Who’s Afraid of Grover Norquist?
Posted: January 28, 2012 Filed under: Republican politics | Tags: articles of impeachment, Bush tax cuts, Grover Norquist 21 CommentsI’ve often found myself wondering why so many elected officials of the Republican persuasion live in perpetual fear of their base. However, most of them are crazy and will primary a relatively calm Republican candidate to 
replace them with a bat shit crazy one. No where is the crazy more apparent than with Grover Norquist whose reign of Terror and Greed has basically held Republican Congress Critterz hostage to really bad economic policy. Grover Norquist is a lobbyist for Trust Fund Babies although no one really knows where his money actually comes from. He makes elder Republican Senators wet themselves. He simply opposes any and all forms of paying for government. He’s been involved with the Abramoff scandal and yet avoids prosecution because he doesn’t have to report the sources of his funds.. Abramoff named him as one of his first and primary contacts with in the Republican part, yet Norquist continues his quest to ensure his inherited wealth and others cannot be used for any purpose other than gratuitous self-interest funding.
He’s got a new crazy idea. He wants to impeach Obama if there’s not an extension of the Bush Tax Cuts. The right to impeach an official is spelled out in our Constitution. The grounds for impeachment are ” conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” So under which one of these things does not giving the uberrich their supposedly short term tax cuts fall? The link comes from the National Journal (NJ).
NJ At the end of 2012, a number of major tax provisions, including the Bush-era cuts, are set to expire. Do you have any predictions?
NORQUIST We’re focused on the fact that there is this Damocles sword hanging over people’s head. What you don’t know is who will be in charge when all of this will happen. I think when we get through this election cycle, we’ll have a Republican majority, [though] not necessarily a strong majority in the Senate, and a majority in the House. The majority in the House will continue to be a Reagan majority, a conservative majority. Boehner never has to talk his delegation going further to the right.
If the Republicans have the House, Senate, and the presidency, I’m told that they could do an early budget vote—a reconciliation vote where you extend the Bush tax cuts out for a decade or five years. You take all of those issues off the table, and then say, “What do you want to do for tax reform?”
Then, the question is: “OK, what do we do about repatriation and all of the interesting stuff?” And, if you have a Republican president to go with a Republican House and Senate, then they pass the [Paul] Ryan plan [on Medicare].
NJ What if the Democrats still have control? What’s your scenario then?
NORQUIST Obama can sit there and let all the tax [cuts] lapse, and then the Republicans will have enough votes in the Senate in 2014 to impeach. The last year, he’s gone into this huddle where he does everything by executive order. He’s made no effort to work with Congress.
NJ The Republicans seem more divided over tax policy than in the past. The House Republicans didn’t want to pass the payroll-tax holiday bill, even though that was a tax cut. Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania proposed revenue increases as a super-committee member. Do you think the party is in disarray over its take on taxes?
NORQUIST Those are different things. Toomey is deciding on which unicorn he’d like if unicorns existed, and you’re asking me if I’m unhappy about his choice of a pet? There aren’t any unicorns. The Democrats are not going to make permanent what they said was their nonnegotiable plan for a 25 percent corporate and individual tax rate. The Democratic Party cannot physiologically do that.
NJ So you don’t get mad when Republicans propose tax increases if you feel they won’t come to fruition?
NORQUIST There’s no point in spending any time getting too worked up on imaginary conversations about imaginary things. The disarray you had was the House and the Senate being on different rhythms, and the House not understanding that anyone would lie so completely about what they’d just done.
There are crack pots and then there is Grover Norquist. The man’s a menace to society.
peej
Carissa
ecocatwoman
mablue2
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
In answer to your question: Treason. Don’t you know it’s a country Of the Corporations, By the Corporations & For the Corporations. Taxing of the Corporate Overlords is treasonous. Hell, Rick Perry called Bernanke treasonous for quantitative easing. Punishment? How about a firing squad? Wouldn’t it be ironic if Grover drowned in his bathtub? If he only showers so as not to tempt fate, let’s hope he’ll vacation SOON at The Bates Motel.
If they all just stood up against him, he’d have no power.
Here’s Norquist handpicking Republican members of the Super Committee last summer:
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/175389-supercommittee-membership-already-a-source-of-contention?wpisrc=nl_wonk
Perhaps Norquist has a whole team of private eyes and he is blackmailing everyone??
Something isn’t right — and I always think blackmail — sort of like that old guy FBI J. Edgar Hoover who had many of his agents collecting blackmail info on nearly all public figures and elected critters. Of course we now know that he was the one who could have been blackmailed.
I’ll bet there’s a lot of dirt on J. Edgar Norquist. Like where did he get his money?
old fashioned way … he inherited it and now he prostitutes himself to other rich people … he’s the K street answer to the Mayflower madam
Norquist is the prime example of why big money in politics is bad, with a capital B! He seems to be tied into all the billionaires funding schemes. from the Kochs to Scaife. He’s been one of the primary paymasters for the Republican party since the early ’90s. I seriously wonder how he has managed to stay out of jail?
Want a republican congressman primaried? Just go to Grover and he’ll buy a challenger.
They need to write laws that make these guys report the sources of their funds.
Norquist seems to have it all figured out. The Republicans will take over, end medicare as we know it, eliminate most taxes or maybe have a flat tax. The guy is counting his chickens before they’re hatched, though.
“The Democratic Party cannot physiologically do that.”
WTF does that mean? Physiologically?? I don’t think that word means what he thinks it means.
I’m sure it doesn’t mean whatever he thinks 🙂
BB – LOL!
What word could he have meant? That’s so weird.
physically? literally? logistically?
…but I must say imagining the Democratic party’s “physiology” sure is amusing. Not sure it’s all that different from the Republican party’s. Assholes all look kind of alike 🙂
Psychologically — he could mean that he believes something to be against the “nature” of the Democrats.
He likes to use big words but has no idea what the words mean . . . . he probably bought his diploma.
psychotically? maybe he was projecting 😉
Slightly OT: President Obama loves the new book by neoconservative Robert Kagen, an adviser to Romney. The NYT thinks it’s an “unlikely source.” I don’t.
I don’t know why the Repubs even bother putting up a candidate against Obama.
WTF? Are they the same empty suit running for president, just in different shades?
Obowma is a big fan of Raygun — and he wrote a “love letter” sort of opinion piece a few months (or years). He’s said that he is a Raygun dem —
So that’s probably why the GOP field is puke worthy — the GOP and money backers really want 0bowma to win the election.
It sure is hell clear that 0bowma is for the 1% — just like his older brother — GWbushie.
Did you see Cain endorsed Gingrich. Womenizers of a feather, flock together.
sounds like 666, not 999
Neither do I…