The Candidates
Every Republican who has won their party’s nomination since 1988 has signed Grover Norquist’s pledge not to raise income tax rates as President. Now, however, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani are going to try and buck that trend by refusing to sign it:
Giuliani, McCain, Balk At Tax Pledge
Republican presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., have each refused to sign a pledge not to raise taxes if either is elected as the nation’s chief executive…
Seven of the presidential hopefuls have signed including Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts. GOP candidate Tommy Thompson joined Giuliani and McCain in refusing to sign.
Rudy’s campaign explains the decision this way:
“Rudy’s got a record of cutting taxes and putting more money into the hands of people. His record is his pledge,” said Giuliani senior campaign adviser Tony Carbonetti.
The Club For Growth responded with this:
“But if you’re really committed to not raising taxes, you should sign the pledge,” said Club for Growth spokeswoman Nachama Soloveich. “Conservatives don’t like getting a cold shoulder.”
I can understand where Rudy and John are coming from on this - the same place Mitt was at when he ran for Governor and decried these sorts of things as “government by gimmick.” And Rudy does have a beautiful history of cutting taxes, and McCain has never voted for a tax increase. I have to ask, in all seriousness, though: in a political climate such that the GOP currently finds itself in, will this refusal to sign hurt Giuliani and McCain with conservative primary voters who need all the reassuring they can get right now?
June 5th, 2007 at 12:30 am
Just sign the damn thing. Unless, of course, you want to leave your “options open.”
June 5th, 2007 at 12:37 am
I think these tax pledges are stupid, candidates should speak directly to us regarding these matters. I don’t want our President to be beholden to some organization that they sign a pledge with. If the President raises taxes they should have to answer to the people and explain why they broke with their campaign promise.
June 5th, 2007 at 12:41 am
bjalder26,
Have Giuliani or McCain made a specific campaign promise not to raise taxes?
I don’t see what the problem is with a pledge. Perhaps Giuliani and McCain simply lack the confidence to be able to say that they’re big enough tightwads to address every fiscal situation with spending cuts and streamlining of government.
Romney’s faced a lot tougher budget shortfalls than the current federal budget, so I’m not surprised that he comes at this with the “can do” attitude.
June 5th, 2007 at 1:46 am
Pledges from lobby groups are nothing new, and this one is quite high profile. Does that mean it will hurt them? I expect so.
Maybe Giuliani & McCain are already thinking of tacking left in the General, although you’d think Giuliani would tack left on social issues.
There’s no harm to signing a pledge if its something you genuinely intend to do. The fact they haven’t is a bit of a problem.
June 5th, 2007 at 2:52 am
I’m not a Club for growth fan and both of these candidates have good tax records. In addition McCain has a fiscal discipline record most candidates would like.
I’m not worried about either of these candidates being too liberal on economic issues. If they give CFG the silent treatment I’d be pleased they’re not buckling under to these jerks.
June 5th, 2007 at 8:08 am
I have no intention of ever killing anyone. I really don’t. But if you asked me to sign a pledge never to kill anyone, I immediately think of a scenario when someone’s about to blow up a nuke that will take out an entire city, and the only way to stop them is for me to kill them. I’m sure that there’s nothing quite so dramatic as taxes, but I can imagine someone who is the least likely of all the candidates to raise taxes still not wanting to sign an oath that rules out any possible extenuating circumstances no matter how ridiculous they are. After 9/11, we should know that we can’t predict anything absolutely. I think it would be immoral to sign it, but they need to explain why and put forward a potential circumstance that’s ridiculously unlikely in which they might raise taxes if they’re going to come out of this looking ok.
June 5th, 2007 at 8:21 am
If Demos win, we will have a massive tax increase. We better nominate our strongest candidate.
June 5th, 2007 at 10:01 am
Jeb Bush refused to sign this pledge as governor of FL. I’d like to research the reasoning for not signing it, but there seems to be a good one. And if I’m close to being a single issue voter on anything, it’s taxes.
June 5th, 2007 at 10:54 am
Even though McCain and Giuliani have not signed a ‘no tax’ pledge, and refuse to do so; in fairness to both, they each support making the Bush tax cuts permanent, and Rudy has gone a step further, saying “the death tax should get the death penalty, immediately.”
June 5th, 2007 at 11:24 am
It seems to me that Rudy and McCain are trying to wreck the old traditions of GOP and start the new ones. In other words, they both are trying to create the new images of the Republicans. Rudy with his position on why the soc-cons do not matter, and McCain with his across the asile vision.
I question whether it is the most appropriate that we move toward the center (enlarging the tent, as Rudy would say) is a wise move. We tried that in 2006 election. Comparing it with the 1994 election. Again, the Republicans have lost its way, and yet, they both perserve with their mindsets that the center position is the solution. Huh?
I read this good line recently (not exact wording): the only difference between the mob and soliders is that the latter takes pride in their traditions. Are they trying to make us a party of mob?
June 5th, 2007 at 11:39 am
Did anyone see how Rudy got slammed by a Catholic Bishop in Rhode Island?