|
I didn't know very much about our friend, Grover Norquist until now. He first came to my notice when I saw him on an interview with CNN. The interviewer was implying that any Republican who broke faith with Norquist's mandatory "no new taxes" pledge was dead meat as far as the Party was concerned. Norquist did a nice snake imitation, his eyes slithering here, slithering there - neither confirming nor denying anything.
I checked Norquist out on Wiki and discovered that he is the behind the scenes puppetmaster who pulls the strings on almost every Republican politician and is one of the Tea Party's biggest fans. He's helped shape Republican policies at least since the Reagan years and helped engineer W.'s election along with W.'s tax cuts for the wealthy.
Norquist's day job is to head Americans for Tax Reform, a non profit which is not required to disclose the identity of its contributors. However, according to CBS News, a significant portion of ATF's funding appears to come from wealthy individuals, foundations and corporate interests.
One of the few Republicans who has stood up to Norquist is former Republican Senator Alan Simpson, co-chairman of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. Simpson describes Norquist's position as "no taxes, under any situation, even if your country goes to hell."
I would say that Simpson appears to be correct.
|