Catch of the Day

Goes to the Tax Policy Center for estimating the effects of Tim Pawlenty's tax proposals, and to CBPP for a nifty chart comparing them to George W. Bush's tax policies. Bottom line: they're enormous, and skewed even more to rich folks than Bush's were.

Kevin Drum, of course, is correct that in the context of the Republican nomination process these are exactly what people want. I expect Mitt Romney to match Pawlenty, in both size and skew of tax cut proposals. I do not expect any Republican candidate with a plausible shot at the nomination to put out a counterplan that involves a balanced budget using real numbers and hitting Pawlenty for being fiscally irresponsible.

Do you?

So if we all know that, why do people who claim to be nonpartisan budget hawks treat Republicans as potential partners and allies?