they all like this guy, grover norquist. they think he is like their god. all of the republicans candidates signed this thin. he signed a thing that said no taxes, just spending cuts on social programs. no tax ray raidses to go with it. >> i don't think -- just spending cut on social programs. i don't think he said that. just no tax cuts. >> who is the boss here? >> the boss is going to be mitt romney. >> but he signed the grove petition. >> the boss will be mitt romney. >> he signed on. the man of honor, i assume. >> he is the man of honor but the boss is mitt romney. mitt romney will run his campaign, make the case -- >> he sold out to this guy. >> he hasn't sold out to anyone, chris. nice excitable terms but he hasn't sold out. >> if i told you to do everything i said, and he signed the paper -- >> what do you mean tell you everything i need to do. >> if i sane your paper -- >> that's your choice. >> why did romney sign the petition? >> because he agree owns making the tax cuts to spur economic growth. this is consistent with what we want to do. number o

that grover norquist plenlgs says not only can you not raise a tax rate, but even if you close a tax loophole, that money can't go to the deficit. it has to go back into a tax cut or else he will consider that a tax hike. for years and years he was an unchallenged force within the republican party, a unilateral king maker. many have signed his pledge, at least until a year ago when arguably the most conservative republican in the senate broke rank. >> but here's -- if people's taxes go up in some way, it would appear to be a violation of the pledge that you signed with taxpayer protection pledge, and this piece, you vow to oppose any debt elimination or reduction of credits unless matching dollar for dollar reducing tax rates. if taxes go up in some capacity, would you not be in violence of that pledge? >> well, i think which pledge is most important, david, is the pledge to uphold your oath to the constitution of the united states or a pledge from a special interest group who claims to speak for all of american conservatives when, in fact, they really don't. >> a lot of people thoug

part of the panel now we've got grover norquist the president for americans for tax reform. a regular voice of these issues. nancy mclaren going to get her aspect representing the companies doing business in the us. richard gephardt is president and ceo of the gephardt group here in washington. long time congressman from missouri joining us as well to talk taxes and the corporate tax debate. rich, it's all yours. >> thanks for joining us. i want to start by talking about where there's agreement. you have both president obama and the chairman of the house ways and means saying there should be revenue neutral overhaul of the corporate tax code. which would mean some companies pay more and some companies would pay less. what do you think it will take to get support for that among businesses and also in congress? start with the congressman. >> it's a good idea, but it's really hard. i participated in 1986 when we did tax reform it was revenue neutral. it was really hard to do because you have winners and losers. even though the idea of tax reform is attractive to everybody. a si

grover norquist is one smart cookie, but he is the most powerful man in america right now. how does that sound to you that grover norquist of the americans for taxpayers reform or whatever it is the most powerful man in america because he had 95% of the sitting members of my party pledging never to raise a single penny of tax without a commensurate cut in spending. and so we said here's one for you, grover, babe. we're taking the tax expenditures and getting rid of 180 plus of them and taking $100 billion to reduce the debt, and the other trillion to give the lower tax base. and what can he do to you? he can't murder you, can't burn your house down. the only thing he can do is defeat you for re-election or put some dud into your primary to take you out. and if that means more to you than your country and extremity you shouldn't even be in congress. >> and that will be the last word. gentlemen, thank you all very much. [ applause ] >> oh my goodness. >> jay, that was fun. got to get out of here. >> saturday on "washington journal," a discussion about bipartisan efforts in th

let's just pick, grover norquist is one smart cookie but he's the most powerful man in america right now. how does that sound to you that grover norquist, the american for taxpayers reform or whatever it is, is the most powerful man in america because he has 95% of the sitting members of my party pledging never to raise a single penny of tax without a commensurate cut in spending. and so we said here's one for you, grover, babe. we're taking the tax end spen turs, taking 100 billion and the other to give the lower tax base. what can he do to you. he can't murder you, can't burn your house down. the only thing he can do is defeat you for re-election or put some dud into your primary to take you out. and if that means more to you than your country and extremity you shouldn't even be in congress. >> that will be the last word. gentlemen, thank you all very much. [ applause ] >> jay, that was fun. got to get out of here. >> the federal communications commission goes before the house financial services oversight subcommit they afternoon. chairman and the commissioners will answer question

