MAYBE SHE SHOULD AVOID USE OF THE WORD ‘IDIOTIC’…. On “Fox News Sunday” yesterday, Chris Wallace chatted for a bit with former half-term Gov. Sarah Palin (R) about, among other things, tax policy. Wallace noted, for example, that taxes went up during the Clinton years and the economy did really well. For that matter, Palin demands keeping all of Bush’s failed tax cuts in place, but as Wallace reminded her, she doesn’t say how she’d pay for them.
She replied:
“Yeah. No. This is going to result in the largest tax increase in U.S. history. And again, it’s idiotic. And my palm isn’t large enough to write — to have written all my notes down on what this tax increase — what it will result in.
“Let me just go through a couple of things that I want people to be aware of, because, you know, the spin coming from Gibbs and the White House — you’re never going to get the truth out of their messaging.
“But Democrats are poised now to cause this largest tax increase in U.S. history. It’s a tax increase of $3.8 trillion over the next 10 years, and it will have an effect on every single American who pays an income tax. Small businesses especially will be hit hardest.”
When Wallace asked what Palin had written on her palm, she explained, “$3.8 trillion, next 10 years, so I didn’t say 3.7 and then get dinged, you know, by the — by the liberals saying I didn’t know what I was talking about.”
Well, I’m a liberal, and I’m still comfortable noting that she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.
For one thing, Democrats, at a minimum, want to keep the current tax rates in place for those making less than $250,000 a year. Palin’s assumption is based on a full repeal of all the cuts, which isn’t the plan. Palin either (a) isn’t paying enough attention to the debate, (b) doesn’t know how to use a calculator; or (c) is lying and hoping the public is too confused to know the difference.
As Ruth Marcus noted, “No matter how many times Sarah Palin writes it on her palm, it’s not true.” In a message to the conspicuously unintelligent Fox News personality, Marcus added, “Sorry, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
For another, the $3.8 trillion figure is also wrong, even if Dems intended to let all of Bush’s cuts expire, which they don’t.
And finally, the most sensible approach to dealing with a struggling economy is to increase spending and stimulate growth. Palin wants to cut spending and keep tax cuts for the wealthy which already failed.
Something to keep in mind the next she’s tempted to call something “idiotic.”
