Grover Norquist, the nation’s most powerful conservative lobbyist/activist, raised a few eyebrows in October when he compared the Estate Tax to the Nazi Holocaust, suggesting that the two were morally equivalent in an interview with NPR. For reasons that continue to astound me, the national media more or less ignored the remark and Norquist continues to be the major DC insider he’s always been.
The Forward, a newspaper focused on concerns to the Jewish community, followed up with Norquist directly, to see if the anti-tax activist had decided to back away from the comparison after having time to reflect on it. In fact, Norquist did the opposite.
Instead of backing off, Norquist decided to take the comparison one step further, insisting not only that the Estate Tax resembles the Holocaust, but that his critics are “socialists.”
“The Nazis were for gun control, the Nazis were for high marginal tax rates,” Norquist told the Forward. “Do you want to talk about who’s closer politically to national socialism, the Right or the Left?” Norquist characterized his NPR comments as “entirely reasonable,” the Forward reported, and added that “he would not hesitate to use Holocaust comparisons in the future.”
The man is a loon. And were he just some random nutjob with a conservative ideology, Norquist’s comments would be awful, but inconsequential. The fact remains, however, that Norquist has unparalleled influence at the highest levels of Republican politics and frequently contributes to the political agenda of the Bush White House.
In a half-hearted attempt to suggest that liberals are as bad as he is, Norquist compares his Holocaust analogy to an ad temporarily posted at MoveOn.org that compared Bush to Hitler.
The comparison is patently absurd. MoveOn was hosting a contest in which amateurs could submit commercials summarizing “Bush in 30 seconds.” There were thousands of entries, which MoveOn did not filter before posting to their site. When MoveOn learned of the Bush/Hitler ad, the group removed the entry from the site and apologized.
In other words, there is no substantive comparison. MoveOn didn’t create, sponsor, or endorse the ad — it was made by some schmo with a camcorder and some editing software. When MoveOn learned of the ad, it was yanked from public view.
Norquist, meanwhile, remains reprehensible. First, he’s not just some guy; he helps Karl Rove shape the president’s political agenda. And second, Norquist hasn’t apologized; he’s insisted that he’s right and will continue to spread his madness in the future.
And where are the Republican critics who blasted MoveOn for their negligence? The RNC and several GOP leaders expressed breathless outrage at MoveOn’s audacity to allow one of its supporters to create an offensive ad, but when it comes to Norquist, their silence is deafening. Political commentators, pundits, and lawmakers have refused to speak out against Norquist’s lunacy, perhaps because they’re afraid of his political power.
The disinterest from national political reporters is just as irritating. The media goes berserk when Wesley Clark appears with Michael Moore and Moore calls Bush a “deserter.” Yet the same media remains unconcerned when the nation’s most influential conservative activist, with close ties to the White House, compares the Estate Tax to the Nazi Holocaust?
I guess the lesson to be learned is high-profile Republicans can get away with insane Nazi analogies, while low-profile liberals can’t.