Was reading the
rogue's blog last night
about the Norquist Pledge. He's upset that U.S. Sen Bob Corker is
backpedaling on his promise. Yes, it always sucks when a politician
reneges like that.
Anyhoo, the pledge – a Republican
promise not to raise taxes – is going to be at the forefront of
politically wonky conversations. Soooo, I figured I'd provide a few
links and some info about it.
Right smack here, ABC has a great blog
post about what it is and how it got started.
“The pledge began in 1986 under the
aegis of president Ronald Reagan.
Grover Norquist, a Republican and
former staffer at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, had launched
Americans for Tax Reform in 1985 to advocate for tax reforms Reagan
was pushing in his second term. The group was financed largely by
corporate sponsors such as Kraft, the Associated Press reported at
the time.
In the midterm campaign year of 1986,
Norquist rolled out the Taxpayer Protection Pledge as a way to
pressure candidates to support Reagan's tax agenda, and as a cudgel
for Republicans to wield against Democrats on the campaign trail.”
It was so successful that the GOP lost
U.S. House and Senate seats that election cycle. Heh.
Hahahahaha.
Actually, that's more entertainment at
the expense of others. I'll support an initiative that gets an iron
clad signed-in-blood promise out of a politician. That way they can't
blame the “liberal media” when they're caught lying. You know,
like (former?) pot-head stoner, adulterer
Rep. Scott Desjarlais.
But, I digress.
As I said earlier, Shock and Awe noted
that Corker was ready to backpedal on his promise. I have a feeling
there's gonna be a lot more.
Most politicians are, after all,
natural born liars.
