Remember George W. Bush? No? Well, on Tuesday he appeared the New York Historical Society and said he wished the tax cuts he presided over were less associated with him, not because he'd had a change of heart about them but because he feared his moniker would be their death knell.

"If they’re called some other body’s tax cuts, they’re probably less likely to be raised," Politico quoted the former president at one of his rare public appearances, kicking off the Bush Institute Conference on Taxes and Economic Growth in New York City. "I wish they weren't called the Bush tax cuts." It's not that we'd expected to hear him say he no longer approved of the tax cuts he signed in 2001 and 2003, but usually politicians like having their names attached to legislation they support. Bush is clearly a pragmatist.

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Adam Martin