Where Are the Aspiring GOP Presidents on the Tax Deal?
from The Campaign Spot on National Review Online
A reader writes in:
Question: What do Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, Haley Barbour, Mitch Daniels, John Thune, and Rick Santorum have in common?
Answer: Apparently, all have been moved to a secure undisclosed location since the announcement Monday night of Barack Obama's so-called "compromise" tax deal. Not a peep has been heard from any Republican supposedly considering a run for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. For more than sixty hours, they have remained silent.
Note to would-be leaders: The first one to go public in opposition to this "deal" is going to be on wall-to-wall cable TV, and -- given that Tea Party leaders have announced their opposition to the "deal" -- will earn major street cred with some voter groups that are going to have something to say about the 2012 nomination you seek.
In shorter, sweeter terms: If you want to be a leader . . . lead.
The reader isn't quite right. I notice that on Twitter, Palin has retweeted a link to an interview by Sen. Jim DeMint expressing skepticism of the deal, and a comment from Jedediah Bila, saying, "Thank you, @JimDeMint - DeMint comes out against tax deal, says GOP must do 'better than this' -http://t.co/BmjsAh3 .' That's not explicit opposition, but certainly seems to lean that way.
John Thune said he has some concerns, but said on Hannity there's a lot to like for Republicans in the deal:
I see nothing about this issue yet on the site for Romney's PAC, nothing on Newt.org, nothing on the site for Tim Pawlenty's PAC, nothing on Huckabee's site, or Santorum's site.
Having said that, keep in mind that only Thune actually as a vote on this. And if these aspiring GOP figures like the deal, they may calculate that the endorsement of several aspiring Republican presidents might be enough to drive Democrats away from it . . .
UPDATE: This comment from Huckabee on Twitter today suggests he supports the deal: "If House Democrats end up blocking this tax deal - it proves AGAIN, they just don't get it. Hurry up January." |
