The Daily Flipper: Flat Out Flip Flops Edition
Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t …
Rudolph W. Giuliani accepted the endorsement of Steve Forbes yesterday and embraced Mr. Forbes’s signature issue, saying he liked the idea of a flat tax — something Mr. Giuliani denounced when Mr. Forbes was running for president.If there were no federal income tax, “maybe I’d suggest not doing it at all, but if we were going to do it, a flat tax would make a lot of sense,” Mr. Giuliani, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, said yesterday, standing beside Mr. Forbes at the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square in New York. But he said it was not clear whether dissolving the current system, so ingrained in the economy, would be feasible.
In 1996, when Mr. Forbes first ran for president, Mr. Giuliani, then the mayor of New York City, disparaged a flat tax in general and Mr. Forbes’s plan in particular. The Forbes plan called for a single tax rate above a certain income, instead of several rates based on income. Mr. Giuliani said that a central part of the proposal, eliminating deductions, would hurt taxpayers in urban areas and reduce tax revenues for populous cities and states.
Mr. Giuliani did cut taxes as mayor of New York, even with a Democratic City Council and state Assembly, but he still left the city's residents with one of the highest combined state and local tax burdens in the country. In the case of one of the biggest tax cuts during his tenure, the elimination of the commuter tax, Mr. Giuliani actually opposed the tax cut so vigorously that he brought a lawsuit jointly with the city's Democratic City Council speaker in an effort to get a court to order state lawmakers to keep the tax in place.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was close to leaving the Republican Party in 2001, weeks before then-Sen. Jim Jeffords (Vt.) famously announced his decision to become an Independent, according to former Democratic lawmakers who say they were involved in the discussions.In interviews with The Hill this month, former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and ex-Rep. Tom Downey (D-N.Y.) said there were nearly two months of talks with the maverick lawmaker following an approach by John Weaver, McCain’s chief political strategist.
Daschle noted that McCain at that time was frustrated with the Bush administration as a result of his loss to George W. Bush in the 2000 Republican primary.
Romney began his term as Massachusetts governor in 2003 with a view of immigration reflecting his background as chief executive officer of Bain & Co., a Boston-based venture-capital firm. Many lobbies representing U.S. businesses favor guest- worker programs and say that without one, such industries as agriculture, restaurants and hotels might face labor shortages.In his Bloomberg interview last year, Romney said: ``We need to begin a process of registering those people, some being returned and some beginning the process of applying for citizenship and establishing legal status.''
About the same time, Romney told the Boston Globe in an interview that the immigration measure backed by McCain, setting a path to citizenship for undocumented workers was ``reasonable,'' and wasn't a blanket amnesty proposal. Undocumented immigrants ``contribute in many cases to our economy and to our society,'' he said.
As Romney moved closer to launching his presidential campaign, he began taking steps that appealed to anti- immigration voters. His threatened veto scuttled a plan to provide low-cost tuition for children of undocumented immigrants, whom he called members of ``an illegal family.'' He also opposed a plan to allow people in the U.S. illegally to obtain drivers' licenses.
There is nothing wrong with an epiphany per se. Many people have one at some point in their lives. But this is just one of several for Romney. For a supposedly seasoned pol, he seems particularly susceptible to them. His position on gay marriage appears to have followed a similar pattern. When he ran for governor in 2002, he opposed a defense-of-marriage amendment to the state constitution as "too extreme." By 2006, he had done an about-face and was asking Congress to support the Federal Marriage Amendment. In a letter to U.S. senators, he seemed heavily influenced by the changes his state was undergoing after the Massachusetts Supreme Court redefined marriage.Should conservatives be uneasy with a politician whose change of heart, although possibly genuine, occurs suddenly? Well, yes. It is better if a politician changes his view over a longer period of time. If a politician's view changes gradually, the change is more likely the product of years of thinking and experience. This path would more likely result in a solid position. Supporters can be reasonably certain this new belief won't be easily shaken and can withstand the pressure exerted by the fishbowl that is elected office. This, obviously, is preferable to a candidate who either flip-flops or has an epiphany.
