GOP Nominee
Former Candidates
With Mike Huckabee down and Fred Thompson out in Florida, Tuesday’s Sunshine State primary promises a three-way brawl among Rudolph Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney. Voters there, and beyond, should regard these three candidates like lamps in a traffic signal.
– Romney is the red light. The former Massachusetts governor’s tax-and-spend record should stop Republican voters in their tracks. Romney presents himself as a corporate super-mechanic who can lift the hood and make a stalled sedan NASCAR-ready. Too bad Romney left his state in the repair bay after four years of parts and labor.
Rather than reinvigorate Massachusetts with broad-based tax relief — as did his Republican gubernatorial predecessors, William Weld and Paul Cellucci — Romney launched a tax-hike binge reminiscent of Daddy Bush’s 1990 “read my lips” raid on America’s wallets.
Romney enacted 126 brand-new or increased fees, having requested 70, totaling $473 million. Thus, Massachusetts residents pay more for marriage licenses, gun registrations, blindness certificates, home-deed registries, power-meter inspections and even milk-dealer permits. Romney also signed 19 tax increases worth $519 million. Romney taxed gasoline, corporate trusts, nonprofit organizations, online software, sales catalogs, securities companies and more.
Romney also saddled Massachusetts with a government-run health-insurance scheme. Those who have ignored its individual-coverage mandate now face $219 in tax penalties, which could soar this year to $912. The Pacific Research Institute’s Sally Pipes calculates that RomneyCare cost taxpayers $619 million in 2007 — 31 percent above projections.
All this bought economic stasis. Manufacturing employment fell 14 percent under Romney, twice the national figure, ranking Massachusetts 48th among the states. As Romney left office, 124,100 fewer employees were working, versus February 2001, before Massachusetts entered recession. As Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom has admitted: “Did we recover all the jobs that were lost? No.”
– This race’s yellow light is McCain. Call him “Bob Dole 2.0″ — a beloved war hero and veteran Beltway insider with an uneven tax record. The Arizona senator voted to extend President Bush’s tax cuts and now wants them permanent. Yet, he rejected them in 2001 and 2003. According to Senate records, McCain cast 52 substantive and procedural votes for higher taxes. He backed Internet-access taxes, the “death tax,” a surtax on incomes above $1 million and $755.67 billion in tobacco taxes. He also spurned lower taxes on incomes and capital gains, and repeatedly voted to delay and shrivel other tax cuts.
On spending, however, McCain is delightfully parsimonious. He fought 2003’s $558 billion Medicare drug entitlement and is one of Congress’ loudest voices against extravagant, idiotic federal boondoggles.
– The green light is Giuliani. New York’s former mayor is a stalwart fiscal conservative who recently proposed America’s largest tax cut — ever.
As mayor, Giuliani pitched 64 tax cuts, and then charmed, scared or otherwise persuaded an overwhelmingly Democratic City Council to enact 23 of them totaling $9.8 billion. The top tax rate dropped 20.6 percent (vs. Romney’s 0 percent reduction). Also, the overall tax burden (tax revenue’s share of personal income) fell 17.1 percent under Giuliani, while it rose 10.8 percent under Romney.
On Giuliani’s watch, real, per-capita spending declined 0.9 percent. He shrank Gotham’s government and produced a $2.9 billion budget surplus, largely through spending reductions and higher revenues generated by accelerated economic growth that his tax cuts triggered.
Likewise, Giuliani unleashed an employment machine. He helped private-sector payrolls soar 15.2 percent (vs. Romney’s 0.5 percent) — great news for 411,600 job seekers. Moving 58 percent of public-assistance recipients from welfare to work also benefited taxpayers. More important, this strengthened the character of the 643,348 people who underwent this transformation.
Giuliani’s proposed optional, one-page tax return collapses today’s six rates (up to 35 percent) into three: 10 percent, 15 percent and 30 percent. This significantly would lower everyone’s taxes. A family of four earning $80,000 would enjoy a 24 percent tax cut of $2,207. Single Americans making $35,000 would save 13 percent on their taxes.
Giuliani also would index and eventually excise the alternative minimum tax and electrify the economy by chopping corporate taxes from 35 percent to 25 percent, and capital gains taxes from 15 percent to 10 percent.
How swiftly will America travel the road ahead? GOP voters will help decide — by lighting that path red, yellow or green.
___________________________________________________________________________________
New York commentator Deroy Murdock is a columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service and a media fellow with the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University.
January 27th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Let me some this up.
1. Deroy hates Romney
2. Guiliani’s done
3. After FL, Deroy will be a McCain supporter.
January 27th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Wait…are you saying Deroy Murdock doesn’t like Romney? Shocka.
January 27th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
I hope this is Derudy’s swan song here.
January 27th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
This guy sounds like a Giuliani lackey, or am I wrong ?
