Handing Out Hardship (washingtonpost.com): "Let's get this straight: The administration wants $87 billion in new spending for Iraq, refuses to contemplate rolling back any of its tax cuts to pay for it -- and then proposes holding down new spending on child care for mothers trying to leave welfare.

Oh, yes, and on Sunday, Vice President Cheney insisted that although he and President Bush have presided over a deficit that's reaching well beyond $500 billion this year, we shouldn't worry. Why? 'I am a deficit hawk,' Cheney explained. 'So is the president.' Don't you feel better?"

Ah, E. J., right on the button again. And you have to love the way Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Golden Retriever) argued so convincingly against increasing child care assistance for people trying to get off welfare: "Making people struggle a little bit is not necessarily the worst thing."

Apparently struggle is only good for the poor, though; when asked if we should freeze Bush's tax cut for the top 1% of incomes, Dick Cheney replied that it would be a "mistake".

So let me see if I've got this straight: If you're already struggling to make ends meet, then more struggle is good. If you're not, then not.