New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman extended his odd obsession with raising the gas tax into the 2016 Republican presidential debate in "My G.O.P. Debate Question." But Friedman will have a hard time convincing Republicans to listen if he keeps throwing around insults, like describing the party's donors and supporters as embracing the "angry anti-science, anti-tax, anti-government, anti-minorities, anti-gay rights and anti-immigration views of the Tea Party and its media enforcer, Fox News."

Friedman has on multiple occasions called for a hike in the gas tax as a solution to 1) recoup the costs of the Iraq war 2) reduce the federal deficit 3) end the threat of global warming 4) squelch uprisings in the Arab world.

In Wednesday morning's column he invoked Ronald Reagan:

If I got to ask one question of the presidential aspirants at Thursday’s Fox Republican debate, it would be this: "As part of a 1982 transportation bill, President Ronald Reagan agreed to boost the then 4-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax to 9 cents, saying, ‘When we first built our highways, we paid for them with a gas tax,’ adding, ‘It was a fair concept then, and it is today.’ Do you believe Reagan was right then, and would you agree to raise the gasoline tax by 5 cents a gallon today so we can pay for our highway bill, which is now stalled in Congress over funding?"

At least now Friedman is willing to take a mere nine cents. Previously he wanted a $1 a gallon hike.