Rep. King: ‘A Pledge You Signed 20 Years Ago, 18 Years Ago, Is For That Congress’

[DonViejo]

Source: TPM



PEMA LEVY 11:51 AM EST, SUNDAY NOVEMBER 25, 2012

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) said he agrees with Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss' dismissal of Grover Norquist's tax pledge as getting in the way of an important debt deal, during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday.

"I agree entirely with Saxby Chambliss," King said. "A pledge you signed 20 years ago, 18 years ago, is for that Congress. For instance, if I were in Congress in 1941, I would have signed a -- have supported a declaration of war against Japan. I'm not going to attack Japan today."

King continued: "The world has changed and the economic situation is different. Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill realized that in the 1980s. I think everything should be on the table. I, myself, am opposed to tax increases. The fact is the speaker and the majority leader and the president are gonna be in a room, trying to find the best package. I'm not gonna prejudge it. And I'm just saying we should not be taking iron clad positions. I have faith in John Boehner to put together a good package."

-30-

Read more: http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/rep-king-pledge-you-signed-20-years-ago

[The Blue Flower]

1. About time

May this be the beginning of the end of Norquist.

[msanthrope]

2. Holy shit!!! These guys think the Congress is in play in 2014. nt

[Volaris]

23. It will be if they fuck this up; the GOP will get full blame for taking us over the "curb"

and they are starting to figure that out. That makes at least 3 who have publically told the Garden Gnome to take his pledge and go fuck himself.

By the time Jan 2 gets here, I would bet dollars to doughnuts that they will be BEGGING the Senate Dems to cut a deal (and if I were the GOP, that would include a backroom deal to leave the filibuster alone for WHATEVER the hell you guys want, but PLEASE don't tell the Tea Party we said that....)

Mr. President, I say take us the hell over. For us to get ALL of what we want come say, Jan 2rd, we have to do exactly NOTHING by Jan 1. THEY forced this fiscal and military insanity down on the American Citizenery, now let them own the FUCK out of it. When they start publically accepting blame, THEN you tell them you will sit down and negotiate in Good Faith. Not Before.

Take us over. (It won't be fun for another 6 months or so, but) I am NOT AFRAID.

What will be interesting is to see how the 'Bagger Loons respond to this idea that cutting a deal is ok. Mostly, that's been tantamount to High Treason by their way of thinking; it will be fun to see if they start punishing GOP Congresscritters for cavorting with the Enemy...

[sofa king]

3. My goodness, what a terrible risk he's taking!

I mean, Grover Norquist is hardly Congressional Republicans' worst enemy now. He's just a small-time protection racket compared to the political dirty tricks that can be played today in Citizens United America.

There are forty million voters programmed to think that taxes are terrible. You just can't un-fuck the minds of conservative voters that quickly and easily.

If the Republicans CAVE IN and allow the tax cuts to expire (heh, heh), why, that's raising taxes!

Now, any dark money organization at all can pick up Norquist's anti-tax gauntlet and run drooling Tea Party primary opponents against all Republicans up for reelection in 2014, including all House Republicans.

Why, the organizations that identify and fund those candidates might even be non-Republican organizations... and nobody would know!

I'm glad people like you and me wouldn't contemplate destroying the Republican Party entirely, and handing President Obama a Democratic House and a supermajority in the Senate for his last two years by running false-flag primary opponents against the GOP. That wouldn't be totally awesome, at all.

[AAO]

10. Shhh... Operation XX is underway!

[ballaratocker]

21. The situation you describe will result in the GOP having their own 1972 DNC

Some people will hate me for this but the 1972 campaign was horribly organized, every hobby horse was pandered to and a lot of the delegates to it were unqualified (i.e. some of the delegates from Arizona were 18 years old). The GOP 2014/16 campaigns will become a right wing version of this.
The tea baggers are the GOP's version of the hippies and Rush Limbaugh is their Abbie Hoffman. They, like the hippies did, believe in their own heart that the country is on their side but they too will discover that the mainstream isn't as half as radical as they are.

[Agony]

4. Faith is an evil thing.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

5. Even a broken clock ...

[mac56]

6. Drip.. drip.. drip..

[valerief]

7. Die, Republicanism. Die a swift death. nt

[go west young man]

8. The opportunists are coming out of the wood work.

For them this is the chance to lead the new Republican party. Nothing more. Personally I would like to see them all go the way of the dinosaur.

[randome]

14. We don't want a one-party system, though.

If Republicans can truly reform themselves, it will only benefit the national conversation to have honest ideas added to the mix.

I know, that's assuming a lot from what we have now.

[go west young man]

19. I would disagree.

The Democratic Party is now quite centrist. The Republicans are extreme right. We need a truly progressive liberal left leaning party if anything. Thats the two party system I would like to see. A True Progressives and a Centrist Democratic Party. Those two would represent America much better than what the Republicans, who are doomed to become a minority party anyway, would.

[Historic NY]

9. WFT....did something hit him in the head.

[bucolic_frolic]

11. Their pledge should have been to the American People

to do what is in the public good, the long term best interests of
America, to use their judgement

Not to Grover Norquist

An unelected power broker

[Plucketeer]

13. IT STILL boggles my mind to think about it.

These reps elected BY the people - and then seceding their powers to some self-appointed oaf with a private agenda!!! I mean, SURE....... our reps compromise themselves with special interest collusions for money to run on.
But to promise NOT to do something to AVOID an election assualt????????????????

[sarcasmo]

16. They pledge the corporation not the people.

[Tutonic]

12. Flim flam.

Why didn't he say this fifteen years ago? Ok 12 years ago? No? 8 years ago? OK a year ago? These Rethugs will convince you that sand tastes like ice cream if it suits their latest narrative.

[struggle4progress]

15. "More and more congressmen contemplate drowning Grover Norquist in a bathtub"

[Pachamama]

17. Well, well, well....the Rats are finally jumping ship!!!

They have always been and always will be rats, but they are intelligent enough to see when their own survival is threatened....and in this case, it doesnt just save their skin, but all of us....

About f*cking time....

[freshwest]

18. Proving himself a con artist, saying his promises are not to be kept:

Abandoning the Nordquist pledge, still adds, 'I, myself, am opposed to tax increases.'

Same shit, different definitions to please your masters while doing as he and they want, destroying the social safety net for those who paid taxes into it for more than that 20 years.

Their work, their money, their taxes, don't matter, just so long as you can steal from them for your masters.

And 'I think everything should be on the table.'

Yeah, let's forget the promise you made, which a decent human being would not have made, but what you really want is to break the promise of the social safety net of those who paid in.

We see through your venality and we're not buying what you're selling!

[Baitball Blogger]

20. So fucking sad that this is the way that Republicans have to learn

that you change your conclusions when the facts change.

[burnsei sensei]

22. Grover Norquist is a hateful, ugly,

little man.
I hope that this coming year, he becomes a tragic figure as every commitment ever made to him falls.