Taxes are a major theme in John McCain in a speech today before small business owners. Although Republicans unsuccessfully tried and tried again to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, such failure might prove to be the political gift that keeps on giving. Democrats who do not support extending the Bush tax cuts — which include both marginal rate reductions and the estate tax limitation — are then in the position of favoring a massive tax raise.

But of course, they tend to make it worse by favoring lots and lots of other tax increases (in the case of Barack Obama, payroll taxes and energy taxes, to name just two). And as one commentator put it, items like the capital gains tax hike are “going to impact more people than you may think.” Heck, even Hillary Clinton doesn’t like his idea to lift the payroll tax cap.

All that said, the Democrats and the economically illiterate members of the media have done a darn good job convincing Americans that the Bush tax cuts were just a give away to the rich. So McCain’s job is three-fold: 1) Convince Americans that retention of the Bush tax cuts and his other plans such as doubling the child tax exemption are good for the middle class; 2) Convince Americans that Obama’s  stated intention of taxing only the very rich is false (e.g. he voted to hike the tax rate on those making approximately $31,850); and 3) Convince Americans that in current economic times tax increases would be extremely harmful to the economy and job creation.

As with Iraq, McCain’s economic arguments are not the easiest to make. But fortunately for him, in both instances, his opponent is playing the role of the far-left extremist, making McCain’s pitch a bit more obvious, especially with swing voters. And that is why you will hear more lines like this from McCain: “In so many ways, we need to make a clean break from the worst excesses of both political parties.”