Hell freezes over: Grover Norquist to the left of Obama on chained CPI

Huffington Post: Members of Congress who have pledged never to raise taxes will be breaking their promise if they support changing how the government measures inflation for Social Security and tax purposes.

President Barack Obama unveiled a budget proposal on Wednesday morning that would switch tax brackets and Social Security cost-of-living adjustments, which are indexed for inflation, from the current version of the Consumer Price Index to a “chained CPI,” which says inflation rises more slowly. The change would reduce future benefit increases and push more taxpayers into higher brackets, a phenomenon known as “bracket creep.”

Americans for Tax Reform, the advocacy group that asks lawmakers to sign a formal “Taxpayer Protection Pledge,” said Tuesday that chained CPI violates the pledge.

“Chained CPI as a stand-alone measure (that is, not paired with tax relief of equal or greater size) is a tax increase and a Taxpayer Protection Pledge violation,” the group said in a blog post.

OK, so Grover’s not exactly turning all liberal and he’s not really going left. “Chained CPI is a very large tax hike over time,” Norquist tweeted. “Hence Democrat interest in same.”

But the effect is the same. If Norquist didn’t mean to run to Obama’s left, it doesn’t mean he didn’t wind up there regardless. Norquist has lost some influence post-2012, but he still has influence and there are still a lot of Republicans who’ll march to his beat. Once again, we see a conservative bailing out liberals by rejecting Obama’s Social Security sell out.

Keep it up, guys. We’re counting on you to protect Social Security — because we sure as hell can’t count on the White House.

[photo by Gage Skidmore]

Grover Norquist dragged into GOP civil war

Excuse the indirect link, National Review seems to be down at the moment.

National Review, via Democratic Underground:

Former Mississippi governor Haley Barbour, one of the most influential players in the Republican party, is privately battling the Club for Growth.

Last week, at a closed-door retreat in northern Virginia, Barbour told a large gathering of congressional staffers, including several leadership aides, that party officials should discourage donors from funding the high-profile conservative group.

Insiders say Barbour’s comments came during a question-and-answer session at the Ripon Society’s annual symposium, which was held at Mount Vernon, the home of former president George Washington.

Sources say Barbour was asked about the group’s growing influence, and then he urged the aides and strategists to fight back. Many in the audience applauded Barbour for his remarks, according to two sources in the room.

That would be the same Grover Norquist who had previously so terrified the entire GOP with an idiotic pledge never to raise taxes that they spoke his name only in whispers, lest he appear and drag them down to hell or something. Now, he’s a scapegoat.

One of the really entertaining aspects of the GOP civil war is watching each of the factions (and there are many) blame the others for their problems. They’re all pointing fingers at everyone else and they’re all right. The anti-immigrant kooks can blame the anti-choice rape theorists. But the anti-choice rape theorists can just as easily blame the anti-immigration kooks. Barbour, an old-style southern strategy type, can legitimately blame economic flatearthers and like Norquist. But Norquist could just as legitimately claim that people who chase only the white voter — like Barbour — are a fatal flaw in the Republican Party.

In short, they’re all right that those other frootloops scare off voters, but they fail to see that they’re frootloops themselves. It’s a battle for the soul of the party and, no matter who wins, the GOP as a whole will lose.

[image source]

Grover Dumpty was Pushed!

 

Christopher Weyant, Cagle Cartoons

Grover Norquist desperately wants you to believe he’s still relevant

CNN:

Anti-tax activist Grover Norquist said Monday that his group, Americans for Tax Reform, would work to unseat Republicans who break their pledge to never vote for higher taxes.

His vow came after prominent GOP lawmakers said over the weekend they would consider breaking the Taxpayer Protection Pledge in order to reach a deal with Democrats and President Barack Obama to avoid tumbling over the fiscal cliff – the combination of sweeping spending cuts and tax increases that would go into effect at the end of the year if negotiators can’t reach a deal on reducing the federal debt.

Norquist said his group would “certainly highlight who has kept their commitment and who hasn’t” when it comes time for lawmakers like Sen. Lindsey Graham and Rep. Peter King to run for re-election, though Norquist claimed voters generally decide on their own to oust elected officials who vote to raise taxes.

»READ MORE»

Stories to Watch: 5/11/12

The Great Bush Recession caused "nearly two decades of Americans’ wealth" to vanish. Yeah Mittens, let's take the regulations off Wall Street and see what sort of damage they can really do.


The DOJ sues the state of Florida to stop Gov. Rick Scott's bloodless coup... I mean, "voter purge."


