Grover Norquist has quite a history of being unhinged. He’s said the Estate Tax is morally equivalent to the Nazi Holocaust; he’s called WWII veterans “anti-American,” and he’s called bipartisanship “another name for date rape.”
But this clown isn’t done pushing the envelope.
Norquist dropped by The Times’ Washington bureau today and, as part of his negative critique of Obama’s liberal stances on economic issues and other matters, he termed the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee “John Kerry with a tan.”
Since Norquist isn’t running for anything, he can get away with such remarks; we doubt McCain will be incorporating the line into his speeches anytime soon.
Greg Sargent responded, “Guess it could have been worse. He could have termed the Illinois Senator ‘John Kerry in blackface.’ Such admirable restraint on Norquist’s part!
Now, the LAT’s Don Frederick noted that Norquist can “get away with such remarks,” presumably because he’s not a candidate and everyone expects lunacy from him anyway. He’ll “get away with” this, just as Norquist got away with the other instances of insane rhetoric, not to mention his role in the Abramoff scandal, which somehow seems to have been largely forgotten.
But I’m going to go ahead and argue that this probably should matter in the context of the presidential campaign, not just because Norquist is using offensive racial language, but also because he’s suddenly best buddies with John McCain.
As recently as a few years ago, McCain and Norquist absolutely hated each other.
[C]onnoisseurs of political enmity have savored the relationship between John McCain and his nemesis, the lobbyist Grover Norquist. A Hollywood-perfect hero/villain pairing, the two men have spewed bile at each other for almost a decade, ever since McCain began touting campaign finance reform, a crusade Norquist abhors. But what began as a policy spat has grown intensely personal. Norquist has regularly denounced McCain as a fraud, a flip-flopper, and, on one occasion, a nut job. The McCain camp, in turn, has condemned Norquist as corrupt, a shill for dictators, and (with just a dose of sarcasm) Jack Abramoff’s gay lover. In a Washington devoid of grand political duels, the mutual hatred of McCain and Norquist has always been refreshing.
That was before McCain decided he wanted to run for president again. McCain cozied up to Norquist starting in 2006, and now they get along swimmingly.
Anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), who has sharply criticized McCain in the past, says now, “I’m happy.” Norquist still can’t get McCain to sign ATR’s no-new-taxes pledge, but he has the next best thing: video of the candidate promising as much on national television, three times. “With the campaign’s approval,” says Norquist, “we took those three YouTube videos and sent them to everybody and their brother on the planet.”
Now when Norquist convenes his weekly Wednesday strategy meeting at ATR headquarters in Washington, there’s always a McCain campaign representative at the table. Apparently all is forgiven. “He was just voting against Bush in general” is how Norquist explains McCain’s reversal. “I think it was pique.”
So, now that Norquist and McCain are tight, and Norquist is running around talking about Obama’s “tan,” maybe some enterprising young political reporter can ask why McCain would want to be associated with this clown.