Tax revenue as a portion of income is lower today than at any time since Medicare existed. Still, the GOP says it won't agree to any compromise that raises tax revenue. This fact doesn't need on-the-one-hands, or on-the-other-hands, and it doesn't deserve the typical soft-padded kiddie glove treatment of objective journalism. It should be called out for what it is: politically genius, substantively bankrupt hogwash. (Yes, if a Democrat says we can keep Medicare the way it is forever by raising taxes on the top two percent, he should receive the same "F" grade in budget arithmetic.)

When I asked a senior GOP aide about the party's position on taxes, he confessed to me (on condition of anonymity) that there are two worlds in Washington. "One world is political, and the sole objective is to maintain party message," he said. "The other world is real. When you get down to the real world decisions, it's not about whether to raise taxes. It's about the ratio of spending to revenue increases. That's the issue."

Yes, that is the issue. We're having a debate about a budget compromise. One party has put both taxes and spending on the table. The other party says it won't touch taxes, because Grover Norquist and the Ghost of Elections Past have convinced them to clutch a 20-year old policy position. No more taxes forever is not a policy position for an age of deficits, it's a 14-year old's slogan. Time for the media to say as much.