what i would like to know is the job data get permission from grover norquist to go into discussions about the debt and if he did, did grover norquist put restrictions on what he could and couldn't do. >> okay. thanks, ed. don't know the answer to that question, but we'll leave it as a rhetorical one. mike, republican from california. >> caller: how you doing? i got about four comments. the guy from facebook who moved to singapore, i don't know what these democrat senators think they are. they don't own the guy. so he can leave anytime he wants. number two, you got all these people calling in talking about the debt ceiling. it seems to me that, you know, as long as it's other people eelts money, they don't have a problem, you know, spending it or whatever, you know. the other thing is don't worry. republicans are going to take the senate back and president romney will take care of business and everything will be okay. thank you. >> mike from california. tom coburn in the senate has an idea that's a bit of symbolism, and he recognizes that, but here's what he's suggesting. coburn urge

. >> that says a lot that he's grover norquist's favorite candidate. bobby jindal gives them the diversity because he's not a boring white guy, as we say. he's from a state they've already got. his big issue is drilling and school vouchers. i don't think that that's necessarily great selling point nationwide. and he's not that articulate or at least he's not that charismatic, let's just say. and there's a charisma gap between the two tickets. i agree with you, him versus joe biden, i don't know, joe biden has the sort of every man thing going for him. i'm not sure bobby jindal can pull that off. >> sometimes these lists show you how weak the lists are. he should not be on a serious vice presidential list for a party that has a really good bench to choose from. but he's on it because they don't have great people to look into. >> yeah, i think martinez would be a more interesting pick, obviously than bobby jindal. and he really flubbed the audition when people felt he looked more like kenneth the page in his response to the state of the union. i don't th

. >> that says a lot that he's grover norquist's favorite candidate. bobby jindal gives them the diversity because he's not a boring white guy, as we say. he's from a state they've already got. his big issue is drilling and school vouchers. i don't think that that's necessarily great selling point nationwide. and he's not that articulate or at least he's not that charismatic, let's just say. and there's a charisma gap between the two tickets. i agree with you, him versus joe biden, i don't know, joe biden has the sort of every man thing going for him. i'm not sure bobby jindal can pull that off. >> sometimes these lists show you how weak the lists are. he should not be on a serious vice presidential list for a party that has a really good bench to choose from. but he's on it because they don't have great people to look into. >> yeah, i think martinez would be a more interesting pick, obviously than bobby jindal. and he really flubed the audition when people felt he looked more like kenneth the page in his response to the state of the union. i don't thi

grover norquist is outfront tonight. grover, good to see you. >> good to be with you. >> i wanted to play one clip for you and get your reaction. it was alan simpson. he was on fareed zakaria this weekend and talked about the rigid stance many republicans have taken refusing to raise revenue as part of a grand bargain to deal with the deficit and debt. >> raise taxes? >> let's take a listen. >> you can't cut spending your way out of this hole. you can't grow your way out of this hole and you can't tax your way out of this hole. so put that in your pipe and spoke it we tell these people. this is madness. if you want to be a purist, go somewhere on a mountaintop and praise the east or something. but if you want to be in politics, you learn to compromise. >> now, i'm pretty sure he's talking about your pledge. what's your reaction? >> well, alan simpson hasn't been paying attention to american politics for maybe a decade. what he missed is that the ryan plan, which the house of representatives overwhelmingly passed, almost

we'll talk with the president of americans for tax reform, grover norquist when he joins us next live on "now." also, get a free flight. you know that comes with a private island? really? no. it comes with a hat. see, airline credit cards promise flights for 25,000 miles, but... [ man ] there's never any seats for 25,000 miles. frustrating, isn't it? but that won't happen with the capital one venture card. you can book any airline, anytime. hey, i just said that. after all, isn't traveling hard enough? ow! [ male announcer ] to get the flights you want, sign up for a venture card at capitalone.com. what's in your wallet? uh, it's ok. i've played a pilot before. >>> house minority leader nancy pelosi and house speaker john boehner are setting the is taken for another battle over the debt limit. and once again, the fundamental disagreement is over raisingtachs. the fight comes as a new report may give americans another reason to lose faith in congress. according to the sun light delegation, congressional members now speak at a tenth grade level a full grade lower than they did in 2005.

