Rolling Stone - "How (Norquist) hijacked the GOP on behalf of the rich" - Norquist As A Frontman

[TomCADem]

The mainstream media helps perpetuate the influence of Norquist by ignoring how he actively acts as a proxy for corporate interests. It would be bad PR for a corporation to dump money into a political campaign. But, give the money to Norquist, or allow him to threaten politicians on your behalf, and you can keep your hands clean.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/grover-norquist-the-billionaires-best-friend-20111109

Norquist's influence over the GOP began in 1985, when Ronald Reagan tapped the little-known staffer at the Chamber of Commerce to head up Americans for Tax Reform, a pressure group organized to push a comprehensive tax package through Congress. With backing from the Chamber, Norquist – a Harvard MBA and former head of the College Republicans – challenged GOP candidates to take a two-part pledge: that they would never raise taxes, and that they would only close tax loopholes if the additional revenue was used to pay for further tax cuts. Before long, he had 102 congressmen and 16 senators signed up.

Over the past 25 years, Norquist has received funding from many of America's wealthiest corporations, including Philip Morris, Pfizer and Micro­soft. To build a farm team of anti-tax conservatives, Norquist shrewdly took the pledge to state legislatures across the country, pressuring up-and- coming Republicans to make it a core issue before they're called up to the big leagues. "We're branding the whole party that way," Norquist says. "The people who are going to be running for Congress in 10 or 20 years are coming out of state legislatures with a history with the pledge."

Norquist also built the anti-tax pledge into the DNA of the GOP by hosting weekly Wednesday meetings that enable activist groups representing everyone from gun nuts to home-schoolers to mix with top business lobbyists and conservative officials. The meetings, which began shortly after Bill Clinton was elected, turned Norquist into the Republican Party's foremost power broker – and gave him a forum to enforce the no-new-taxes pledge as the centerpiece of the GOP's strategy. "The tax issue," he says, "is the one thing everyone agrees on."

Norquist cemented his influence by forging an early alliance with Karl Rove and setting himself up as a gatekeeper to George W. Bush's inner circle. Then, after Obama was elected, this ultimate Washington insider positioned himself as a leader of the anti-establishment Tea Party, complete with financial support from the billionaire Koch brothers. "These Tea Party people, in effect, take their orders from him," says Bruce Bartlett, an architect of the Reagan tax cuts. "He decides: This is a permissible tax action, or this is not a permissible tax action. And of course, anything that cuts taxes is per se OK."

[LeftInTX]

1. Tea Partier, probably a houswife, on MSNBC supporting Norquist

At the 4:58 mark

This is obviously a middle class woman.



http://tv.msnbc.com/2012/11/27/tea-party-gears-up-for-2014/

[Filibuster Harry]

2. And I thought slavery was gone. Looks like these Rs are slaves to Grover. Kneeling to and

kissing his ass. Pretty embarassing Rs.