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Showing Original Post only (View all)Severe irony alert: NON-compromiser/negotiator NORQUIST whines that the Prez not negotiating [View all]
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http://www.nationalmemo.com/watch=-norquist=upset-that-obama-has-not-been-negotiating/#.UNmpRhpCDjA.reddit
[font size=5]WATCH: Norquist Upset That Obama Has Not Been Negotiating[/font]
December 24th, 2012 4:56 pm
Henry Decker
Republican anti-tax activist Grover Norquist is once again slamming President Barack Obama, this time with the highly ironic charge that Obama has not been negotiating with Republicans over the looming fiscal cliff.
One of the challenges, of course, is people see this happening; they realize that the [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"] president has not been negotiating at all[/FONT] over the past three months, Norquist said on the Monday morning edition of CNNs Starting Point. We learned days and weeks and months afterwards that they had non-meetings where this is going on.
Video of Norquists comments is below, via Politico:
[FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"] For years, Republicans have[/FONT] consciously [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"] projected their weaknesses onto their opponents[/FONT] leading to such spectacles as the George W. Bush campaign criticizing John Kerrys military record, Paul Ryan accusing President Obama of trying to gut Medicare, and John Boehner claiming that Obama cant stand up to his own party [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"] but Norquists attempt[/FONT] at the strategy [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]borders on the absurd[/FONT] . After all, [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"] Norquists entire career is quite literally based on the principle that Republicans cannot compromise[/FONT] on raising taxes [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]under any circumstances[/FONT]. If a Republican even hints that they could negotiate the tax issue, Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform begin laying the groundwork for a primary challenge.
Theres another problem with Norquists complaint, of course: Obama has been willing to negotiate on the budget, perhaps to a fault. Just a week ago, the president was ready to raise the income threshold for tax rate increases to $400,000, and to cut Social Security benefits in order to make a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. That grand bargain never got off the ground, however, as Boehner instead chose to pursue his Plan B, a right-wing proposal that was nonetheless killed by congressional Republicans. Their reason? Plan B would raise tax rates on incomes over $1 million, a violation of you guessed it Grover Norquists Taxpayer Protection Pledge.
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