http://www.thebradentontimes.com/news/2011/11/17/opinion/who_is_grover_norquist_and_why_is_the_gop_so_afraid_of_him/Published Thursday, November 17, 2011 2:15 am
by Dennis Maley
As the Congressional super-committee on cutting the deficit zeroes in on its Thanksgiving deadline, one name keeps coming up – Grover Norquist. Norquist is a lobbyist who specializes in one thing: making sure the richest Americans in the country pay as little in taxes as possible. Since starting Americans for Tax Reform in 1985, he has become one of the most powerful conservative forces in Washington and either a blessing or a curse on Republicans seeking political office.
Norquist's political involvement goes all the way back to President Nixon, for whom he campaigned as a student. An undergrad and MBA graduate of Harvard, Norquist quickly built a reputation as being one of the best political organizers in politics. In fact, he is credited as co-author of both the GOP's Contract with America and President Bush's tax cuts. He once famously quipped, "I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub."
From very early in his career, Norquist was seen as the voice of traditional, William F. Buckley-style conservatism and it is largely acknowledged that his assistance to George W. Bush, in terms of rallying support amongst traditional conservatives who were skeptical of the then-governor's conservative credentials, was key to Bush's 2000 primary win. But now, as Republican politicians sweat the frightening reality of not meeting their looming deadline to cut an additional $1.5 trillion from the budget and the European debt crisis continues to loom, most are wishing he'd disappear, and some are even daring to run afoul of his rules.
Norquist's infamous pledge, which is essentially an eternal promise to vote against anything that can be construed as a tax increase, under any circumstances, has been a good housekeeping seal of approval for GOP candidates. When Norquist arbitrarily decided that allowing the temporary Bush tax cuts to expire when they were supposed to was akin to a hike, the GOP quickly fell into line for fear of being tarred as pledge-breakers.
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