Laffering All the Way to the Bank

Charlie Rangel floats tax reform proposal and before any serious people even have time to consider its merits House GOP Leader John Boehner explains it will reduce revenues through increasing tax rates: "Imposing higher taxes at this time will doom our economy, put people out of work and cost the federal government revenue that is badly needed, if in fact we're going to balance the budget." I would really like someone to explain to me why the press doesn't treat this kind of thing as a gaffe. I remember when Howard Dean couldn't correctly state the total number of people in the Army and it was like the end of the world.

But the top House Republican (like the president and vice president of the united states and most other Republican Party elected officials) can't correctly state the relationship between tax rates and federal revenues, which seems like a big deal.