Monday, November 26, 2012

Comeuppance

Back during the presidential campaign I noted that one of the good things that could come out of it if President Obama was re-elected would be that folks like Karl Rove and Grover Norquist were beaten badly enough that they went home crying to their mamas.  I was being metaphorical, but in a way it seems to be happening, at least to Mr. Norquist and his anti-tax pledge that held thrall over the Republicans.

Sixteen Republican incumbent Republicans and one incumbent senator who signed the pledge lost re-election, and a total of 56 House members or candidates and 24 senators or candidates lost. As a result, a growing number are abandoning the pledge.

The latest to join the trend is Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), one of the better-known sycophants in the party.  He was preceded by Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), although there is doubt that he is any more likely to break with the pledge than he was in the past when it suited him to say it in order to get on TV.

What may be slowly dawning on these folks is that it might not be such a good idea any more to be bound to a man who dreamed up his no-new-taxes pledge when he was in middle school and who still uses the word “poopyhead” in his conversations.

5 barks and woofs on “Comeuppance

  1. Trying to govern while at the same time voluntarily giving up the ability to tax is stupid almost beyond words.

    Republican Saint Ronald Reagan presided over tax increases in each of five years (the number of years depends the source you consult) of his presidency, as confirmed by PolitiFact, and still, mostly by cutting the top individual tax rates drastically, increased the national debt by almost $2 trillion. Gotta take care of those billionaires!

    But often, circumstances simply demand a tax increase: Grover Norquist has no control over Hurricane Katrina or Super Storm Sandy, or major summer fires in the West, or Deep Horizon-style catastrophes in the Gulf, or two wars that Mr. Bush put on our (metaphorical) credit card. And I’m sorry, but the government can’t simply shrug and say “oops, we didn’t allocate enough money for that emergency; too bad, so sad…”

    Of all the flavors of dumb-(bleep) Republican, the anti-tax zealots are surely the most idiotic.

  2. What amazes me is that grown men who have the power of a federal elected official and thus of the governance of our country and who, have been elected by their respective constituencies, would pay homage and give relevance to somebody whose job it is to kiss their butts and try to get them to pass legislation for a third party who is to lazy to go personally and talk to their representatives in Ccngress.

    Only in America do we give people like Grover Norquist space in our press and listen to his dribble.

  3. LOL! Just saw a great quote from Matthew Dowd, former Bush strategist. “,,,the only good thing about Grover Norquist is he’s named after a character on Sesame Street.”

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