“I won’t let anyone Swift Boat this country’s future.”

Those were Hillary Clinton’s words tonight.

Claims like those are precisely what people are talking about when they say Democrats are no better than Republicans, because it takes either ignorance or partisan blinders to not see right through that.

Charades like that are what make people go to someone like Ralph Nader while Democrats accuse those defectors of handing victory to the Republicans.

When Democrats criticize “Swift boating” yet tolerate campaign behavior like Hillary Clinton’s, the Republicans and their Karl Roves have already won. When Democrats will crown a candidate that knowingly exploits racism in her attempts to defeat a black candidate, what does it mean to vote Democrat?

People always assume I’m a Democrat. Disgusting displays like this are precisely why I’m not. Each party has its good people who genuinely want good things for the country, and each party has its power hungry that will do and rationalize whatever it takes to win.

Say you’re going to win, say you’re better for the job, fine. But come on, don’t pretend you’re somehow above the pettiness when your supporters say your ability to play dirty like Republicans is one of your strengths.

“I won’t let anyone Swift Boat this country’s future.”

Whatever.

From a story by JoAnne Young in the Tuesday, January 15 Lincoln Journal Star (emphasis mine):

In four words: taxes are too high.

It’s become a gubernatorial mantra, oft repeated in a state that ranks high among its peers in the amount of money residents pay to live here.

Taxes in Nebraska are too high, Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman said to the Legislature in his State of the State address Tuesday morning. And if it was up to him, more relief would be on the way, in the form of $75 million in property tax relief, increasing the amount for each property owner from the current $83 to $151 per $100,000 of assessed value.

Last year, the Legislature lowered taxes, giving property tax relief, repealing the death tax, eliminating the marriage penalty, expanding the earned income tax credit and repealing the sales tax on construction labor.

From Don Walton’s column in Monday’s Journal Star (emphasis again mine):

Lots of imprecise, and often misleading, talk about the comparative level of taxes paid by Nebraskans.

Some recent stats on Nebraska’s ranking among the states:

* 2006 state tax revenue: 30th in terms of per capita taxes; 31st in terms of percentage of personal income; source: www.taxadmin.org.

* 2007 combined state and local tax burden, as defined by dividing total tax payments by total income; ninth; source: Tax Foundation.

* 2007 combined state, local and federal tax burden, as previously defined; 22nd; source: Tax Foundation.

Although on the high end in terms of local taxation, Nebraskans appear to be somewhere in the middle in terms of total taxes paid.

That’s not what you hear — and read — virtually every day.