Rove and Hastert

Rove and Rep Hastert were on Fox News Sunday

Here are a few things I found interesting from their conversations.

Rove stressed the fact that Arlen Specter promised that he would give president Bush's judicial nominees a quick and fair hearing so that they could get to the floor. He also made it clear that Specter would be expected to stick by that promise.

Both Rove and Hastert talked about possible tax changes. Neither Rove nor Hastert would allow themselves to be pinned down on a specific plan (ie: flat tax or national sales tax) but they were clear about the fact that the current system is flawed and needs to be simplified. Hastert pointed out that it costs Americans 250 billions dollars simply to prepare their taxes.

It seems discussion about tax reform has come up quite a bit recently. I have read about it after most interviews with top republicans. It would seem that this is a top goal of the administration, and it will be very interesting to see how it plays out over the president's second term.

In regards to social security, Hastert and Wallace talked about the cost of transitioning over to a somewhat privatized system. Hastert said while there is a cost, if things are not changed social security will not be around for future generations.

Rove also refered to Kery's line "I voted for the 87 billion before I voted against it" as the 'gift that kept on giving.' I'd have to say that many conservative bloggers would agree with that assessment.