In an op-ed yesterday's New York Sun, Confronting His Monster, Grover Norquist, the Frankenstein of modern conservative tax policy points his fickle finger at the man he says "created, fed, defended ... a monster," the Alternative Minimum Tax -- none other than (drumroll please): that's right, Charlie Rangel! Is this better than Novak or what? "Hold" on -- let's be fair minded and consider Mr. Norquist's three claims on the merits:

• Created: Norquist notes, "The AMT was created in 1969." Charlie Rangel was elected to Congress the following year.
• Fed: "In 1986, he voted to raise the AMT rate to 21% [from 20%]. Mr. Rangel did not vote for an increase in the top rate to 24% that followed, but he joined President Clinton in raising the top AMT rate all the way to 28% in 1993." Norquist credits Charlie with a lot of authority on this issue, more than the chairman of Ways and Means in 1986 and as much as President Clinton in 1993, during a period when Rangel was rank-and-file on the committee.
• Defended: Rangel? When? I guess Grover missed this post-election memo: "Rep. Charles Rangel, [incoming] chairman of the Ways and Means Committee in the House of Representatives, calls for the newly Democratic-led Congress to abolish the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) as a top priority."
• Glass Houses: Oh, Grover, Titan of Tax, where have you been lo these seven years, when the greatest tax-cutting president in American history, George W. Bush, easily could have shown a little leadership and gotten AMT reform done? Instead, talk about care and feeding of the AMT monster: Bush Proposes $60 bn. AMT Tax Hike