SUBMITTED BY CHUCK MUTH
Question: Who said the following on Tuesday about Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform and author of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge?
“For years, Norquist has bullied lawmakers willing to put their oath of office or their promise to serve constituents ahead of their pledge to the anti-tax zealot. His brand of ideological extremism has been bad for (legislating) and even worse for the country. So I was pleased to see a few Republicans…distance themselves from Norquist this week. … Clinging to the kind of ideological purity Grover Norquist peddles – saying you’ll never bend or compromise – is easy. Cooperating with those with whom you disagree is hard.”
Was it (a) Nevada Democrat U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, or (b) Nevada Republican State Sen. Michael Roberson?
If you said Sen. Roberson…wrong. It was Sen. Reid. However…
I can certainly understand your confusion since the following is what Sen. Roberson said on this very same subject just a couple weeks ago on Ralston Reports…
“I’m tired of Grover Norquist. … I don’t think he’s helpful to our party. I don’t think he’s helpful to politics generally…(because of) this ideological rigidity. That, you know, you can never change your mind; you can never be open to options, I think is problematic. We need to be deliberating in Carson City and Washington, DC. We need to talk about everything.”
Wow!! Were Roberson and Reid separated at birth or what?
I gotta tell you, folks, I’ve gotten a lot of crap from some establishment Republicans for criticizing “Moderate Mike” and his flip-flop on tax hikes now that he’s the new GOP minority leader in the Legislature.
I’ve also gotten a lot of pressure to stop criticizing Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval for raising taxes, blowing off the Nevada Republican Party and failing to actively campaign for GOP state legislative candidates this cycle.
And yes, I’ve lost some major donors over this.
And yes, I gotta be honest, it’s taken a toll.
But what’s right is right. And Sandoval and Roberson are flat-out wrong on this tax hike issue. That’s not just my opinion. That’s right out of the Nevada Republican Party platform! I’M not out of step with the GOP; THEY are.
So they can complain about me, threaten me, criticize me, ridicule me, ignore me, blackball me and dry up my funding…but I WILL NOT stop pointing out that these two moderate Republican emperors have no clothes.
They might, indeed, succeed in shutting me down.
But they WILL NOT succeed in shutting me up.
We principled, limited-government conservatives in Nevada may be in the minority and facing impossible odds against the well-funded establishment powers-that-be. But as I teach my kids, you never lose as long as you never quit.
So, not me. I’m not gonna take this. Wormer, he’s a dead man! Marmalard, dead! Niedermeyer…!!
No, wait. That’s Animal House.
Let’s just go with what Grover himself says: “Onward!”
Famous last words
“Gov. Brian Sandoval is the template for successful Republicans in the state of Nevada.” – Nevada State Sen. “Moderate Mike” Roberson
