At Least One Dem Is Starting to Get It

I never thought I'd hear a Dem candidate criticize his fellow Dems for opposing Bush's tax cuts, but one finally did:

Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner said in Iowa on Monday that Democrats have taken the wrong approach in arguing against tax cuts enacted under President Bush, singling out former Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's campaign as a reason the message did not resonate in 2004.

In order to appeal to more voters, the party ought to avoid alienating wealthier Americans, Warner told members of the Greater Des Moines Partnership in Des Moines at the outset of a day of meetings in the lead-off caucus state.

"I think the Kerry campaign missed something," Warner, who is weighing a 2008 presidential campaign, told about 50 local business leaders.

"Even though the Bush tax cuts only applied to the top 2 percent of Americans, what I think the Kerry campaign missed was that the other 98 percent of Americans still aspired to get to the point in their life where they could qualify for the tax cuts."

The Bush tax cuts have been uniformly opposed by Democrats.

I never expected any Dem to get it completely right, and Warner certainly met my expectation. The idea that the Bush tax cuts "only applied to the top 2 percent" is absolutely wrong and typical Dem demagoguery. I got a tax cut and I'm not in the top 2 percent. You got a tax cut, and in fact, every taxpaying citizen got a tax cut. Yes, the majority of the money went to the upper tax categories, but that's because they pay the vast majority of income taxes. It's only fair.

Don't expect Warner's views to find a home in the modern Dem party. They enjoy class warfare too much to change moderate their rage against the "rich".