raised your taxes. To say otherwise is like saying you got your new swimming pool for free because you put it on your credit card.

  Small enough words there, Mr. President?

  Or, as we've said before: "It's the spending, you attractive, intelligent, and amusing person, you."

• A few days back I looked at a Foster's Daily Democrat article that slimed the "Oathkeepers Project of Maine" as one of the groups that "poisoned" political discourse. In the American Conservative, Jesse Walker looks at the national Oath Keepers group, and finds an awful lot of nothing much to worry about.

• Having solved all other pressing national problems, New Hampshire's Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen has joined the battle against airline carry-on baggage fees. Drew Cline calls Jeanne "dim", but I think you have to be pretty darn smart to find the "right to free carry-on luggage" in the Constitution.

• On the other hand, Senator Shaheen might indeed be dim compared to the sheer blue-star brilliance of California Congressman Henry A. Waxman, who represents Beverly Hills and other localities. Because he's so smart, he's discovered that Congress has the power to pontificate upon what substances Major League Baseball players may or may not chew during ballgames.

  At a hearing Wednesday, House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, and Health Subcommittee chairman Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat, called on baseball and its players to agree to bar major leaguers from using chew, dip or similar products during games.

  The concept that some things might be none of their business seems to be lost upon your typical Democrat in a position of power.