Deval Patrick: How Grover Norquist hypnotized the GOP

[TheNewMe]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/how-grover...story.html

How Grover Norquist hypnotized the GOP
By Deval Patrick (Massachusetts Governor)
Published: June 30

Quote:At our 25th college reunion in 2003, Grover Norquist — the brain and able spokesman for the radical right — and I, along with other classmates who had been in public or political life, participated in a lively panel discussion about politics. During his presentation, Norquist explained why he believed that there would be a permanent Republican majority in America.
...
Norquist immediately replied: “We will make it so that a Democrat cannot govern as a Democrat.”

In a way, Republicans have accomplished that. This spring, in an effort to reduce the deficit, a Democratic president proposed to cut $2 trillion in spending, much of it from domestic programs Democrats have long championed. Last week, Republican leaders withdrew from talks with the vice president on a bipartisan plan to reduce the deficit because, as another part of the solution and like every bipartisan budget deal for decades, the president proposed to raise revenue. Specifically, he proposed to raise $1 in new revenue (through closing loopholes or ending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans) for every $2 in spending cuts. In response to that modest proposal, Republican leaders walked out.

It is now clear that the Republican strategy is to drive America to the brink of fiscal ruin and then argue that the only way out is to cut spending for the powerless. Taxes — a dirty word thanks to Norquist’s “no new taxes” gimmick — are made to seem beyond the pale, even as the burden of paying for our society shifts disproportionately to the middle class and working poor. It is the height of fiscal folly. It is also not who we are as a country.
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If the deficit is reduced by spending cuts alone and there is no deal to raise the debt ceiling, here’s a sampling of what happens: We stop paying our soldiers or supporting our veterans. We stop feeding the neediest children and families. We stop providing nursing-home care to seniors. We stop inoculating schoolchildren. We stop helping young people go to college. The unemployed are on their own. Roads and bridges continue to crumble. And we jeopardize the creditworthiness of our economy at one of the most fragile moments in history. All to protect the marginal benefits of the most fortunate and the political purity of the radical right.
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[Cha]

It's only obvious that's what's happening. I can't wait for the blowback on those greedy lying monsters.

[Julie]

Wow. This was well done! It should be in every paper in the country.

Julie

[KonaKane]

Hit it on the head. But sadly for the Norquist dynamic, "no new taxes" is losing steam with the public. It sure has outlasted it's welcome, though.

[azmouse]

Norquist is a sick individual, and I'd like to add so is his acolyte Hamsher for pulling the wool over the PL eyes and helping bring about the ruin of this country.
Both can go rot in hell.

[jaxx]

I heard Deval Patrick is going to be prominent in the Obama campaign, and this shows why it's a good reason to have him speaking out. He can take them apart at the seams.

[Arkana]

Deval Patrick's a smart guy--I'm surprised he wasn't offered AG in the Obama administration.

[firedupdem]

What these people are doing scares the crap out of me. How do we continue to get the message out? The MSM will never just break down to people that the GOP only cares about the rich? Why do people, poor and middle class people, vote for these nuts? How can they be so misinformed?

[nofurylike]

i love our governor! he is a magnificent speaker, writer, clarifier, always educating, always enlightening. and always brave!

this is an outstanding article! these are facts that all people need to understand about what has been perpetrated, against almost all of us, by the greediest very few!

thank you so much for posting it, TheNewMe!

[nofurylike]

(07-04-2011 08:06 AM)Arkana Wrote:  Deval Patrick's a smart guy--I'm surprised he wasn't offered AG in the Obama administration.

he loves massachusetts, and had promised us he would keep his commitment to us.
then, skies the limit for him!