So President Bush has nominated a new Treasury Secretary. Would it surprise you to learn that this captain of industry is a railroad executive, hardcore Republican donor, and former Ford administration official? The nominee, John Snow, is such a blue blood that he was a member of Augusta National Golf Club (he has resigned to avoid controversy). I really don’t have any idea what the Secretary of the Treasury is supposed to do, but I can’t really see Snow bringing in a fresh new vision for our country’s economy. I guess the philosophy here was to bring in someone indistinguishable from Paul O’Neill in every way except that he can keep from putting his foot in his mouth.

How’s this for a speedy reaction: Citizens for Tax Justice has pegged Snow’s company (CSX) for not paying any federal income tax at all for three of the past four years. I don’t get why Republicans are so much in favor of tax cuts — plenty of them have figured out how to avoid paying taxes already.