On Friday I saw an extremely disturbing interview on one of the cable news stations; it doesn't matter which one. It was one of those interviews at the Capital building in Washington D.C. where someone very important comes out to a hallway and stands in front of the big marble columns and his voice kind of echoes off the vaulted ceiling so that you just feel that what he is saying is very earnest and authoritative. It's usually Senator Greenback or Congressman Bullion or some such official and when they're finished, we, the citizens, can go back to our lives, reassured that this senator or congressman, at least, is in there fighting for us. Right.
Well on Friday the interviewee was indeed earnest and authoritative, and the background of imposing columns and solid marble did convey an official import to the discussion.
So, was it Senator Greenback or Congressman Bullion?
No, no.
It was GROVER NORQUIST!!!
Grover Norquist has never been elected so much as dog catcher (mercifully for dogs everywhere) and yet, there he was, pontificating under the dome of the Capital about how all the Republicans will honor their pledges to HIM. They will never vote to raise a single tax!
What the ....
Why, why, I ask, was any "news" program giving this arrogant little twerp the priviledge of having that air of officialness as his background?
Small issue, small potatoes you say. Doesn't really matter you say.
Or does it.
This man has never been elected, never held a job outside of the conservative public relations and manipulation, power grabbing school of hoodwinking and money vacuuming. Think tanks? Please. He has said himself that "politicians never learn anything after the age of 21".
He had one idea on the school bus when he was 12 years old and that's it. He's been pushing it ever since.
This is the man who is responsible for the total gridlock in Congress. This is the man who makes your representative, if you're in a republican district, quake in his/her boots.
This is the man who, also on Friday, met with representatives of the Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength and said afterward "The kinds of arguments I got from these old people weren't interesting when I was twelve, the left has not advanced. These guys are Democratic Party hacks." What hubris, what arrogance, the insolence just oozed out of his pores as he disrespected and dismissed these fellow citizens.
At least, one of the attendees was able to make one useful and positive suggestion to Grover; go to Samolia.
And then, there he was again. This imperious little man let the world into his lair on "Sixty Minutes". We were allowed to see where he's been toiling in the background; plotting, threatening and manipulating people, conspiring to turn our country into HIS vision. His smug little smile at the end said it all.
This is the man who is shaping the future for our children and grandchildren.
I think Grover needs a lot more air time so people all over the country can get to know him a lot better. We need to know more about his associates, Jack Abramoff perhaps? And, we need to know a lot more about the Leadership Institute in Arlington, Va.
(Forget about the Ivy League, this is the real power institution where Norquist was trained along with Karl Rove, and Mitch McConnell.)
As for me, I just need someone to tell me where I can find a GROVER MUST GO!
bumpersticker.
12:36 PM PT: Thanks for all the recommendations and the lively discussion. I’d just like to add a few thoughts. First of all, you’re correct; he does have lots of people who show they agree with him by voting for extreme right Republicans. But let’s remember, a lot of them are very low information voters (remember all the tea partiers with their signs “KEEP GOVERNMENT OUT OF MY MEDICARE”) and another group are single issue voters (Pro-Life). His power comes from a group of fiscally conservative, wealthy individuals who have been working since the 1920s to shape America (and the world, by the way) into a place that is beneficial for them. Some of them have motives that come strictly from greed and avarice; others are driven by a religious view of history that tells them that they deserve to run the world because they are the “chosen” ones. These people have spent decades looking for issues and ways to use them to manipulate the masses. And they have become very, very good at it. I would suggest that anyone who is wondering where all this craziness is coming from (as I did), read White Protestant Nation by Allan J. Lichtman. And for all my protestant friends, this is not about the folks sitting in the pew next to you on Sunday. It is a chilling and comprehensive description of what we are up against. We truly ignore and underestimate them at our country’s peril.