Bob Lord

Bob has mostly wound down his 39-year career as a tax and business lawyer (with a 1-year interruption to run for Congress in 2008 (CD3), when he tried to unseat John Shadegg. Bob now serves as the senior advisor on tax policy for the Patriotic Millionaires, a group of wealthy Americans who believe the light taxation of America's rich is destabilizing our democracy, and as an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. Bob has been writing for Blog For Arizona since late 2011, concentrating mostly on federal issues, with an occasional foray into Arizona state politics.

Regarding Sinema, A Short Follow-Up

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The response to my Open Letter to Kyrsten Sinema last weekend was stunning, so a quick follow-up is in order.

Out of the thousands of posts that have appeared on this site, the open letter generated more page views than all but 5 others, along with a boatload of comments.

Readers no longer are split on the issue of bad votes cast by Democrats. The apologists who explain how Democrats who represent swing districts have to cast bad votes were mute on this one. Or, better yet, perhaps they’ve changed their view.

Because I wanted to keep the letter short enough to avoid a page break, a few important points that were omitted bear mention. First, one commenter with the screen name Jason Odhner made this point I intended to make:

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An Open Letter to Kyrsten Sinema

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Dear Kyrsten: Slamming the door on Syrian refugees was the umpteenth cynical, self-serving vote you’ve cast. After working hard to help you in 2012, the previous such votes were disappointing. This one was far worse. As you know, my help included recruiting Syrian American friends to support you. They did so generously. Is locking their … Read more

ISIS: Not As Easy As Bill Maher Thinks

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I’m not sure what’s worse about Bill Maher, his ankle-deep knowledge base or his pathetic critical thinking skills. Unfortunately, those are traits he shares with a huge swath of the population, including many politicians and so-called pundits.

I’ve said little about the current crisis because I just don’t have much to add to what’s already been said. But I’m ready to venture out on one front.

Maher has company on both the left and right when he opines, with total certainty, that it’s the Muslims in the region who need to take the fight to ISIS. He even ticks off the names of countries, such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, whose citizens need to step up their game.

And everyone nods in agreement.

I don’t read everything, but I’ve read perhaps one hundred articles and blog posts on the subject, and have yet to see someone take this argument on.

So I will. I think it’s preposterous.

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The Competing Sides of Marco Rubio’s Mouth

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Neo-Marxist Marco, meet Supply-Side Marco. May the worst man win.

Marco Rubio is no stranger to changing worldviews. His current views on immigration cannot be reconciled with those he espoused when he co-sponsored comprehensive immigration reform as part of the Senate’s so-called Gang of Eight. His anti-abortion view today is far harsher than his view of just a few years ago.

When a politician does this, the favorable spin is that his views “evolved.” The negative spin is: “flip-flopper.”

Although the media rightly report “evolving views” and “flip-flops” when they occur, they’re fairly unexceptional. Politicians routinely express views that clash with views they previously held.

But what if a politician expresses conflicting worldviews simultaneously?

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