The irrationality of politics

A House-Senate conference committee agreed yesterday to extend $145 billion worth of Bush tax cuts without coming up with a way to pay for them. What in hell were they thinking? Representative Charles B. Rangel of New York, the senior Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, offered this explanation: "I wish we could pay for them, but this is a political problem and we have people up for re-election. If you have to explain that you voted for these tax cuts because they benefit the middle class and against them because of the deficit, you've got a problem.''

We've got a problem, all right. It's called politicians.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/23/politics/23tax.html?th