Editorials/Newt the Whaler/Chairman of the Board
Tyrrell, R Emmett Jr.
EDITORIALS NEWT THE WHALER by R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. George Herbert Walker Bush has obviously never read the memoirs of Harry S. Truman or Hubert Humphrey, and Congressman Newt Gingrich has. Had...
...He is headed for a terrible midterm defeat...
...We know that the President has joined with the Democrats in support of deficit-reduction agreements and raised taxes...
...can revolt against the Washington establishment's budget deal of September 30...
...The Republican contemplates what he can do to govern...
...Gingrich is also one ofthe few Republicans capable of emulating what is best in the Democratic politicos...
...12 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR DECEMBER 1990...
...Thus he is our staunch champion of economic growth...
...President Bush has been duly concerned about the growing deficit, but he made the mistake of believing that the Democrats would compromise on their lust to spend if he would compromise on his pious promises against higher taxes...
...Senator Bentsen's supporters in the oil patch, Senator Moynihan's friends in the arts, all the wheelers and dealers have returned to raise the cost of government for the middle class...
...He will also not remain the asset to the Republic that he now is...
...The day the budget negotiators began negotiating higher taxes, the lobbyists converged on the negotiators, and the exemptions and subsidies spread like viruses...
...Neither commits the ultimate faux pas as a successful Democrat to leave on record a generous reference to any living member of the loyal opposition...
...Yet because President Bush is a gentleman he has had his "no new taxes" policy and much of his Reaganite allure denied him...
...Senator Mitchell's constituents in the boat-building industry got theirs...
...Senator Dole's constituents in the aircraft industry were remembered...
...but never does either man pass up an opportunity for partisan sniping...
...He is a defender of the wisdom of the 1980s...
...The Democrats have compromised nothing...
...A major reason for the federal deficit is the swarm of voracious lobbyists feasting off budget bills...
...What very few Americans know is that these agreements do not cut spending...
...In Washington he is the defender of the taxpayers' 1980s tax cuts...
...See my colleague Tom Beth-ell's column on the next page for details...
...President Bush should wish them well...
...Had the very capable gentleman who now serves as President read these memoirs he would have avoided the weeks of contretemps that he has suffered in budget negotiations, and with Gingrich at his side he might now be leading Republican challengers to victory against incumbent Democrats all over the country...
...As Ronald Reagan learned in 1982, Democrats are biologically incapable of spending cuts...
...Truman, at ease in retirement, and Humphrey, honored and loved at the end of a distinguished career, both wrote memoirs containing much good sense and many interesting observations...
...He recognizes that only economic growth can diminish the size of the deficit as a percentage of gross national product—which is all that can be hoped for in balancing the budget, given the prodigal ways of Washington's establishment...
...There is nothing new here, save the arrival of Congressman Gingrich and his rebels...
...Newt Gingrich will some day write similar memoirs, or he will not be true to his political instincts...
...When tax rates are high the lobbyists are particularly successful in arranging exemptions for special interests...
...I admire them...
...They oppose taxes, favor growth, and promise to gouge eyes and rabbit-punch their way to victory over the Washington establishment...
...When Ronald Reagan lowered marginal tax rates in 1981 and 1986, these exemptions lost value or were pared back...
...I have in mind the Democrats' edifying ardor for eye-gouges, blows below the belt—and venomous partisanship...
...In the memoirs of Tillman and Humphrey, our gentlemanly President would discover why he has just been taken to the cleaners by the Democrats and perhaps why his most useful lieutenant on Capitol Hill is Gingrich, the Republican whip who led the brassy RepubliAdapted from RET's weekly Washington Post column syndicated by King Features...
...Gingrich has made the astute observation that a Democrat rises with the sun and contemplates the many ways he can bring mischief to Republicans...
...Hence, through the 1980s there was a shift in actual tax burden away from the middle class to the rich...
...The Democrats are our nation's most professional politicans...
...The original deal that Gingrich killed would have allowed an 8 percent increase in spending from fiscal 1990 to fiscal 1991, an increase far in excess of inflation...
...Consequently, upper-income earners pay less in taxes and the middle classes pay more...
Vol. 23 • December 1990 • No. 12
