In a moment of brilliance, after one of the Three Stooges asks another what "apprehensive" means, the other says, "Dat means scared ... with a college education, yuck yuck yuck." I was reminded of this exchange when I heard comments by some real logical folks at yesterday's House Ways & Means Committee mark-up of the AMT patch bill. "Nonsense" Exhibit A is on display below. The idea that the AMT patch doesn't need to be paid for under PAYGO because ... finish the sentence however you wish, they all cause cognitive dissonance in the reasonable mind. Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) heard several variations on the sentence and pronouced them "theology." Then U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, a former Wall Street banker, not a theologian, issued a press release similarly insisting on ignoring PAYGO. It's not the nonsense that my colleague Craig points up, just the feckless Gentleman C material that is the hallmark of this Ivy-League-turned-Texas-teaman administration: While I appreciate the Ways and Means Committee for taking up an AMT patch today, the fact that this legislation raises taxes that would hurt our economy makes it very difficult for a patch to be passed quickly... With only weeks to act to avoid the risk of 25 million taxpayers facing unintended tax increases, or millions more facing significant delays receiving refunds, Congress must quickly pass a patch that does not raise other taxes. The legislation passed through the Ways and Means Committee today does not meet that criteria. I again call on the leaders of both the House and the Senate to act quickly on an AMT patch that the President can sign for this year. You don't need a college education to be apprehensive when a Treasury Secretary demands that Congress renege on its commitment to PAYGO and fiscal responsibility -- and blow tens of billions of dollars of fresh new holes in the budget.