The reddest part of a red state:

Over at the whitehouse.gov website we read about an "ask President Bush" event. This one took place yesterday in Sedalia, Missouri, and the focus was on small businesses. We thought this exchange was of interest:

THE PRESIDENT: We've got another person who saved money on her taxes: Ellyn Wilson, Thanks for coming, Ellyn. Tell us what you do, Ellyn. Interesting job she's got. Interesting jobs she's got.
MS. WILSON: Mr. President, I work three jobs. I'm a single mom, which is a full-time job, anyway.
THE PRESIDENT: Is that your daughter?
MS. WILSON: Yes, this is Hannah.
THE PRESIDENT: Listen to your mom. I'm still listening to mine. (Applause.) Most of the time. (Laughter.)
MS. WILSON: And this is my son, Caleb Wilson. He's eight.
THE PRESIDENT: Fantastic. What do you do, Mom?
MS. WILSON: I am a music teacher. This is my 14th year starting. That's my full-time position.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you for teaching. (Applause.)
MS. WILSON: And I made a change this year, and I'm presently at Pettis County R-12 Dresden School District, one of the best schools in the state of Missouri.
THE PRESIDENT: That's good. She's a marketer. (Laughter.)
MS. WILSON: And my part-time job is out of my home. I'm a Mary Kay consultant, and I'm working my way up to a star recruiter, and working my way up in the business.
THE PRESIDENT: Running her own business. She's a soul [sic?] proprietor. Got her own business -- kind of the American way, isn't it? Started her business out of her own home. Keep going.
MS. WILSON: And I love to serve the Lord at what I do, and I'm church pianist at First Baptist Church, Sedalia, Missouri. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: There you go. She saved $1,000 on tax relief. A single mom -- by the way, being a single mom in America is the toughest job in our country. (Applause.) It's incredibly hard work to be a single mom. The tax relief helps single moms -- $1,000.
MS. WILSON: And I got braces for my kids. It's helped a lot.
THE PRESIDENT: Let's see -- oh, yes. (Laughter.) Did you ever. (Laughter.)
MS. WILSON: With my Mary Kay supplies, as well. So it really helped out tremendous, and I'm very thankful.
THE PRESIDENT: Helped her small -- helped with the kids. She's doing her job as a mom, to take care of her kids. And then she's got a little business going. And that money helps. Someday you'll be driving that pink Cadillac. (Laughter and applause.) If they don't make the tax relief permanent, $300 goes out of her pocket. That's $300 she can use. Remember the tax relief, how it works? Not only did we reduce all rates, which helped everybody in our small businesses, we raised the child credit to $1,000, and we reduced the marriage penalty, so it ought to be encouraging marriage, not discouraging marriage. (Applause.)

We created a 10 percent bracket, which helps Ellen. In other words, we've just got to keep this in mind, our country's got to keep in mind, what tax relief has meant to working people, to people are trying to get ahead in life. This is a perfect example of a soul who is working hard to do her duty as a mom, and to realize her dreams as a small business owner. The tax relief has helped. I appreciate you coming.

I hope you get what I'm trying to say here. See, we can get people like me running for office, and we talk about numbers and this, that and the other. The most effective way to explain the effects of tax relief on our society is to ask people like Ellen come and tell you why tax relief was effective. I'm honored you're here, Ellen. Great job. Thank you.

MS. WILSON: Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. President. (Applause.)

Some observations:

• Ms. Wilson was pre-selected and not called upon randomly. Note that Bush knew that she saved $1000 without her telling him.
  
  
• We congratulate Ms. Wilson on trying to get ahead, but selling Mary Kay cosmetics is not the same as a good paying job with benefits. Bush likes to say that his tax cuts are going to enable small businesses to revitalize this economy, but that's not true. In the case of Ms. Wilson, she will have more money to spend, but her business isn't really affected.
  
  
• Bush said "We created a 10 percent bracket, which helps Ellen." It's true that "The ten percent tax bracket has increased from the first $6,000 in taxable income to the first $7,000 for single filers and from the first $12,000 to the first $14,000 taxable income for married couples and qualifying widows/widowers." But, "The current ten percent bracket for head of household filers remains unchanged." And Ms. Wilson is presumably a head of household who didn't benefit from the tax cut - so what gives?
  
  Is this another example of a Bush misstatement? (It appears that Ms. Wilson only benefited from the child credit.)
  
  
• No matter how you slice it, Ms. Wilson isn't making much money. That Mary Kay gig is nowhere near a solid income stream.
  
  
• As a pitch to the red-staters, it was a pretty good choice: Mary Kay cosmetics, loves to serve the Lord, is the pianist for the First Baptist Church, "a perfect example of a soul who is working hard".

posted by Quiddity at 9/08/2004 07:11:00 PM