From the New York Times :

“At a breakfast with Florida delegates, the actor Ben Affleck got into specifics, explaining that the Bush tax cuts had provided him with $1 million last year that he didn’t need.”

Leaving aside the predictable point that, if he feels that way, perhaps Affleck should give extra to the Feds (his response: “I’m not Jesus Christ of the tax code. I can’t completely martyr myself”] it’s interesting to note what that comment has to say about Affleck’s “needs”. I’m no CPA, but if the Bush tax cuts really did save Affleck the Doctor-Evil-like sum of one million dollars, his pre-tax income must have been truly formidable. If he really “needed” all but a million dollars of it, and losing that million would have been “martyrdom” that might suggest that Red Ben is rather less the man of the people than he would have the rest of us believe.

What a surprise.