Republican Says President Is "Grinch"

When the Republicans come up with a fake cause to try and get some votes, they won't drop it even after it's shown to be ridiculous. This time it's the tired old "War on Christmas". The Republicans are dragging this one out of the closet a little early this year (since it's another two weeks before we even get to Thanksgiving), but they're not about to pass up any opportunity to attack the president. This time they're accusing him of leading the war on Christmas -- even down to labeling him as the Grinch.

What has started this premature resurrection of the war on Christmas this time is a small 15 cent fee that has been put on each Christmas tree. The fee was instituted by the Department of Agriculture, and proceeds raised will go to promoting the use of live Christmas trees (rather than the fake plastic ones).

The crazy part about this whole brouhaha is that the people who will be paying the 15 cent per tree fee, the growers of farm-raised christmas trees, are the very people who asked for the fee to be imposed. And the tiny fee, which will raise about $2 million (a drop in the bucket as far as government fees or taxes go), will not affect the price of the Christmas trees at all for consumers The 15 cent fee is negligible considering the average selling price of a tree is about $40.

But Republicans don't care that this is a very small fee that was requested by the people who will pay it, will not affect the consumer price, and will be used to promote the industry (a private industry that they should be supporting). They see an opportunity to attack the president, and that's all they care about. Truth and reality are not words in the Republican playbook.

Consider this quote from Rep. Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana), "It is shocking that President Obama tried to sneak through this new tax on Christmas trees. He might have thought nobody would realize what he did, but I will fight to prevent President Obama from becoming the Grinch who taxed Christmas. This new tax is a smack in the face to each and every American who celebrates Christmas."

What a jerk! He and his cohorts won't vote to create jobs, or to make the rich pay their fair share of taxes, or to save the social programs that help hurting Americans -- but he'll make a big deal out of this tiny fee and make accusations of a war on Christmas. Is this really what his constituents sent him to Washington to do? Is this really worth all the outrage he is showing?

This is not a real issue. It is a tempest in a tea pot -- or should I say, a tempest in a teabagger pot.

(NOTE -- Cartoon above is by Jeff Stahler in The Columbus Dispatch.)