Last night on CNBC, host Larry Kudlow had some forceful objections to my column on Rick Santorum’s populism, and the resistance that meets in Republican and conservative circles.
My column quoted Kudlow calling Santorum’s economic plan “terrible,” because it favors manufacturers by lowering their corporate income tax rate to 0 percent, while not doing the same for non-manufacturers. Kudlow says I accused him in the column of being anti-blue-collar. I certainly wrote that many Republicans are, but I don’t agree that my column leveled this accusation specifically at Kudlow.
In fact, Kudlow wrote a column recently which sticks up for blue-collar workers.
He wrote: “The Keystone opposition coming out of the White House is completely alienating all these people, the folks who work with their hands. And it’s these workers who have been decimated in the recession far more than any other group in the economy.”
Kudlow and I have our disagreements about bailouts and taxes (and the meaning of my latest column), but on these points, we agree: 1) Santorum is wrong to pick winners and losers, and 2) many economy-distorting policies need to be fixed, but the policies that hurt blue-collar workers impose unique costs.
– Tim Carney is senior political columnist for the Washington Examiner.