I don't know who to take less seriously, Grover Norquist or Robert Novak. Oftentimes, they agree, and appear equally ridiculous. But when they disagree -- or merely get their signals crossed -- it's not only amusing for its own sake, but allows for a comparative assessment of their analytic genius. Last week, we noted Mr. Norquist's rap against Rangel that the House Ways & Means chair "created, fed, defended ... a monster," the Alternative Minimum Tax. Norquist incoherently tries to depict Rangel as an AMT-loving Frankenstein, "defending [the] monster he helped create." In a similarly frothy op-ed in the Washington Post today, "Rangel's Tax-the-Rich 'Reform'," Novak takes the opposite tack, attacking Rangel's year-long efforts (apparently lost on Norquist) to repeal the AMT as "the most radical left-wing tax revision in half a century.... the latest and most egregious lunacy imposed on the American taxpayer." I'll leave it to you to decide whether Norquist or Novak goes further off the deep end. But there is this one precious and hysterical mischaracterization from Novak today: Ways and Means summoned the usual lineup of tax redistributionists for a Sept. 6 hearing on "fair and equitable tax policy for America's working families." [including] Jason Furman (emph. mine), director of the Brookings Institution's Hamilton Project. Furman? The famous redistributionist? Has Halloween come early this year, Mr. Novak?