Keller @ Large: Tax Cut Turned Out To Be Political Dud For Republicans

BOSTON (CBS) – President Trump takes a lot of heat for the near-constant stream of misinformation and falsehoods he puts out, but he is hardly the first politician to play fast and loose with the truth.

From the Bush-era propaganda about Iraqi stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction to President Obama's bogus Obamacare vow that if you like your health plan you can keep it, we've become accustomed to pols prioritizing spin and self-promotion over candor and facts.

That doesn't mean we like it. Case in point - the lingering unpopularity of the huge tax cut Republicans passed last December.

It turned out there wasn't much short term tax relief for most of the middle class in that deficit-ballooning legislation, and most people weren't fooled. The tax cut has never come close to majority public approval, all those heavily-publicized one-time bonuses notwithstanding.

And Republicans realize the tax cut they hoped to benefit from politically this fall has turned out to be a political dud. The biggest GOP PAC is mentioning the tax law in only 17 percent of its ads.

"We are going to be putting in and are studying very deeply right now, around the clock, a major tax cut for middle income people. Not for business at all. For middle income people," Trump told reporters recently.

Notice the tacit admission that the first tax cut wasn't quite as populist as they claimed. Moral of the story - it's not nice to try to fool working people who can read their pay stub.

Your thoughts are welcome here via email at keller@wbztv.com, or use Twitter, @kelleratlarge.