grover norquist is outfront tonight. grover, good to see you. >> good to be with you. >> i wanted to play one clip for you and get your reaction. it was alan simpson. he was on fareed zakaria this weekend and talked about the rigid stance many republicans have taken refusing to raise revenue as part of a grand bargain. >> raise taxes? >> let's take a listen. >> you can't cut spending your way out of this hole. you can't grow your way out of this hole and you can't tax your way out of this hole. so put that in your pipe and spoke it we tell these people. this is madness. if you want to be a purist, go somewhere on a mountaintop and praise the east or something. but if you want to be in politics, you learn to compromise. >> now, i'm pretty sure he's talking about your pledge. what's your reaction? >> well, alan simpson hasn't been paying attention to american politics for maybe a decade. what he missed is that the ryan plan, which the house of representatives overwhelmingly passed, almost every republican voted for it, has

grover norquist would say that's bad because it will close loopholes. >> the taxpayer protection pledge was designed in 1996. president reagan set up americans for tax reform, the group i run, and asked me to run it to be the outside group to push tax reform. that was 1986. reduce tax rates. broaden case. it eliminated many deductions and credit that cluttered the tax code. it gave us good economic growth. very helpful. the americans for tax reform and american people are all in favor of getting rid of deductions and credits but not if it's a trojan horse for higher taxes. so let's reduce deductions and credits and reduce marginal tax rates. congressman from kansas has a great bill that eliminates tax credits targeted toward energy, natural gas, oil, tealgae and everything. lower taxes and no special deductions. >> you'll have to get into it with grover on your own time because we're out of time. still ahead on "starting point," harsh punishment for a high school senior who was graduating and he tebowed. we'll tell you what happened to him. here's grover's playlist. >> i like it. >> me

and you mentioned grover norquist. norquist is mentioned in number of times in the book is key because of his no new taxes pledge. because of the freshman, no one had to put a gun to their heads to get them to sign a no taxes pledge. these guys are very anti-tax and were determined to lower taxes, roll back government spending, eliminate obamacare appears to norquist was in lockstep with them, but i don't think he had to be the least bit coercive. >> host: you described three kinds of congressmen. what are they. just go this is going to be a rick perry question. one is a congressman who is a congressional leader. who is like saying canter or mccarthy. another is a committee chairman who uses one of these house committees as their kind of easton, that the third is a congressmen who just been this content to represent his district. and that elicitation of the three types of congressmen with given to me actually by tom delay, who himself had been a leadership guy. but i use it in the vote to apply to john dingell who had

newt gingrich and grover norquist, who his complete objection to even closing loopholes has made it impossible for the republican party to compromise. how did they rise to such power. >> the two of us met newt gingrich when he was first nominated. newt from he beginning had his approach and full-blown strategy to get a republican majority in the house. he created a set of conditions he thought once they took over he could change it all back to the way it was, and he couldn't. his progeny went out including to the senate and helped to poison the process. and the pledges are at the root of the ability to find any common ground now. >> it is an -- >> a lifetime pledge. once you take it you are held for a lifetime. >> newt gingrich fascinating guy. i remember the speech he gave the day he became speaker of the house. it was historically based and intellectually fascinating what happened to that man of great ideas, and how did he turn in to this rabbit [ inaudible ]. >> he had the capacity to think strategically, to understand the history of the country, to imagine a different politics to think cre