Giuliani said he was aware of the safety concerns with the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain and "somebody would have to take a good look at that."When pressed, he did not rule out the repository, however.
"One of the things you've got to be real careful about with nuclear power is you've got to make sure it's really, really safe," he said. "Frankly, some of the problems that have occurred with Yucca Mountain are matters of grave concern, so you'd have to take a good look at that."
Those concerns should not kill the nuclear power industry, he said.
A potential political vulnerability may be the consulting agreement that ties Giuliani Partners to a pair of nuclear reactors known as Indian Point. The reactors, located 35 miles north of midtown Manhattan and owned by a subsidiary of Entergy Corp. of New Orleans, have long evoked safety concerns, which surged after the 9/11 attacks, when the reactors were seen as potential terrorism targets.
Republican presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani stood by embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Wednesday, saying the Bush administration appears to have done nothing wrong in firing eight U.S. attorneys."I don't think the information that's already out makes it clear anything but the president exercised his discretion to remove people that serve at his pleasure," said Giuliani, the former mayor of New York and a former U.S. attorney.
Appearing on NBC's "Today" show this morning, McCain went to almost comical lengths to lowball his first-quarter report.With a broad smile that betrayed his spin, McCain said of his fundraising prowess: "I'm not very good at it. I hope to get better."
This comes from a man who has spent a quarter-century in Congress and, in doing so, has raised over $80 Million dollars for his campaigns and PACs.
To underscore how tough things are for the GOP, Bill Pascoe, a Chicago-based Republican consultant with Urquhart Media, said "there are Republican consultants scouting state legislators for 2014. That's how far the long-range planning is going."Why 2014? Because that would be the second midterm of a Democratic president.
For now, anyway, Thompson's supporters are apparently stuck with reruns of "Law & Order." But his fans could be disappointed on one front if he does ultimately run.Election law requires that TV stations give all candidates equal time. Experts said Thompson -- like the last movie-star candidate, Ronald Reagan -- would probably vanish from the airwaves except in news programming. That would probably mean that he would leave "Law & Order" and that networks would not air his reruns during the campaign.
(Memo to Gingrich and Hagel: Playing cutesy about whether or not you are a candidate does not wear well with activist Iowa Republicans. Also, Gingrich's personal baggage may not go over well either, despite the popularity of his views.
In its third year, the National Day of the American Cowboy, introduced in the Senate today by U.S. Senator Craig Thomas, recognizes cowboys and cowgirls as a significant part of our nation's history."The National Day of the American Cowboy has gained a tremendous following thanks to the work of non-profit organizations, country music stars, and folks around the country who want to honor cowboys and cowgirls contributions to our nation's history," Thomas said.
"I'm pleased to continue efforts to recognize cowboys and cowgirls for their spirit, grit, and determination -- particularly in Wyoming and the West.
Sen. Norm Coleman kissed a baby at a coffee shop and caused a mom concern.There wasn't anything untoward about the kiss; Chelsea Castro just didn't think Coleman looked as good as he normally does.
"It wasn't about anything politically related. I just thought he look rather sick. He looked super skinny, like skeletal and he's got those fake teeth, those veneers. They are like horses' teeth."
Rudolph Giuliani's wife - joined by the ex-mayor himself - takes to the airwaves tomorrow in an interview the campaign hopes can put to rest questions about their public courtship and life together as presidential candidate and wife.Judith Giuliani's interview with Barbara Walters is set to air tomorrow, one week after disclosures that she has been married three times, not twice as previously believed.
Giuliani aides refused to divulge what the Giulianis said in the pretaped interview and ABC News also was being tight-lipped, except for a news release promising that Judith Giuliani answers questions about whether "she was responsible for the break up of her husband's second marriage" and her relationship with his children.
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