In both debates to this point, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his P90X workout buddy Paul Ryan have laid claim that there are six "studies" which defend their tax plan as being mathematically possible - to cut taxes by 20% and balance the budget without raising taxes on the middle class. Some light has been shed since both future GQ cover boys made these claims at their respective debates these past couple weeks. These "studies" weren't actually studies at all. No, they were more along the lines of blogs and op-ed pieces written by conservatives. Yes, what you see before you right now - this would be a study in the eyes of the Romney campaign team.
Senior Romney adviser Ed Gillespie engaged in the following back and forth on Fox News Sunday today with Chris Wallace:
Gillespie: "These are very credible sources, and, you know..."
Wallace: "One of them is from a guy who is - is a blog from a guy who was a top adviser to George W. Bush. So these are hardly nonpartisan studies."
Gillespie: "Look, Chris I think if you look at Harvard and AEI [American Enterprise Institute] and other studies are very credible sources for economic analysis."
Wallace: "You wouldn't say that AEI is a conservative think tank?"
Gillespie: "I would say it is a right-leaning think tank. That doesn't make it not credible."
Wallace: "It doesn't make it nonpartisan."
Gillespie: "It does make it nonpartisan. It's not a partisan organization. I can tell you, there are many instances where there have been things AEI came out with and said, I didn't find it to be necessarily to be helpful to the Republican Party."
Wallace: "Would you say Brookings Institution is nonpartisan?"
Gillespie: "I would say the Brookings Institution is left leaning and nonpartisan."
Mr. Gillespie, define "nonpartisan" for me. I'll save you some time and do that myself.
"Nonpartisan (pronounced non-pahr-tuh-zuhn)
adjective
1. not partisan; objective
2. not supporting or controlled by a political party, special interest group, or the like."
So, let me get this straight - the American Enterprise Institute is a nonpartisan conservative think-tank? This is a group that supports a particular political party - the Republican Party - yet is nonpartisan? Doesn't that kind of run counter to the term's actual definition?
Yeah, that sounds reasonable. In light of this bit of news, I can just hear the following ad:
"We're AEI - the American Enterprise Institute. We're a conservative think-tank, support the Republican Party and believe that if Republican nominee Mitt Romney isn't elected for president in November, Armageddon will be upon us. To show this support and prove to the American people that he's the right guy for the job, we put together a study which shows that his tax plan works! The math is there! Taxes will be cut by 20% across the board, will be the centerpiece of a balanced-budget and no middle-class Americans will see their taxes raised in order to balance the budget due to the tax cuts. Trust us. We're not partisan. We're just a conservative think-tank that is very much in favor of a Romney presidency, will do anything to make that happen, but please believe that we are not partisan and our numbers are legitimate. Romney will cut taxes on everyone in this country and find some way to balance the budget without raising taxes on a significant number of Americans. We're not exactly sure how this is possible, but read our study, look at our numbers and see for yourself that Romney's plan works. We're the American Enterprise Institute and we approve this message, approve of Mitt Romney and the Republican Party, approve of doing anything to make him president and approve of great nonpartisan conservative think-tanks like ours."
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/10/14/1009231/fox-host-challenges-romney-study/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/14/romney-tax-plan-ed-gillespie_n_1964934.html
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/non+partisan
Senior Romney adviser Ed Gillespie engaged in the following back and forth on Fox News Sunday today with Chris Wallace:
Gillespie: "These are very credible sources, and, you know..."
Wallace: "One of them is from a guy who is - is a blog from a guy who was a top adviser to George W. Bush. So these are hardly nonpartisan studies."
Gillespie: "Look, Chris I think if you look at Harvard and AEI [American Enterprise Institute] and other studies are very credible sources for economic analysis."
Wallace: "You wouldn't say that AEI is a conservative think tank?"
Gillespie: "I would say it is a right-leaning think tank. That doesn't make it not credible."
Wallace: "It doesn't make it nonpartisan."
Gillespie: "It does make it nonpartisan. It's not a partisan organization. I can tell you, there are many instances where there have been things AEI came out with and said, I didn't find it to be necessarily to be helpful to the Republican Party."
Wallace: "Would you say Brookings Institution is nonpartisan?"
Gillespie: "I would say the Brookings Institution is left leaning and nonpartisan."
Mr. Gillespie, define "nonpartisan" for me. I'll save you some time and do that myself.
"Nonpartisan (pronounced non-pahr-tuh-zuhn)
adjective
1. not partisan; objective
2. not supporting or controlled by a political party, special interest group, or the like."
So, let me get this straight - the American Enterprise Institute is a nonpartisan conservative think-tank? This is a group that supports a particular political party - the Republican Party - yet is nonpartisan? Doesn't that kind of run counter to the term's actual definition?
Yeah, that sounds reasonable. In light of this bit of news, I can just hear the following ad:
"We're AEI - the American Enterprise Institute. We're a conservative think-tank, support the Republican Party and believe that if Republican nominee Mitt Romney isn't elected for president in November, Armageddon will be upon us. To show this support and prove to the American people that he's the right guy for the job, we put together a study which shows that his tax plan works! The math is there! Taxes will be cut by 20% across the board, will be the centerpiece of a balanced-budget and no middle-class Americans will see their taxes raised in order to balance the budget due to the tax cuts. Trust us. We're not partisan. We're just a conservative think-tank that is very much in favor of a Romney presidency, will do anything to make that happen, but please believe that we are not partisan and our numbers are legitimate. Romney will cut taxes on everyone in this country and find some way to balance the budget without raising taxes on a significant number of Americans. We're not exactly sure how this is possible, but read our study, look at our numbers and see for yourself that Romney's plan works. We're the American Enterprise Institute and we approve this message, approve of Mitt Romney and the Republican Party, approve of doing anything to make him president and approve of great nonpartisan conservative think-tanks like ours."
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/10/14/1009231/fox-host-challenges-romney-study/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/14/romney-tax-plan-ed-gillespie_n_1964934.html
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/non+partisan
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