If the public sector employment crash weren't happening, "overall unemployment would be 7.0 to 7.3 percent instead of 8.2 percent." Huzzah for the fiscal sanity of Republican governors and the demonization of public sector employees. In the Republican War on Consumer Demand, Republicans are winning -- and consumer demand is losing.


Mitt Romney is just such a shameless liar.


Mike Huckabee seems to have a very poor understanding of how the Supreme Court is supposed to work.


Worse, former Ambassador to the UN John Bolton doesn't understand how diplomacy works.


Grover Norquist attacks Jeb Bush for remembering Ronald Reagan correctly.


Finally, a Republican television version of Pravda comes to Hawaii.

Related articles

• TRENDING: Jeb Bush: Reagan wouldn't fit in today's GOP

  ---

• Jeb Bush rejects Norquist pledge

  ---

• Mike Huckabee Accidentally Tells The Truth About Fox News

  ---

Stories to Watch: 5/25/12

Had to clean up the yard after a minor storm last night. No biggie, just a mess of branches. So that's why no roundup today. But here's the news...


A Democratic Governors Association poll has Scott Walker leading Tom Barrett in the Wisconsin recall 49%-46%. That's within the poll's margin of error and the trend has Barrett closing the gap by more than half since a week ago. Let's hope the trend continues. The pollster's report concludes, "In short, with eleven days to go, this election is very much up for grabs." Knock on doors, make calls, twist arms, put up yard signs -- this is entirely doable. In any case, we may be headed for a recount, so brace yourselves for that.


The bad news: CO2 emissions continue to rise, reaching a record 3.2% increase in 2011. This is bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.


The good news: most of the rise is attributed to China, offsetting reductions in the US and elsewhere. As a result, China will spend $27 billion "to promote energy-saving products, solar and wind power and accelerate the development of renewable energy and hybrid cars." My question to the "climate change is a hoax" crowd; there's obviously a market for dealing with CO2 -- real threat or otherwise -- does it make sense to sit this market out and let China dominate it, just to satisfy your religious belief that liberals are always wrong?


How to smoke weed like a teenage Barack Obama. Hey, it's 4:20 somewhere.


Former GOP Rep. Connie Morella isn't a fan of today's Republican Party or its War on Women. As to the base's RINO-hunting, she says that moderate Republicans have become "an extinct species."


Speaking of RINO's, at least 27 GOP congressional candidates have refused to sign Grover Norquist's straitjacket of an anti-tax pledge. Someone call the Tea Party.


In New Mexico, making sense is forbidden speech.


Are the folks in the conservative gay organization GOProud just completely insane?


Bill Clinton still has an eye for the (wrong) ladies.


Finally, it's eminently clear that rightwing billionaires are trying to by the presidency for Mitt Romney. That makes it a fair question to ask; what do they expect to get out of that investment?

Related articles

• Scott Walker, RINO

  ---

• Is Grover Norquist Losing His Grip on the GOP?

  ---

• Equal pay pioneer Ledbetter campaigns for Barrett

  ---

Stories to Watch: 5/24/12

A NYC public school will teach kids Arabic. It goes without saying that this is the worst thing ever!


Rightwing "historian" David Barton takes a break from getting history all fucked up, allowing him to get the present all fucked up.


The Democratic Governors Association moves another $1 million into the Wisconsin recall race.


Also in recall news: the John Doe investigation into the Walker administration has conservatives terrified.


The military-industrial complex's War on Journalism.


The rightwing blogosphere's Bullshit Freakout of the Day.


Hey, remember how Lehman Brothers melted down after a boneheaded gambling scheme sunk the US economy? Yeah, the SEC is totally cool with that.


Grover Norquist's idea of a walk-back could use a lot of work.


Confirmation of things you already know: it's going to be a close election, with Obama likely to win.


Finally, when fifteen minutes of fame results in fifteen minutes worth of money.

Related articles

• No Comment Necessary: Grover Norquist Plays the Nazi Card

  ---

• Is Grover Norquist Losing His Grip on the GOP?

  ---

• Grover Norquist: Trying To Stop Billionaires From Dodging Taxes Makes You A Nazi

  ---

News Roundup for 5/21/12

How Mitt Romney sees America

-Headline of the Day-
"GOP Governors Contradict Romney, Tout Job Growth And Improving Economy."

To hear Mitt Romney tell it, the United States is in a deep, deep crisis. Packs of wild dogs roam the streets, chasing down old ladies, while packs of starving immigrant anchor babies hunt down the packs of wild dogs. Society and civilization are crumbling, poverty spreads out across the land, and two of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse -- Famine and Pestilence -- ride scout for the others to follow. It's freakin' Road Warrior out there -- and only a hero named Mittens can save us.

