Conservative Bill Kristol — GOP should take Obama’s offer

A conservative Fox News commentator is saying the Republican Party needs to accept new ideas, including raising taxes for the wealthy.

Bill Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard and a frequent Fox News commentator, is warning the GOP that "elections have consequences" and that they should not continue to defend a lower tax rate for millionaires according to a Salon report. Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Kristol noted that Republicans lost 25 of 33 Senate seats, and only gained back two House seats. He continued by saying the only reason the GOP retained control of the House was because of redistricting. Kristol claimed the difficulty faced by the GOP is the fact that there is a huge middle class problem. He points to the fact that four years after a Wall Street crisis of gargantuan proportions, the Republicans nominated a candidate from Wall Street. Kristol went on to say that the GOP leadership needs to "pull back" and allow people to "float" new ideas without a vocal outcry. He continued by saying: "You know what? It won't kill the country if we raise taxes a little bit on millionaires. It really won't, I don't think. I don't really understand why Republicans don't take Obama's offer to raise taxes for everyone above $250,000." Democrats want to extend the tax cuts for the middle class, while allowing them to expire for wealthy Americans. However, Republicans want to extend those tax cuts for all income brackets, including the top 1 percent of income earners. According to the Huffington Post, exit polls during last week's election showed that 60 percent of American voters supported ending tax cuts for the rich. When discussing the idea of letting the tax cuts for the rich expire, Kristol said: "Really, the Republican Party is going to fall on its sword to defend a bunch of millionaires, half of whom voted Democratic and half of whom live in Hollywood?"