Grover Norquist–Republican operative, compadre of Rove’s, and no friend of Wick’s–is profiled in the August 1 issue of The New Yorker. Norquist likes taxes the way Wick likes liberal Democrats, but I immediately thought of Wick’s post when I read this quote:
“The next Republican presidential candidate will be a Republican governor who did not raise taxes. People who raise taxes–their aspirations for higher office have been destroyed. [Indiana’s] Mitch Daniels will never be anybody’s vice president. [Alabama’s] Bob Riley will never be president. [Colorado’s] Bill Owens, who I considered a presidential contender, he will never be president. He slit his own throat.”
Certainly I don’t wish Rick Perry on the rest of the country, but I would ask Norquist this: Which is better for a politician’s legacy? 1. Steadfastly refusing to raise taxes in the face of a school funding crisis. 2. Raising taxes in an inequitable manner to provide only modest help for an underperforming school system. 3. Raising taxes in a fair, evenhanded way to provide real money to make our schools something the state can be proud of.
