Republicans are great at continually revising history to fit their myth making. A prime example is their constantly using Ronald Reagan as the Great Tax Cutter. What is left out is that Reagan also raised taxes a number of times.
Widely circulated right now is the video of the 60 Minutes interview this last weekend with House Republican and Majority Leader Eric Cantor. When Leslie Stahl asks him about Reagan also being a compromiser and having raised taxes, Cantor falters as his press secretary off screen yells that’s not true.
One wonders where Cantor’s press secretary got his education. And Cantor seems to feel no need to be more responsive or truthful. It’s a prime example of right wing dogma trying to deny historical reality and rewrite history. 60 Minutes did the public a service by not editing out the press secretary’s comments but making them part of the story.
Here is the interview on Crooks and Liar’s entitled Eric Cantor’s Press Secretary Interrupts 60 Min to Claim Reagan Never Raised Taxes. It includes a a video clip of the exchange with Leslie Stahl, Eric Cantor and Cantor’s press secretary and a clip of Reagan noting the need to compromise.as a reason he raised taxes.
Crooks and Liars in fact goes further than 60 Minutes
“As has been noted here at C&L, the Republican myth about Ronald Reagan being unwilling to raise taxes is just not true. Heaven forbid, Reagan raising taxes 11 times, not just several as the 60 Minutes report stated, might get in the way of their talking points about St. Ronnie.”
The Raw Story carried the story in a post entitled “Cantor refuses to admit Reagan raised taxes” They note that:
After his huge tax cut in 1981 slashed all tax rates to 23 percent, sparking a budget crisis, Reagan realized he’d also have to raise taxes in the years that followed. He raised taxes four times between 1982 to 1984, increasing the payroll tax, broadening the base of Social Security payees, applying the income tax to higher earners and rolling back corporate and individual tax breaks.
Reagan’s historic tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, whose rate went from 70 percent to 28 percent during his administration, ultimately forced the president to raise taxes on more people than any other U.S. president during a time of peace, according to New York Times columnist Paul Krugman.
In total, Reagan raised taxes 12 times during his two terms in office.”
Republicans seem to have no limits these days to telling stories and making up history. It is important for the media to help sort out the myth making and revisionist history from the historical reality. And voters need to realize that a lot of what is said by Republicans these days is just campaign talk and not true.
