Great commentary! I'd just about given up on seeing these issues raised ever again..
Good points, but probably pointless. Hasn't anyone told Bruce? Just put on your US flag lapel pin and repeat after me: "George W Bush can do no wrong, the GOP can do no wrong." Rinse with kool aid and repeat.
Assuming taxes have to be raised somehow, taxing cosmetic surgery sounded like a pretty good idea to me -- the tax is essentially voluntary and falls mainly on the well-to-do.
If the government wanted to stimulate growth, it would make more sense to raise government spending. For this reason, some liberal economists actively opposed the Kennedy tax cut in 1963.