Brain Trust - Rich Lowry

Rich Lowry has served as the Editor of National Review since 1997. He is a syndicated columnist and a commentator for the Fox News channel. He joined the Brain Trust segment of the program to discuss the current political scene. Below are the "CliffsNotes" of his interview.

Presidential sweepstakes: Is Rick Perry in the driver's seat, or is he vulnerable?

Somewhere in between.

He's a much more natural nominee than Mitt Romney.

Although I haven't been as hard on him as other people have about his debate performances, he definitely had a few stumbling points in the second debate.

It looks like a two-man race to me.

The president is proposing 1.5 trillion in new taxes, and a special tax for millionaires. Is he serious?

He's trying to bait the Republicans mostly. These kinds of ideas have been bouncing around for a long time.

They aren't going anywhere. They're just campaign talking points.

Ultimately, if you want to get a lot of revenue, you have to reach down into the middle class. And that is exactly what they want to avoid as a political strategy.

What's the best response from the Republicans?

It's not something you want to do in this economy.

Also, it's kind of gimmicky, and it doesn't address the fundamental problem, which is that we need tax reform.

[Obama] has created a disaster for the short-term.

Where are we with the Solyndra debacle?

It's been such a huge selling point for the administration.

And it's a heck of a lot of money at stake.

The mainstream media is engaged on this one. There's been a lot of good reporting over the last week or two.

At the least, it's an intellectual and political scandal, a policy scandal.

What's your reaction to the new congressman in NYC?

It's amazing. It's a sign of the discontent that is running rampant among the voters, even the Democrats.