Official Account

At The Pump
Liberals have delighted in the picture of Mitt Romney pumping his own gas several days ago. We are not certain what the source of their joy is...perhaps, it is that the plutocrat who dared challenge Obama is now reduced to a commoner. But then again, if Romney was the feudal baron that they portrayed him to be, wouldn't he have one of his many servants doing the fill-up? So perhaps Liberals and those who voted against him largely as a result of the unending characterizations of Romney by Liberals - now apparently proven wrong - misjudged him. Shouldn't Liberals embrace, rather than mock,  the image of a multi-millionaire in America who dares be seen at the pump?


Claimant
Obama is claiming an electoral mandate to raise taxes on the top 2 percent. Perhaps, but remember those incessant campaign ads promising a return to the economic nirvana of the Clinton years? Well, George W. Bush cut rates across the board, not just for the top 2 percent. Going back to the Clinton rates means middle-class tax hikes that yield four times the revenue that you get from just the rich.

So give Obama the full Clinton. Let him live with that. And with what also lies on the other side of the cliff: 28 million Americans newly subject to the ruinous alternative minimum tax.

Republicans must stop acting like supplicants. If Obama so loves those Clinton rates, Republicans should say: Then go over the cliff and have them all. (Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, 11/29/2012)

And now the great Krauthammer joins Coulter in endorsing the RedStateVT position!


Privileges
The Obama administration said Friday that it would charge insurance companies for the privilege of selling health insurance to millions of Americans in new online markets run by the federal government.

The cost of these “user fees” can be passed on to consumers. The proposed fees could add 3.5 percent to premiums for private health plans sold in insurance exchanges operated by the federal government. (NYT, 11/30/2012)

And so it begins...or continues...or whatever.


Preferences
The Louisiana senator (Mary Landrieu) was joined by Democratic Sens. Max Baucus of Montana, who heads the Senate Finance Committee, and Mark Pryor of Arkansas, who said this week they would prefer not to raise the estate tax. They wouldn't say how an increase would affect their support for a broader agreement as the parties scramble to head off a package of hefty spending cuts and new taxes known as the fiscal cliff. (WSJ, 11/30/2012)

So there are at least some Democrats who oppose at least some tax increases.