Not funny, just sad...

If you say that a column is lame, even for E.J. Dionne, well, you're saying something. Today's "effort" from E.J. Dionne is lame, even for E.J. Dionne. What's the thesis?

If you support our troops, you have to support the work of the Internal Revenue Service.

That's right. If you appreciate the young men and women who are risking their lives fighting for freedom, you must also appreciate the army of accountants and bookkeepers who live at home, work 9-5, while getting paid more than comparable private sector workers and having more job security and better pensions and benefits.

Good call, E.J.

Who are the men and women of the IRS? They are the people who collect the revenue that allows the government to finance our troops who are in harm's way, help our wounded warriors, pay Grandma's Medicare bills, cover the costs of keeping our food and drugs safe, and do so many of the other things the vast majority of us want our government to accomplish.

Yes, that's a far nobler calling than the accountants and bookkeepers (and ditch-diggers and teachers and lawyers and butchers and plumbers and chefs and restaurant managers and farmers) who don't work for the IRS but actually provide the revenue that pays for our troops and Grandma's medicare bills, right?

His prompt is the IRS officer who was killed when that whacko flew a plane into the IRS building in Texas earlier this year. Which was obviously tragic for that officer's family, but falls pitifully short as inspiration for a paean to the noble tax collector. The result is a piece so ludicrous that it's not even unintentionally funny, just painful.

Even for an E.J. Dionne column...