The problems with Romney's message is that a) it's not even remotely true and b) it really screws over Republican governors.

See the fortunes of govs are like the fortunes of presidents; the economy is a big chunk of what they're judged on. So, while local governors are trying to tell everyone that everything's coming along nicely, Mitt's out there running around telling those same voters, "WE'RE ALL GOING TO FREAKIN' DIE!" In fact, at least one governor who isn't doing so awfully well is busy trying to lie about how well his state's economy is doing. So Mitt's not really helping here.

According to the report, "Across the country, in fact, unemployment rates are falling and jobs are returning to state economies, as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest jobs report detailed last week. As Romney continues to ignore the fact that the economy is recovering, facts -- and the Republican governors who have endorsed him -- are telling a different story."

Well see, right there's your problem: facts. Every good conservative knows that facts hate America. Now if we could just figure out why Republican governors do as well... (ThinkProgress)


-Wall Street zoo-



That seems a little unfair to hyenas. (McClatchy)


-Bonus HotD-
"Grover Norquist: Trying To Stop Billionaires From Dodging Taxes Makes You A Nazi."

And being Grover Norquist makes you a fucking idiot. (ThinkProgress)

Stories to Watch: 4/27/12

Friday. Got nothing planned but a brain on standby and a TV. Now here's the news...


Breitbart may be dead, but his love of total bullshit lives on.


Is every, single criticism Republican criticism of the Obama 2012 campaign hypocritical? When you break them down one by one, it sure looks that way.


Mitt Romney's advice for for students who want to make it in the world: get yourself some rich parents.


Ill-advised austerity measures slow the economy down a bit. But the good news is that consumer demand has kept us out of the worst of it.


Grover Norquist urges (nay, demands) that Republicans become politically suicidal on student loans.


No, both sides aren't equally to blame. Not even close.


Finally, austerity continues to be boneheaded.

Related articles

• The GOP's Preteen Philosophy: "Cut Taxes, Regardless Of The Question" (duanegraham.wordpress.com)
• Blame Budget Austerity for Poor GDP Growth (usnews.com)
• 'Fairy Tale' of Austerity Is Finally Dead (newser.com)
• Conservative Policies Fail In U.K. (lezgetreal.com)

Stories to Watch: 1/28/12

The Washington Post has changed the address to Greg Sargent's RSS feed. Why do sites do that? It's a total pain. I'm going to have to edit it into the Superfeed, but I'm not going to be able to do it right away. For the time being, items marked "[Greg Sargent]" are actually general WaPo news stories. That'll be fixed later today.

I wish I would've noticed it sooner, because I added the Maddow Blog to get Steve Benen's new home into the feed this morning. I was already under the hood once -- I could've done it then. Now here's the news...


John Nichols notes that if you take all the votes in the GOP primary so far, break them down as a percentage of the electorate, and compare them to the number of signatures turned in to recall Wisconsin Republicans, you find that the Wisconsin recall is about twice as popular as all the GOP candidates combined. That may seem a little off in the weeds at first, but his point is that the numbers show a much more important movement than the media is giving us credit for.


For his part, Stephen Moore mostly agrees. In a Wall Street Journal piece in which he calls the recall the "most important non-presidential election of the decade." Of course, being the WSJ, that means sheer terror at the thought that unions could be making a comeback.


Mitten's opens up a big lead in Florida. However, that'd be the third time this month that the frontrunner has switched from Romney to Gingrich or vice versa (the last being just eight days ago) -- and new polling is expected tonight.


Sarah Palin attempts to remain relevant.


Grover Norquist wants to impeach Obama if he wins reelection and doesn't extend the Bush tax cuts. "High crimes?" "Misdemeanors?" "Democracy?" What are these things of which you speak?


Obama takes on an obstructionist congress.


Mittens has lost the independent voter.


Finally, Obama and Democrats are working to bring the Buffet Rule -- which would have the wealthy paying more in taxes than their help -- up for a vote. This is probably going to be a big one, so keep an eye out.

Related articles

• Late Night FDL: Crime and Punishment, by Grover Norquist (firedoglake.com)
• How Out There Is Grover Norquist? (andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com)
• Mitt Romney turning off independents (dailykos.com)
• What Romney Would Pay Under His Tax Plan (alan.com)

Stories to Watch: 11/21/11

Running a little late today, but I got the headlines together. Now here's the news...


Newt Gingrich tops a new CNN poll at 24%, with Mittens following at 20%.


