Damnation by Faint Praise: Rangel's Tax Bill
NY Times | With friends like these...

When the Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee proposed a sweeping overhaul of the tax code last week, aimed at shifting more of the burden of taxation to the wealthy, Democrats were lukewarm and Republicans loosed a fusillade of attacks.
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“What Rangel has done is put out a coherent plan... You may like it, you may not like it. But it starts a discussion.” - Rob Rubin
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Also sounding noncommittal, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York said she shared with Mr. Rangel “the goal of tax fairness” and “welcomes his leadership,” according to her spokesman, Howard Wolfson.

“I think Charlie’s being very courageous in moving forward,” Mrs. Clinton said Tuesday night at the Democratic debate in Philadelphia. “I don’t agree with all the details, but he’s on the right track to say we’ve got to do something about the A.M.T.,” she said, referring to the alternative minimum tax.

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Asked if she endorsed the plan, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said simply, “no.”

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My favorite, though is the claim that

[the plan] would “put money back in the pockets of working families,”

despite the fact that

Mr. Rangel acknowledged that his proposal had little chance of passage this year or next, or of overcoming a veto by Mr. Bush if it did.

It's like MAGIC.