Jack Kemp

Well, Jack Kemp weighed in on Newt Gingrich's criticisms of the State Department last week, but I was unable to remember where I had seen his comments. Fortunately his article today is all about putting the hammer to Newt. A few choice tidbits.

"By constantly harping on the need to reform and transform the State Department without providing any specifics, it becomes clear that Gingrich is using the easy target of the State Department bureaucracy as a pretext for criticizing Bush's diplomatic policies through Powell. Gingrich appears to be attempting to drive a wedge between the president and his secretary of state in the name of reform, which plays right into the hands of America's adversaries. It also plays right into the hands of the Daschle Democrats who would love nothing better than to create dissention over foreign policy within the ranks of the Bush administration and blame the president for a failure. . . .

"He really goes over the top when he lashes out at Powell for "throw(ing) away all the fruits of hard-won victory (in Iraq) by going to Syria." In Gingrich's words, "The concept of the American secretary of state going to Damascus to meet with a terrorist-supporting, secret-police-wielding dictator is ludicrous."

"What's ludicrous is the implication that Powell would go to Syria on his own without orders from the president."

Good stuff. However, don't think this particular issue is over. There was an article yesterday by Frank Gaffney that stated, "Official Washington is notorious for its tendency to respond to unwelcome performance assessments by "shooting the messenger." The reaction to Newt Gingrich's recent, scathing critique of the State Department's conduct of diplomacy in recent months, however, seems closer to the gruesome punishment of "drawing and quartering" -- in which the victim's arms and legs were chained to, and then pulled apart by, four horses." Gaffney goes on to largely reiterate Gingrich's attack.

How to Win the War--Tax Cuts!

I have a lot of respect for Jack Kemp. He was an interesting Vice Presidential candidate who looked like he was awake part of the time (a trick his running mate, Bob Dole, never figured out). He has also been heavily involved in community service in the inner cities.

Unfortunately, Kemp also wrote an article this week that I consider pretty wrongheaded. It's easy to forget, but while we are fighting a war in Iraq, the domestic business of congress continues apace. The President proposed an enormous tax cut program, including about $3 billion to go to a plan to eliminate the "double taxation" on dividends that would largely go to the wealthiest. (Check out this cartoon by Ruben Bollings on the horrors of "Double Taxation.")

Now we are at war, and the strain on our budget is growing. According to "Empty Wallet Economics," perhaps this is a time the Government should be conserving it's money, but Jack Kemp has a different idea. He proposes that the war makes the tax cut even more necessary. "Now is no time to go wobbly on the economy. The Senate should restore the president's full tax cuts to the budget so we can get about the business of making America economically strong enough to bear the burdens that will soon be upon us."

I guess if I believed that tax cuts automatically lead to a stronger economy or increased tax revenue, I'd be in favor of them. But they don't automatically bring in more revenue. So perhaps the Government would be better off saving its pennies for the rainy day that we all know is coming.