The media are up to their old tricks with the failure of the super committee; i.e., "both sides are equally guilty." Greg Sargent calls them on it.


A lot of lefties are happy with the committee's collapse. They should probably cork the champagne though, since I'm pretty sure the automatic cuts are never going to happen.


Old news, but I skipped the weekend to celebrate my birthday; lobbyists spell out their PR assault on the Occupy movement.


Gallup finds that, compared with last month, there has been no change in support for the Occupiers. On the downside, more are critical of the approach.


Boehner blames the super committee's failure on -- who else? -- President Obama. Smarter and more realistic analysts will point their fingers at Grover Norquist.


Finally, Pamella Geller has snapped completely. According to her, Butterball turkeys are part of the secret Islamification of America. No, really.

 

Related articles

• Steve Kroft To Grover Norquist: 'You've Got Them By The Short Hairs!' (crooksandliars.com)
• Grover Norquist, the tax lobbyist with an iron grip on the Republican party (guardian.co.uk)
• Grover Norquist: GOP leadership has promised him no Super Congress tax increases (dailykos.com)
• Grover Norquist's hold on the GOP (cbsnews.com)

News Roundup for 11/3/11

Grover Norquist

-Headline of the Day-
"Boehner: Grover Who?!"

John Boehner is starting to feel the heat. As the deficit super committee gets closer to its deadline, Republicans are starting to realize that their no-taxes-ever stand is kind of a political dog. You take your 99-percenters and your polling and your what-have-you, mix it all up, and you've got a political disaster brewing. Dems say a "balanced approach" of cuts and tax increases on the wealthy are the way to go -- and the public agrees.

So, when the Orange One was asked "whether anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist was a positive influence on his caucus," John kinda-sorta threw Grover under the bus. See, Norquist made all the Republicans sign a "no tax increase" pledge and apparently that pledge is way more important than their Oaths of Office. Or it's supposed to be anyway, but it looks like it's not anymore.

"It’s not often I’m asked about some random person in America," Boehner said. Grover who? Is he some sort of muppet? Never heard of him! And other House GOPers are likewise tearing up their pledges.

"If the Super Committee fails, and Congress can’t pass significant deficit reduction measures by the end of 2013, it’ll trigger an enforcement mechanism, cutting $1.2 billion across the board, mostly to Medicare provider payments and defense programs," according to the report. "In this context, 40 members of the House GOP caucus signaled that they’d be amenable to tax increases paired with cuts to entitlement programs."

Give it a little more time and Boehner will crumble into a pile of amber rubble. (Talking Points Memo)


-Cartoon time with Mark Fiore-
Hey kids, you know how lower taxes are automatically good? Well then it stands to reason that no taxes must be the goodest!


Click for animation

Of course, "feudal lord" is just one way of putting it. In the libertarian paradise that is Somalia, they're called "warlords."

Six of one, half a dozen of the other, really. (MarkFiore.com)


-Bonus HotD-
"Romney’s Estate Tax Cut Would Save The Koch Brothers Up To $8.7 Billion Each."

Of course it would. (ThinkProgress)

Stories to Watch: 7/21/11

Thursday, which means Futurama. I generally catch the second airing after Stewart and Colbert, so my night's all mapped out. Now here's the news...


USA Today reports that openly lesbian, gay, and bisexual candidates are becoming less and less of a big deal with voters.


Boehner says the House GOP's doomed and insane "cut, cap and balance" plan is not their final offer, signalling an openness to compromise. Meanwhile, the labyrinthine McConnell-Reid plan is probably dead.


Grover Norquist further retreats from his statement on his anti-tax pledge. The guy seems to be flailing. I'm not sure you can logically reconcile the two positions.


GOP prez hopeful John Huntsman is already experiencing a staff shakeup.


"Barbarians" storm Marcus Bachmann's clinic.


Mitt Romney's pitch to big donors is actually fairly honest; it's either going to be Mittens or some Tea Party crazy who can't possibly win.


I never went to Home Depot anyway. Plenty of lumber yards and hardware stores and plumbing supply shops. Keep the money local whenever possible, I always say.


Finally, Ohio's anti-union law faces a repeal referendum.

Related articles

• Grover Norquist: Ending Bush Tax Cuts Not A Tax Hike (huffingtonpost.com)
• His lips are sealed - Boehner is mum on tax reform (politico.com)
• Boehner, White House deny budget deal (marketwatch.com)
• US-2012 Primary: 26% Romney, 18% Palin, 12% Bachmann, 9% Paul (ABC/Post 7/14-17) (huffingtonpost.com)