Bored with the Penn State scandal because it didn?t implicate any prominent Republicans, the mainstream media have suddenly become obsessed with Grover Norquist?s ?Taxpayer Protection Pledge.? They are monomaniacally fixated on luring Republicans into raising taxes.
If Democrats could balance the budget tomorrow and quadruple government spending, they?d refuse the deal unless they could also make Republicans break their tax pledge. That is their single-minded goal.
But the media are trying to turn it around and say that it?s Republicans who are crazy for refusing to consider raising taxes no matter how much they get in spending cuts.
At Tuesday night?s Republican presidential debate on foreign policy, for example, CNN?s Wolf Blitzer asked the candidates for the one-millionth time if they would agree to raise taxes in exchange for spending cuts 10 times larger than the tax hikes.
Terrorism can wait ? first, let me try to back you into a corner on raising taxes.
Amazingly, Blitzer cited Ronald Reagan?s statement in his autobiography, ?An American Life,? that he would happily compromise with Democrats if he could get 75 or 80 percent of what he wanted ? implying that today?s Republicans were nuttier than Reagan if they?d refuse a dollar in tax hikes for $10 in spending cuts.
Wolf should have kept reading. As Reagan explains a little farther in his autobiography: He did accept tax hikes ?in return for [the Democrats'] agreement to cut spending by $280 billion,? but, Reagan continues, ?the Democrats reneged on their pledge and we never got those cuts?...........<SNIP>
