Something really sensible about taxes

You would think this would be obvious to anybody with a shred of intelligence:

Mr. Obama is now a socialist (according to the McCain campaign) because he dares to suggest that maybe we ought to look at the tax structure that we have. Taxes are always a redistribution of money. Most of the taxes that are redistributed go back to those who pay it in roads and airports and hospitals and schools. And taxes are necessary for the common good. And there's nothing wrong with examining what our tax structure is or who should be paying more, who should be paying less. And for us to say that makes you a socialist I think is an unfortunate characterization that isn't accurate. And I don't want my taxes raised. I don't want anybody else's taxes raised. But I also want to see our infrastructure fixed. I don't want to have a $12 trillion national debt and I don't want to see an annual deficit that's over $500 billion heading toward a trillion. So how do we deal with all of this?

-- Colin Powell

I guess you've heard by now that Powell has endorsed Obama.

UPDATE: Here's something Atrios mentions over on Eschaton:

Powell and McCain are both in their early 70s.

Hmm. Maybe Powell is tired and realizes McCain must be too.