CNN reports today that when it comes to a flat-tax, Rudy [tag]Giuliani[/tag] was against it before he was for it.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani once said that a flat income tax “would be a terrible mistake for urban areas,” but the presidential hopeful now is open to the idea.
Giuliani made his critical comments about the flat tax during an appearance on CNN’s Capital Gang in 1996, the same year when its biggest cheerleader, Steve Forbes, was seeking the GOP presidential nomination. Forbes, the editor-in-chief of the magazine that bears his name, endorsed the former mayor this week and will serve as a senior policy advisor and national co-chair of the campaign.
When asked about the flat tax this week, Giuliani said that if the nation was back at the point where the income tax was being structured then it “would make a … lot of sense.
Given the radical policy shifts of the Republicans’ top three (McCain, Giuliani, and Romney), this is hardly surprising. At this point, whole websites could (and probably should) be devoted exclusively to chronicling just how shameless these guys have been with their 180-degree reversals.
[tag]McCain[/tag] has flipped on everything from Roe to taxes to gay marriage to Iraq. [tag]Romney[/tag] is practically a different person than he was in 2003, when he was pro-choice, pro-gay, and pro-stem cell research. Giuliani has reversed course on late-term abortions, gun policy, and a flat-tax.
How bad is it? Their defenders have been reduced to arguing their candidate’s flip-flopping is mild compared to the other Republicans’ flip-flopping.
Jonathan Chait has the story.
National Review‘s Ramesh Ponnuru, who seems to be supporting John McCain, points out that Rudy Giuliani has flop-flopped on the merits of a flat tax.
At The American Spectator, Giuliani supporter Philip Klein replies. He concedes that Rudy Giuliani is a flip-flopper. “Clearly, most normal human beings who read those statements would rightly come to the conclusion that Giuliani changed his position on the flat tax,” he writes.
But, Klein insists, at least Giuliani isn’t as brazen as Romney:
“My criticisms of Romney have been based on the nature of his metamorphosis. It is not a single flip flop alone, but the number of flip flops, the dramatic lengths he goes to alter his position, the timing of his conversions, and the arrogance with which he has wielded his new found positions as a stick to beat up on his opponents.
“I wouldn’t hold Giuliani up on a pedestal to be beyond any form of political posturing, but at the same time, at least he hasn’t completely remade himself on every issue, and is still willing to stand up and say he disagrees with the conservative point of view sometimes.” [emphasis mine]
High praise! Ramesh Ponnuru hits back. “Romney has flip-flopped on more issues,” he writes, “But I think Klein underestimates how brazen Giuliani’s flip-flop on partial-birth abortion was.”
And it’s only going to get worse.
As my friend Ron Chusid recently noted, “Republicans convinced voters that flip flopping is the ultimate evil.” Exactly. For years, the GOP has made changing one’s mind on a policy issue Political Sin #1. Now that all of their top-tier candidates are shamelessly trying to reinvent themselves, the party is left struggling to deal with the consequences. This is the result.
It couldn’t have happened to a more appropriate bunch.