All six Republican members of the Super-Committee have signed the Grover Norquist pledge, committing themselves not to raise taxes. And all eight of the Republican Presidential candidates in the Iowa debate said they’d oppose a deficit-reduction package weighted 10-to-1 cuts to revenues. No doubt the absent Rick Perry will say the same.
This is, of course, where the Tea Party is. But it’s not where the country is. Barry Goldwater’s link to the John Birch Society - the forebear of the Tea Parties - was the kiss of death for his White House aspirations. But this year’s crop of Republican candidates - like the Republican Party on Capitol Hill - is far more deeply in the grip of extremism than Goldwater ever was.
That’s not surprising. Can you really see the House passing any legislation that would result in a net increase in revenue?
The more interesting question is whether any Dems on the panel will vote to cut entitlement spending.
“And all eight of the Republican Presidential candidates in the Iowa debate…”
It was a zany display of pure comedic horror.
A modern remake of the Munsters…
I mean really: was that craziness for real?
I was dead wrong about one thing: Bain getting buried by the media…
But cut me some slack, I had no idea that the one company/party that could make it reverberate (Fox News), disliked Mitt so much…
My money is now on Morticia….
What was the media like back in the Goldwater days?
@ paul — good question, relevant question.
Paul, I’ve been enjoying reading issues of my alma mater’s newspaper, The Daily Iowan, from 50 years ago and the treatment the John Birch Society (and Robert Welch) got from the press was tougher than the Tea Party gets today, no doubt about it. An AP wire story from August 8th, 1961 noted the President of the American Bar Association blasting Welch for calling Earl Warren a Communist. IMO, the mass media in general was more respectful of government and its institutions than it is today.
Well, some things do get better with time.
It’s also not where some respected Republican economists are either.
I’m trying to recall whether there was a 24-hour news channel put out by the John Birch Society…. nope. That’s different.