Posted by Jed Lewison on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 7:18 PM Pacific

McCain backs off his no-new-tax pledge?

For perspective on the problems this could cause McCain with his conservative base...take the negative fallout that Barack Obama took from what actually happened on FISA, add to that the negative fallout that would have happened had the media's initial reports about his Iraq timetable been accurate, combine them, and then multiply that total by 5,432,981, and then apply it to John McCain.

Club for Growth, the conservative anti-tax organization, is already ripping McCain a new one in a letter from their organization's president, Pat Toomey:

Dear Senator McCain:

We listened with concern yesterday to your interview with George Stephanopoulos on Social Security. When asked if you would be open to raising the payroll tax, you refused to rule out a tax increase, saying “There is nothing that’s off the table.”

This statement was particularly shocking because you have been adamant in your opposition to raising taxes under any circumstances. In a March 2007 interview with Ramesh Ponnuru of the National Review, you ruled out accepting tax increases as part of a compromise to entitlement reform. And on February 17 of this year, you told George Stephanopoulos, “No new taxes . . . In fact, I could see an argument, if our economy continues to deteriorate, for lower interest rates, lower tax rates, and certainly decreasing corporate tax rates, which are the second highest in the world, giving people the ability to write off depreciation in a year, elimination of the AMT.”

Maybe the McCain campaing will resort to the old "McCain doesn't speak for McCain" defense?

I'll bet McCain wishes he had Phil Gramm around to calm folks down.