You’ve heard it for years. Depending upon your point of view, it’s either one of the more disingenuous claims of the populist Left, or it explains the unholy alliance of power and money of corporate America with the wealthy oligarchy.

You’ve examined the veracity of the claim, and answered it to your own satisfaction.

There is only one reason the Left continues to trot out the “tax cuts for the rich” theme: it works.

The reason it works is equally simple.

It is true.

It’s also false.

There are infinite possibilities to spin “the truth” from both sides of the political spectrum, with each side scoring points, discrediting the position of their opponent, and making convincing arguments of the “rightness” of their position.

TCFTR is an emotional, almost gutteral indictment that will never be successfully countered by a scholarly rebuttal, even with a little snark mixed in. That hasn’t stopped the Right from trying. Stephen Moore has tried, and tried, and tried. His case is persuasive - if you want it to be persuasive, and shameless propoaganda - if you are so inclined to believe. Largely ignored during the primary season, it will again become the Left’s weapon of choice in the general election season.

John McCain will not counter it. He believes it. He used the rhetoric of Left to oppose the Tax Reform Act of 2001.

Mitt Romney cannot counter it. A Harvard Business School response will fall upon deaf ears. Romney knows this, and he won’t even try.

Mike Huckabee can. He is, in fact, the only one who can. The way to respond to an emotional, populist charge is with a response that is equal parts of emotion and populism, and delivered with conviction. Huckabee can do it with the credibility that will be necessary to make it stick. And, once successfully countered, it is put to bed, once and for all.

The question is, “Will he?” It is a general election theme. The rewards for rolling out a tactic before time might decrease it’s effectiveness, but as time grows short, it may be the last card that Huckabee has left to play.

Interesting tidbit: “Who pays income taxes?”
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Filed under: Election 2008, News and politics, business and economy, change, conservatism | Tagged: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, john mccain, mike huckabee, mitt romney, Tax Reform, taxs cuts for the rich