newt gingrich, and grover norquist, who his complete objection to even closing loopholes has made it impossible for the republican party to compromise. how did they rise to such power. >> the two of us met newt gingrich when he was first nominated. newt from he beginning had his approach and full-blown strategy to get a republican majority in the house. he created a set of conditions, he thought once they took over, he could change it all back to the way it was, and he couldn't. his progeny went out including to the senate and helped to poison the process. and the pledges are at the root of the ability to find any common ground now. >> it is an -- >> a lifetime pledge. once you take it you are held for a lifetime. >> newt gingrich fascinating guy. i remember the speech he gave the day he became speaker of the house. it was historically based and intellectually fascinating what happened to that man of great ideas, and how did he turn in to this rabbit [ inaudible ]. >> he had the capacity to think strategically, to understand the history of the country to imagine a different politics,

it's one thing to have grover norquist and the tax swing of the republican party. it's quite another thing to stir up the most insidious feelings in this country, and howard is right, there are people here in this swing state here who will respond to it. there are people everywhere. and the real issue here, as howard points out, is romney silence. chris, today on a program, on the nbc affiliate here, the most visible romney surrogate in this stake, lieutenant governor. he's an icon. we appreciate his assistance. >> the problem is romney looks like the apprentice here. he doesn't look like the boss. he looks like "the apprentice" on nbc. here's romney telling reporters in his campaign plan that he doesn't hold the same views as his supporters. boy, isn't this special. let's watch. >> i don't agree with all the people who support me. my guess is they don't agree with everything i believe in, but i need to get 50.1% or more, and i'm appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people. >> you know, howard, remember what he said when somebody said give me an adjective

the son game the biggest grover norquist type in the world. the son wins one lesson, how not do win. they don't learn the values of the father. they learn the father lost. so i don't want to learn my old man's values. i want it wto win. i want to beat daddy. anyway, thank you david corn. thank you, joan walsh. >>> now that he clenched it. we are trying to marre narrow i down. does this guy have any interest in policy besides a hawk. he doesn't actually have a position of his own, he is just another mouth piece. >>> what the democrats have to do with the voter ids. what will they do to make sure the people in the row houseses get to vote in time. i fear what it will be like in this country if this election is decided by people being kept from the voting booth. this is "hardball," a place for politics. un tans... in alabama we had more beautiful blooms... un tans... in mississippi we had more good times... in louisiana we had more fun on the water. last season we broke all kinds of records down here on the gulf. more people more good times. this

grover norquist victory, too. >> the republican vote, anything-but-tax -- >> let me ask about mitt romney in high-school kid he says he does not remember -- they roughed up a kid when they sends to looked different. >> kids are cru. i am sure that all of us did something we regret. kids are cruel, and this is something cruel he did. it does not necessarily define you for life. the question is whether anything like that comes up from later in life. >> he had a good response. he faced up to it and said he is sorry for it. i think he will be able to say that his life is in pretty since.ary cent >> maybe he just did not care, it did not mean one thing to him one way or the other. i want to say something about theea party and mitt romney. judson phillips was asked if he was going to vote for romney and said, "i will go into the voting booth and i will have a large bottle of pepco the small in one hand and a barf bag in the other." thus spoke the tea party about mitt romney. >> republicans are hoping to get the senate. what is t -- does the lugar ss d joe donnelly had declared for the united st

grover norquist says, we don't care who the president is. we just need to have enough working digits to sign into law the paul ryan budget which unensures 50 million americans and balances the budget on the back of the poor. >> we have seen this ruthlessly impose this on not just members of congress but the entire party as a whole down to state legislators with signing the norquist tax pledge. it means that it has transformed itself like something in european democracy in which it really is the party and not the candidate. the party will carry the day much more than the candidate will. we know where the center of the party is. >> let's take a look at the state they were in today in polling. they were in virginia today. we have a public policy, a robo poll of virginia, showing president obama with an eight-point lead on mitt romney. 51-43. there is the governor of virginia doing what he can for romney today. if you are in the romney campaign and you are looking at an eight-point lead of obama in virginia, you are looking at a very serious pro