January 27th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Mathew,
Never.
January 27th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Murdock is a Giuliani shill, he tries to act like he is an impartial observer when on the news or writing an article. What a sham.
January 27th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Deroy has always lacked understanding of several things. Among them is the costs of goods and services and another is inflation. Those two things explain the fee increases.
I suppose in Deroy’s perfect world we would have every place would have low fees and lots of debt to subsidize it. What was New York City’s debt before and after Giuliani?
January 27th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
I will be glad when Deroy is no longer “contributing” to this site.
I’ll take Jason’s summary as the only summary I need of this article since I didn’t feel like wasting 5 minutes of my Sunday night reading the trash.
January 27th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Deroy is Giuliani’s Hugh Hewitt.
January 27th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
LJ,
True, but we don’t see any of Hewitt’s blog/articles posted here as front page worthy material.
January 27th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Huckabee is the dim bulb?
Huckabee is burned out?
Can anyone do better?
January 27th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Yes, what a wasted posting.
January 27th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
firecracker fizzle?
January 27th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Ray,
Good point.
January 27th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Yawn, if I hadn’t heard the Romney tax spin 800 times this might be interesting. In other news, McCain’s still a liar, and Romney is about to win Florida…
January 27th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Regardless of the messenger the record is what needs explaining. I look forward to this race being narrowed so that the debates can focus on more substance, at which time we can better explore these records.
January 27th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
I’d love to see this Hack’s face when Rudy loses big on Tuesday.
January 27th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Better yet, when Romney wins Tuesday. Poor Deroy.
January 27th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Jason is there a press conf going on tonight?
January 27th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Deroy is a loser that hates Romney…what’s new?
January 27th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Giuliani left New York sinking in debt.
McCain opposed the tax cuts that revived the economy.
Romney supported tax cuts and balanced the state budget.
Does it really take a genius to see who the real fiscal conservative is?
January 27th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Tarheel,
the lady who told me about said she hasn’t heard anything. Perhaps it was a rumorville version of the Nashville one I posted earlier?
January 27th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
act blog….do your hw big guy.
giuliani balanced 8 budgets, but a little thing called 9/11 kind put the last year in shambles. you CAN’T be serious in your analysis. if you were, you would come to the conclusion that rudy is every bit as fiscally conservative as mitt (who i might add saw unemplyment RISE during his term)
January 27th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
I guess Deroy thinks that the thing romney should have done was use his own money to balance the budget. His options with an 80 percent democrat legislature to work with on balancing the budget were slim to none. He couldn’t cut many programs because of the dems. He wouldn”t raise taxes because of the promises he made. He restructured several departments to make them cost effective and he raised fees that had not been raised in many, many years so that they would match up with inflation. Of course I guess that instead of that he could have turned over his own money, but since Romney probably believes that it was better in the long run to help MA learn to live within a balanced budget that would have been a bad choice. But let deroy go one thinking ‘Romney is evil’ most of us don’t believe it and now we know deroy is a fool.
January 27th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
On #21. Except Romney raised taxes and spending and passed a health care mandate - so much for freedom.
January 27th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Well, Deroy once agains flied in the face of all other pundits who recognize that Romney is a fiscal powerhouse. Deroy takes such weird positions. I really do not find him credible whatsoever.
January 27th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
“and passed a health care mandate”
..that is no different from an auto-insurace madate, and is much better than the socialist-style care the Democrats would have put in place.
January 27th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
“– Romney is the red light. The former Massachusetts governor’s tax-and-spend record should stop Republican voters in their tracks.”
Woah, I’ll have some of what Deroy’s been smoking.. Is there anyone here that can differentiate between taxes and fees? Come on people, in case you can’t then allow me: Taxes apply to all people, fees apply only to those who request a service. Besides, Romney’s fee increases only account for about 10% of the budget deficit he closed. Some of these fees were instituted by the governor before him and implemented during his term.
January 27th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Since many are just starting to follow the race, many Romney detractors have resorted to their old bag of tricks again. Things things have been thoroughly rebutted and put down time & time again. Here are some facts regarding Romney’s record:
Governor Romney’s Record Of Fiscal Discipline:
Governor Romney Has A Strong Record Of Fiscal Discipline. Without raising taxes or increasing debt, Governor Romney closed a $3 billion budget deficit his first year in office with a heavily Democrat legislature. Each year, Governor Romney filed a balanced budget without raising taxes. By eliminating waste, streamlining government, and enacting comprehensive economic reforms to help spur growth, Governor Romney helped the state achieve a surplus totaling nearly $1 billion in 2005.
