Norquist’s Finest Hour, but not the Republican's in Congress

Robert Corker, the Republican senator of Tennessee, says he’s “not obligated” to the pledge,  or weaselly Peter King, the Long Island hypocrite or Southern Fried good  old boy Senator Chambliss. Since they are “not obligated” to keep their pledge to not raise taxes, how are they doing with their pledge to uphold the Constitution in their oath of office? m/r

Norquist’s Finest Hour - The New York Sun
Editorial of The New York Sun | November 26, 2012

One of the moments we’ll never forget in our long newspaper career is the way the editor of the Wall Street Journal, Robert L. Bartley, stood on principle in his break with President George H. W. Bush over taxes. Reagan’s successor had just put out the budget that broke his most famous campaign promise. The vow — “Read my lips. No new taxes”— had been made at the Republican National Convention in 1988 that nominated Mr. Bush for president and helped him win the White House. It became one of the most famous declarations in American political history. Once in office, Mr. Bush betrayed the pledge. The Journal washed its hands of him in an editorial that, figuratively if not literally, opened the transition to the Clinton era.

We’ve been thinking of that moment as the Drudge Report ticks off the list of senators who are abandoning, or saying they’re prepared to abandon, the tax pledges that helped them win office. The most famous of these pledges is the one published by Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform. It’s been one of the most effective campaigns in American politics. The pledge comprises two promises. One is to oppose “any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and businesses.” The second is to oppose “”any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.”

A fundamental point of the pledges is that they are not made to Mr. Norquist or his organization. He merely keeps track of them. They are pledges to the legislators’ constituents and to the American people. So it is just breath-taking see someone like, to name but one, Robert Corker, the Republican senator of Tennessee, being quoted as saying that, since he’s been elected to a new term, he’s “not obligated” to the pledge. Same for Peter King, the Long Islander of whom we’ve been a long-time admirer; what in the world is he doing joining with Senator Chambliss in suggesting that he’s not committed to the pledge he made to the voters of New York.

-go to link-