Is William Kristol the canary in the coal mine when it comes to tax reform?
Is William Kristol the canary in the coal mine when it comes to tax reform?
The editor of the Weekly Standard, a major force in the conservative movement, encouraged Republicans to break their no-new-taxes pledge and accept Obama’s offer to raise taxes only on wealthy people: “It won’t kill the country if we raise taxes a little bit on millionaires,” he said delicately.
He’s not the only one urging the party to be a little more open-minded for the sake of its own survival: former George W. Bush aide Karen Hughes said that if another Republican says something stupid about rape, “I want to personally cut out his tongue,” and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal urged Republicans to “stop being the stupid party.”
But Kristol provided a special incentive for wavering Republicans, pointing out that a lot of millionaires “voted Democratic, and half of them live in Hollywood.”
If there’s a way to get Republicans to change their minds on tax cuts, it’s to tell them it’s a way to punish liberals.