The Senate's top priorities? - Gays, Flags and Paris Hilton's inheritance

As Steve Benen puts it:

The three big rally-the-base votes in the Senate -- ban on gay marriage, ban on flag "desecration," and permanent repeal of the estate tax -- are all expected to lose, but more importantly, they're expected to put Democrats on the defensive while uniting Republicans and their base.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the culture war. Democrats don't seem at all intimidated, and Republicans appear increasingly divided amongst themselves.

As for the estate tax repeal, someone needs to repeat the point Krugman made some time ago, they're not tax cuts if you incur a debt to make them -- they're tax deferrals... the tax burden is shifted from the very wealthiest to those who still pay taxes (the 99.7% mentioned below). Gene Sperling at TPMCafe has this to say about the Senate's priorities of late.

Let's see. The nation is at war and troops have been having trouble getting the safest equipment. Child poverty has been on the rise for four straight years. Deficits are projected to total $4 trillion in the next ten years, our entitlement challenge is unresolved, working wages have been stagnating or declining, and fixing the estate tax for the top 3 of every 1000 estates in 2011 is what we should rush to the floor of the Senate in the summer of 2006?

But even if you are only moved by tax cuts, someone ought to remind the Senate leadership that all of the middle class tax cuts expire after 2010 too. Why in the world then should the United Senates decide that only the most expensive, regressive tax cut perhaps ever proposed is the sole one that must be rushed to the floor? Any Senator looking for a reason to vote no on the motion to proceed should not have to look much further than that. Also note that you will not hear a word this week from supporters about how to pay for this tax cut so that it does not increase the deficit. Even a supporter of repeal– -- who also believes in pay-as-you go principles -- could easily decide that if we are going to spend an additional $400 billion in tax cuts for estates worth over $7 million --– we should only do so if we can find offsets so that we are not passing on the debt and interest payments to the 99.7% of Americans --– including our children and grandchildren -- who will not benefit one penny from these proposals.

John Aravosis lets us know that, even with New Orleans still reeling from Katrina, Republican Senator David Vitter from Louisiana is more worried about gay marriage: "Senator David Vitter says of gay marriage: "I don't believe there's any issue that's more important than this one".

These guys certainly have their priorities straight, don't they?