Anybody who wondered how far Tim Pawlenty was willing to go to ingratiate himself with the crazies on the Republican right has gotten the answer: plenty far, and then some.
It all became clear last week when the former Minnesota governor, a so-called moderate and one of about a dozen GOP presidential wannabes, unveiled what The New York Times called his “chimerical” economic plan. Chimerical? Maybe so, but comical would be more accurate.
Following three decades during which just about every dollar of economic gain has gone to the top, Pawlenty went over the top and proposed sending trillions more to the same people. Among his make-the-wealthy-wealthier proposals: no taxes on capital gains, no taxes on dividends, no taxes on estates.
It’s been GOP orthodoxy for years to lower capital gains taxes, and the current rate of 15 percent on long-term gains is the lowest since FDR’s first term. Combined with the same current rate on dividends, it’s the No. 1 reason why income inequality in the United States has risen to levels not seen since the robber barons.
Not good enough for Pawlenty; let’s raise it even higher!
Besides showcasing his ability to pander, Pawlenty’s economic plan also showcases his total lack of interest in cutting the deficit (a lack of interest he shares, of course, with every Republican who simultaneously touts tax cuts and spending cuts as the solution to all fiscal problems. As The Times points out, the numbers can never add up “because of the giant deficits the vanishing tax money would create…”)
Never mind. Pawlenty has his eyes on the prize, in this case the Republican primaries. Here’s how his strategy looked over at Talking Points Memo: “…Pawlenty is clearly placing himself staunchly on the right, with a program that would drastically change the shape of the federal government as Americans have known it. In an environment where the GOP has run into trouble over Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) proposals to privatize Medicare, will these ideas fly with the general public beyond the GOP primary base?”
For the moment, they don’t have to. For the moment, all Pawlenty has to do is keep on pandering to the base.
Given what he did last week, that's the master plan for the man The Times called “at least until this speech…one of the more reasonable of the suitors for the Republican presidential nomination.”
Gerald Scorse