The whole framing of this is interesting. Rudy is speaking in the middle of a nasty fight with Mitt Romney over their economic records.
Rudy starts by saying that he is a supply-sider and that he had made supply-side policies work That’s his theme of 23 tax cuts. He also borrowed McCain’s line from last night.
Rudy talks a long, long, long time about his record. Both substance and symbols. My favorite? Renaming welfare offices to "job centers."
He also attacks Hillary Clinton for her baby bond. I think it is worth pointing out that Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) has proposed similar things. And Rep. Phil English (R-PA) and a Giuliani endorser, has endorsed a very similar idea.
Rudy meanders for a while. But then he gets to substance.
He wants to end the death tax.
He wants to index the AMT. (most want to kill it. That’s room for a difference)
A one-page tax form. (don’t we have that with the EZ? Complicated incomes have complicated taxes.)
New savings vehicles. (Good idea. Combine it with one that starts at birth with, perhaps, matching for poor kids, and you get a much cheaper baby bond… That’s a difference that we could offer that isn’t too different from Ramesh Ponnuru‘s tax-break for families)
Then he comes to a riff on Europe again. He attacks Hillary care with a great line and Michael Moore.
All in all good substance. Funny. But it didn’t appeal that much to me.