11/10/2011

Romney keeps things really vague

Romney will pretty much leave the tax system and government spending the way they are. After four or eight years of Romney, Obama's changes in spending and taxes will pretty much be locked in. Romney just wants to be president and wants to cut the difference between the two parties. But I think that in the general election he will be attacked mercilessly for his flip-flops. I suppose that similar attacks can be made against Obama, that he is even more left wing than he promised. Paul Gigot at the WSJ's Political Diary nails Romney here:

If you want to know why Mitt Romney is leading the GOP presidential race, you could do worse than consider his response to moderator John Harwood's tax reform question at CNBC's Wednesday night debate. Mr. Harwood tried to pin the former Massachusetts governor down by pointing out that, among the GOP candidates, he was the only one who didn't have a tax reform plan.

Question: "You don't have a flat tax. You're proposing to preserve the Bush-era tax rates. What is wrong with the idea that we should go to one rate? Why do you believe in a progressive tax system?"

Mr. Romney blew right past that question to hit his talking points:

"Well, I would like to see our tax rates flatter," he said. "I'd like to see our code simpler. I'd like to see the special breaks that we have in the code taken out. That's one of the reasons why I'd take the corporate rate from 35 [percent] down to 25, is to take out some of the special deals that are there.

"With regards to our tax code, what I want to do is to take our precious dollars as a nation and focus them on the people in this country that have been hurt the most, and that's the middle class. The Obama economy has really crushed middle-income Americans. This president has failed us so badly. We have 26 million people out of work or in part-time jobs, that need full-time work or have stopped looking for work altogether. Median incomes have dropped 10% in the last three years. At the same time, gasoline prices are up, food prices are up, health-care costs are up. And so what I want to do is help the people who've been hurt the most. And that's the middle class. And so what I do is focus a substantial tax break on middle-income Americans."

Now, there is a professional at work: Dodge the flat-tax debate, pivot to a whack at President Obama, and stress that you share the aspirations of tax reform but first we must cut taxes on "the middle class," who happen to be most voters.

This obscures the fact that Mr. Romney is only proposing to cut capital gains and dividend taxes on those Americans, most of whom don't have many capital gains or dividends. He isn't proposing to cut their income taxes, though he skillfully left the impression that he is. And in cutting taxes only for the "middle-class," Mr. Romney is also accepting Mr. Obama's definition of "the rich." As for reform, how will we get a flatter, simpler system if the GOP nominee won't make the case for it? . . .

Labels: ,

1 Comments:

Blogger Peroni said...

What he said in the past does not dictate what he will do as president, John. To say that he will pretty much do nothing as president makes the argument weak.

I really, truly, cannot see an intelligent and very knowledgeable man like yourself continue to support an empty suit that is Rick Perry. Not to be too mean, but the man looks like a clueless nincompoop on the debate floor as all he talks about is Texas, memorized talking points, which he throws in answers that don't need them, and he is completely unconvincing.

I am with you in terms of Romney not being the kind of conservative that we want, and it is a shame that Bachmann is not a strong enough candidate because so far I have not disagreed with her on anything. But, she is not.

Cain, Romney, or Newt. Cain is limited to his 9-9-9 plan. Newt is an old time DC man and carries personal baggage as well. Romney is a success story as a governor of a liberal state and as a big time business man, and he truly gave strong answers on the housing market and when asked to choose between jobs or profits last night. Yet, those three are miles and miles ahead of Perry in terms of success, knowledge, and intelligence.

I think it is very safe to say that Perry is unelectable for presidency at this time against Obama. You'd be kidding yourself if you thought otherwise.

11/10/2011 4:29 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home