In The Four Budgets He Signed Into Law, Governor Romney Used The Line-Item Veto Or Program Reduction Power In An Attempt To Cut Spending By Nearly $1 Billion. (Office Of Governor Mitt Romney, “Romney Signs No New Tax Budget In Time For New Fiscal Year,� Press Release, 6/30/2003; Office Of Governor Mitt Romney, “Governor Mitt Romney Signs $22.402B Fiscal Year 2005 ‘No New Tax’ Budget,� Press Release, 6/25/2004; Office Of Governor Mitt Romney, “Governor Mitt Romney Signs Into Law $23.8 Billion Budget For Fiscal Year ‘06,� Press Release, 6/30/2005; Office Of Governor Mitt Romney, “Governor Mitt Romney Signs $25.2 Billion Fiscal Year 2007 State Budget,� Press Release, 7/8/2006)
- By 2006, Spending In The Governor’s Office Had Dropped From $5.6 Million In 2002 To $4.6 Million. “Spending in the Governor’s Office has dropped from $5.6 million in FY02 to $4.6 million in FY06. Spending is anticipated to drop again in the current fiscal year.� (Office Of The Governor, “Romney Transfers Funds From Governor’s Office To Pay Military Benefit,� Press Release, 11/3/06)
Hardly a “red light” in my book.
January 27th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Is this a joke?
January 27th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
..that is no different from an auto-insurace madate, and is much better than the socialist-style care the Democrats would have put in place.
It’s very different from an auto insurance mandate. See, those of us without cars don’t pay auto insurance. If you can’t see the difference, I honestly don’t know what to say.
January 27th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Deroy’s a joke…
I can see by Rudys poll numbers that his hit pieces on Romney havent seen to help his guy any. This one wont either.
January 27th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Wow Deroy….I started reading this and all I saw was BLah blah blah. Traffic lights?!
January 27th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Jason Bonham,
You mentioned earlier that there would be a big press release tonight about Romney’s fundraising in Florida?. Where is is?
January 27th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Jason Bonham,
You mentioned earlier that there would be a big press release tonight about Romney’s fundraising
What is it?
January 27th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
“It’s very different from an auto insurance mandate. See, those of us without cars don’t pay auto insurance. If you can’t see the difference, I honestly don’t know what to say.”
I don’t know, you can still end up in the emergency room and by law, hospitals are required to tend to whatever medical needs you have with or without insurance, which forces me to pay for it if you are not insured.
Regardless of your choices or if you drive or not, you are still a medical liability to me, the tax payer if you are not insured. If a person does not drive then that person should not be forced to pay auto insurance - true. If is not alive, then that person should not be forced to pay medical insurance.
January 27th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
21,
Oh, and I suppose Massachusetts is doing great right now, right? Romney left Mass. a mess.
January 27th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Huck will likely finish above Rudy, count on it!
January 27th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Deroy, you’re wasting credibility by being a deceptive Rudy shill instead of an honest Rudy-supporting commentator.
I think this type of writing is likely to decrease your earning potential, especially if it becomes a habit.
January 27th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
I would love a health care mandate, especially if the cost of insurance went down and was more affordable.
January 27th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
I don’t even read this guy’s posts. Who is he, anyway? Worthless.
January 27th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Off Topic:
For those of you who are LDS, I just found out that President Hinckley just passed away about an hour ago. He was a great man, and he will be sorely missed. Just thought you would like to know.
January 27th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Good ol’ Deroy. He flies in here, drops his bombs, and then flies off never looking back. I can’t recall a single time he has posted any sort of response to any feedback whatsoever.
January 27th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Is the Romney family attending his funeral?
January 27th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
What a good man, Pres. Hinckley. We will miss him.
January 27th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Some guy on here earlier asked about TN polls.
I found a good site but my comment sometimes goes through
and other times it does not.
Anyway, I tried to put the url up.
It could have been another post on here, but anyway I will
post it here in case anyone wants it.
http://www.usaelectionpolls.com/2008/articles/republican-polls-fl-ca-az-il-mo-tn-012608005.html
January 27th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
uh, there is no ‘three way race’ in florida. thre is a two way race.
January 27th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Patrick, Patrick, Patrick,
Romney did an good job in Mass. The mess is created by those far lefties that control the state.
January 27th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Those lefties are all in a tailspin now as every Kennedy is
endorsing someone different !
Now Bobby Jr and Kathleen K. Townsend are endorsing Hillary.
January 27th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
where has william reston and his, shall we say, interesting posts been?
January 28th, 2008 at 1:13 am
Well the Romney people sure seem to be enjoying themselves. I hope they enjoy it because it will be a different story when Obama destroys Romney by 15% come November.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:42 am
The problem with Murdock’s articles is, that if you do some actual research and look at numbers and trends, the only conclusion you can come to is that he is a total moron or a total hack. Or both. God give us actual journalists who know what the hell they are writing about and do it with some measure of objectivity and honesty.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
After tomorrow’s Florida vote Deroy Murdock will have to find a new career since his hero-worship of Rudy will no longer pay the bills.