Charlie Sykes, riffing on a Patrick McIlheran column, on Thursday decried how some people who don’t pay federal income taxes get refundable credits.
“It’s sticking it to the rich!” Charlie proclaimed (paraphrasing). “It’s income redistribution.”
Charlie’s callers were happy to join in.
“They’re not working hard enough,” said one guy.
“This is nothing more than welfare,” said a female caller.
As everyone knows, in political parlance welfare=black. So what Charlie is really talking about here, and the catnip he’s using to whip up his audience, is race.
And what a caller called “welfare” is otherwise known as the Earned Income Tax Credit. And as everybody knows, the earned income tax credit has long enjoyed bipartisan support and has been praised by conservative economists.
That fact takes a backseating to race baiting in hopes of electing John McCain, however.
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