Axelrod: No, We Won't Cave on Tax Cuts

Democrats won’t compromise their position on the Bush tax cuts, David Axelrod said today, hastily retreating from a Huffington Post article in which he said they would. “We’re willing to discuss how we move forward,” he wrote in an email to the National Journal, “but we believe that it’s imperative to extend the tax cut for the middle class, and don’t believe we can afford a permanent extension of tax cuts for the wealthy.”

The Huffington Post quoted Axelrod as saying that Democrats “have to deal with the world as we find it.” He said he didn’t think Congress should delay addressing the deficit by raising taxes on the rich. “But I don't want to trade away security for the middle class in order to make that point,” he concluded. A spokesman for John Boehner had jumped on the comments, saying, “We’re glad to see the president’s most trusted adviser now agrees with this course of action.” (More David Axelrod stories.)