Grover Norquist has them by the short and curlies, and he’s not concerned about recent talk of tax increases from the Super Committee:
In an interview, Norquist said the Republican members of the panel had made a political point by “showing a little ankle” on new revenue — proving that Democrats would not accept major entitlement reform even coupled higher taxes.
But he acknowledged he found the Republican proposal “problematic” and that if Democrats had said yes to the deal, he would have then pushed the panel to rethink the tax offer.
And he offered a stark warning to committee chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.) not to offer further taxes.
“I would say that Mr. Hensarling might want to call George Herbert Walker Bush and see how his second term went,” Norquist said in an interview. Bush lost reelection in 1992 after breaking a promise not to raise taxes.
Even if Republican supercommittee members do sign off on a deal to raise taxes, Norquist said he was confident Republican House members would withhold their support.
“Three guys suffering Stockholm syndrome because they’ve spent too much time caucusing with Democrats are not going to get Republican to break the pledges they’ve made to their constituents” not to raise taxes, Norquist said.
So, now the Democrats are the hostage takers?
Discuss.