. >> it was a grover norquist victory,. >> the club for growth, the anything-but-tax -- >> let me ask about the mitt romney in high school thing. apparently -- he does not remember it, he says -- they graaff up a kid who looked different. high school is not off limits? >> kids are cruel. i am a sure all of us did something we regret. this looks like something cruel he did. it is not necessarily defined you for life. the question is if anything like that comes up later in life. >> he had a good response. he said he was sorry for eight. i think he will be able to say that his life has been pretty exemplary since then. >> maybe he just did not care one way or the other i want to say something else about the tea party and mitt romney. just this week, judson phillips , asked if he was going to vote for romney, said, "i will have a large bottle of pepto-bismol in one hand and a barf bag in the other." thus spoke the tea party about mitt romney. >> the republicans have been hoping to get the senate. what is the lugar loss due for those hopes, mark? >> joe donnelly declared for the united sta

grover norquist says it is not good in you let the payroll tax cut expire. what romney is attempting to do is let some of the stimulus provisions that help out people. he's fairly consistent here. it's more generally republicans who when they talk about what they want to do on taxes. what they really want to do, the way they see the economy is they want to lower taxes on richer folks. the folks they think of as job creators under the theory that will unlock some dramatic amount of economic who ten initial the economy. it's important to say there's no economic evidence in that happens and more to the point, we ran a very large experiment on this in the 2000 when the bush tax cuts came into effect, which is part of the reason poor people don't pay as many income taxes. it did not work. we did not have a wonderful decade of economic growth. but that hasn't done anything to undermine this theory in the republican circles. >> it is amazing. i mean, what you're just describing through in terms of their philosophy toward rich people, at least we are having a debate

norquist of americans for tax reform. the conference will continue all day until 5 p.m. easy. we will have a live right here on c-span2 years again, the conference or wisdom in about an hour. in about 10 minutes from now we'll show you discussion with former white house budget director, and the top democrat on the house budget committee. but first the british house of commons parliamentary committee is looking into the phone-hacking scandal by british newspapers. they issued a report found that rupert murdoch, said at news corporation and international is quote not a fit person to write a major corporation. this is about 10 minutes of the news conference. >> it's been 10 years one month in nine days since "news of the world" -- five days ago, rupert murdoch admitted it was a cover-up at news corporation. we found news corporation carried out an extensive cover-up of its rampant lawbreaking. its most senior executives repeatedly misled parliament, and the two men at the top, rupert and james murdoch, who were in charge of

. >> so a majority of members of the house and 41 senators have taken the grover norquist pledge which is they will not support any tax increases. and somebody like alan simpson rightly says that that's crazy to do in politics, to promise that you're never going to do x and stand on principle. why is it? because you don't, you can't govern, you can't sit down at the table and make any deals. and i think you all remember when the republican primary candidates when there was still many be of them were asked, okay, would you agree to $1 in increased taxes for revenue for $10 of cuts in goth -- government spending, and not one of them would agree to that. they had all taken the norquist pledge, and that just really blocks not just compromise, it blocks governing. so why do they do it? well, the dream of every partisan, and democrats, imagine -- if you're a republican, imagine democrats taking the same pledge, we will not agree to $1 in, um, benefits cuts. not $1 to med care, medicaid -- medicare, medicaid, any entitlement cut. and why do they do it? because it really drives a stake in the

. >> over freer that grover norquist would run us candidate against them. also on social issues like abortion also same-sex marriage. >> marriage is sticky that was taken in the primary i will be faithful i am against sharia law. that is a great threat to. and then same-sex marriage. >> the promises are good for marriage but bad for governing. i had to say the first part. >> we will pass the questions out but to this is not your first book together. is a right teeing marriage broke are there times you have to work out disagreements? [laughter] >> go ahead at. [laughter] i like to say i am democracy and he is disagreement. >> i am to say yes and you say no. we cannot even agree. our editor is here and he knows how much time we put to on the word compromise. there ought our six different kinds of fonts. we had no disagreement of the content is just the cover. we like that. don't we? >> yes. [laughter] >> a series of blades that we alluded to the floor is not always, the ground that the and coherence as a political philosopher would. we would like to think the

