Bruce Bartlett e-mails: Remember what Walter Mondale said in 1984 about taxes. As reported in “Showdown at Gucci Gulch” (Random House, 1987) by (then) Wall Street Journal reporters Jeffrey Birnbaum and Alan Murray (page 35), Mondale had just delivered his line at the Democratic convention in which he said, “Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won’t tell you. I just did.” Mondale then turned to (then) House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rosentenkowski and said, “Look at’em, we’re going to tax their ass off.”