Rodney Glassman, the young, rich, Democrat running for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Republican John McCain, loves the tax cuts put into place by former President George W. Bush.
It's surprising to hear any Dem praising a move by Bush, who still gets the credit by President Obama for today's bad economy.
But Glassman uses the pro-Bush stance to batter his opponent, who's painted in Glassman's latest news release as a hypocrite for telling Fox News over the weekend that it would be "class warfare" to pit the middle-class cut against a different tax cut for wealthy people.
"John McCain actually threw himself under the proverbial bus," said Blake Morlock, communications director for Glassman's campaign. "It makes one wonder what positions he will take the next time political winds change. He's apparently capable of shape-shifting at will."
A good point, to be sure. Glassman goes on to say that the looming end for the middle-class tax cuts "would constitute the largest middle-class tax increase in U.S. history."
But business owners and middle-class-types shouldn't begin making long-term financial plans based on the hope that Glassman's election means a permanent tax cut. The Democrat makes it clear that he'd foist this record-setting "tax increase," as he calls it, on the middle class as soon as he thinks they can stomach it:
"I oppose John McCain's tax hike on struggling middle-class families," Glassman said. "I would like to see all the tax cuts extended until the economy recovers, but if I have to choose between people like John McCain and me keeping our tax cuts or middle-class families keeping theirs? I choose the middle class."
If only Glassman committed to keeping that tax increase off the backs of the middle class forever, he might actually draw some of those fiscal-conservative votes -- heck, maybe even Tea Party votes -- from McCain.
But, then, that would require him to commit to something.
UPDATE: We take back every bad word we ever said about Glassman -- or at least, the words above about his aversion to commitment. It turns out that Glassman did commit to making the tax increase permanent. See our latest blog post on the issue.