norquist pledge that says they won't allow one penny to go to debt reduction, we've got a challenge. at the end of this year by law all those tax cuts could expire. just to give you a sense simpson bowles sugged about $2 trillion of that $5 trillion go to deficit reduction. you see reforms in a number of areas where you could achieve deficit reduction. as your question implied, we need to be very careful in the process we don't hurt the fragile recovery. i brie with dr. rivlin that investments that the government makes in the economy do help strengthen our economy. >> the history of the last couple of years is a history of opportunities missed. a piece has already been done. we should be clear. there are always three, maybe four pieces. that was many the budget control act that capped spending and saves as the congressman said early a trillion over ten years. we don't need to go back to that and find decision cession their spending more. we need to solve the other two pieces and the final piece which is how do you keep the economy going while you phase in these long run deficit reduc

no obstacle to solving our immediate long-term problems is greater than grover norquist tax player pledge with virtually every republican official in the house and senate committed, never to increasing taxes but in fact to cut taxes, we will never solve our problem. it's impossible to unless we eliminate government. i think john, like the president who has said as simpson-bowles and every other commission, bipartisan commission, it has to be a balanced package. you have to increase revenues and you have to cut spending over time. that includes major health programs like medicare and medicaid. >> let me -- john mentioned he makes $30,000 and he'd be happy to pay a little bit more. i think president obama made a mistake early on in not calling for sacrifice on the part of everybody. and by pledging that he wouldn't touch the tax cuts for all of those making under $250,000 a year. it is the fact that the 1% has made enormous amounts. the obtuseness of people at that level. we note in the book steve schwartzman, the billionaire who headed up one of the major investment firms in the country, w

are mourning doesn't that make what you're saying then doesn't that make this a tax hike by grover norquist definition denying them denying gay people the right to marry is not in effect a tax hike i mean you're raising their taxes by not letting the merry. no no no and as a matter of fact in my state new york homosexual couples are actually taking great advantage of one of the few loopholes in the internal revenue code and that is in new york new jersey and many other states they are able to file as married individuals but for federal purposes they're allowed to marry file married filing separately whereas a heterosexual couple has to choose one and stay with that david many caveats let me my mantra let me just let me just jump in here the reason why we tax laws the reason why we have policies is because we want to encourage or discourage specific behaviors it's about what works in society moral and society of course but but the specifics of the tax code beyond the beyond the indexed is is you know we give a deduction for home mortgage interest because we want people to buy a home it's we

are mourning doesn't that make what you're saying then doesn't that make this a tax hike by grover norquist definition denying them denying gay people the right to marry is not in effect a tax hike i mean you're raising their taxes by not letting the merry. no no no and as a matter of fact in my state new york homosexual couples are actually taking great advantage of one of the few loopholes in the internal revenue code and that is in new york new jersey and many other states they are able to file as married individuals but for federal purposes they're allowed to marry file married filing separately whereas a heterosexual couple has to choose one and stay with that david many caveats let me my mantra let me just let me just jump in here the reason why we tax laws the reason why we have policies is because we want to encourage or discourage specific behaviors it's about what works in the society for what's moral and society of course but but the specifics of the tax code beyond the beyond the indexed is is you know we give a deduction for home mortgage interest because we want people to buy

this whole pledge to grover norquist, part of the problem, big time. >> thanks very much to both of you. well john boehner and harry reid are the heroes tonight. come on, more heroes come in and then we can get a deal. outfront next. president obama called out for being a big spender. do mitt romney's attacks add up? >>> and new video of george zimmerman inside the sanford police station. what the video actually shows when he turns away from the camera. we've got it. >>> and an auction involving an item of ronald reagan's, an item is an interesting word. it sparked so much controversy that his family demand it be called off. we know what it is. c'mon dad! i'm here to unleash my inner cowboy. instead i got heartburn. [ horse neighs ] hold up partner. prilosec isn't for fast relief. try alka-seltzer. it kills heartburn fast. yeehaw! [ son ] mom, computer's broke! where's i.t. mom? she quit. [ male announcer ] even with technology -- it's all you. that's why you've got us. get up to $200 dollars off select computers. staples that was easy. [ male announcer ] aggressive styling. a more fuel

