Just Say "No" to Grover's Total War Politics

Anti-government activist Grover Norquist believes in serial tax cuts to (1) weaken the U.S. government, and (2) further his total war approach to Republican politics. In a front-page article in the Denver Post last Monday, he likened bipartisanship to "date rape." He wished for more political "bitter nastiness" at the state and local level.

President Bush's administration should just stop associating with this guy and his destructive, wrongheaded politics. The nation and the economy need bipartisan problem-solving, not total political war at home.

The article is worth quoting at length:

Denver Post
Rancor becomes top D.C. export
GOP leads charge in ideological war
By John Aloysius Farrell
Denver Post Washington Bureau Chief

Monday, May 26, 2003 - WASHINGTON - When President Bush gave his first formal campaign speech as a candidate for re-election last week, he cited his efforts to curtail partisan rancor and "change the tone in Washington."

But the nasty redistricting fights in Texas and Colorado are an indication, analysts from both political parties say, that the partisan divide is as sharp as ever in America, and that acrimony exported from Washington is increasingly infecting state and local governance.

The al-Qaeda threat requires U.S. political leaders to assume a certain patriotic decorum in the nation's capital. But opportunists of both parties seek any edge, and have come to view the nation's statehouses, traditionally known as more pragmatic forums, as arenas for ideological combat.

"We are trying to change the tones in the state capitals - and turn them toward bitter nastiness and partisanship," said Grover Norquist, a leading Republican strategist, who heads a group called Americans for Tax Reform.

"Bipartisanship is another name for date rape," Norquist, a onetime adviser to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, said, citing an axiom of House conservatives.

...

Link:
Denver Post Rancor becomes top D.C. export, GOP leads charge in ideological war (May 26, 2003) (NOTE: this link expires after two weeks; however, the Post's archives can be searched for full text).

Posted by Jeff Lemieux at May 29, 2003 07:54 AM