box you need to be participating on every level that you have the more democracy the better so take grover norquist for it since he came up with his no tax pledge and he demands that each and every single republican and democrat is willing to do so signed his pledge to never raise taxes on the rich but what if we had something similar that on the other side what if we had a pledge where we went to the congressmen and said hey who do you stand work for who you work with the working class and the average person or the special interest that fund your campaigns maybe we should put these guys on the spot now some people within occupy wall street would say that's too reformist we need something more radical some people would say that's exactly need i'm not the one to judge that but i think it's one avenue that we can take among many that we should just rattle the system in a way that makes it work for us instead of just for the rich and obviously does this movement is not going away as a lot of people a lot of naysayers like to say that it was over the winter shut us down and all that looks like

the grover norquist you know the there shall be no taxes dick lugar is in big trouble in the republican republican long terms long time sentence and one hundred seventy six this guy's been sent from indiana and he's ten points down below a tea party guy so you know what does this mean that the republican party as we've known it since reconstruction is dead. i think what we're seeing is that at the grassroots level is a lot of people say voter saying look we want people who are going to say no we're tired of all the we're tired of huge amounts of deficits and we know way i am bush and bush ran up most of that debt. so you have no i want you to say no we're trying to look inside on thing people are looking at that i think people are saying what you wish you are talking about that but that's the truth here's the thing though is that i think everybody forgets everybody assumes the tea partiers it was was a reaction to president obama it wasn't it was a reaction to president bush and republicans who blew an opportunity last decade to really fundamentally reshape government and make it smalle

the grover norquist you know the there shall be no taxes dick lugar is in big trouble in the republican republican long terms long time sentence and one hundred seventy six this guy's been sent from indiana and he's ten points down below a tea party guy so you know does this mean that the republican party as we've known it since reconstruction is dead. i think what we're seeing is that at the grassroots level is a lot of people say voters are saying look we want people who are going to say no we're tired of all the we're tired of huge amounts of deficits and we go away and bush and bush ran up most of that debt. so you have people who say no we're trying to look inside only people are looking at that i think you were saying what was your way to start talking about that but that's the truth here's the thing though is that i think everybody forgets everybody assumes the tea partiers it was was a reaction to president obama it wasn't it was a reaction to president bush and republicans who blew an opportunity last decade to really fundamentally reshape government make it smaller and i do. t

have you ever seen a character like grover norquist who coerces republican legislators to promise not to pass -- to tax the american people, because if they don't come it will and they will make sure that they are not reelected. and don't you think that george h. abby bush had integrity, he said read my lips, no new taxes. he didn't come director his own jeopardy of being reelected. thank you very much. >> guest: grover norquist is absolutely entitled to pursue what he believes to be the best interest of the country. i do feel very strongly that we are entitled to have representatives as the senators have the courage to stand up what they believe in. not what an outside force so that you have to do this and sign the pledge. because they are elected to represent the fabric of their constituency. grover norquist has the ability to unleash, and i mean this metaphorically, apolitical jihad who doesn't go along with his view of the world. you can organize an internet blogging campaign very quickly against people who exist with the special interests. grover norquist has been at this for som

norquist went on t.v. over and over and over again jon stewart's show cold air and kept telling americans we're spending one hundred twenty billion dollars a year in afghanistan and afghanistan only has a fourteen billion dollar your g.d.p. this is why are we doing that and he educated republicans that would normally be in favor of these things this is a lousy deal and you saw support for the war among conservatives collapse and that is really what has happened and so the white house is facing not only were liberals and progressives predictably against the war but conservatives were now against the war everyone's tired of the war and now people are facing hard choices as they see teachers being laid off policemen being laid off and they see this basically trying to hold up another another country you can see this is where you know yes we did see suddenly republican consensus shift and it was ok for them to be against the war in afghanistan but at the same time if you look at what the republicans are doing