Grover Norquist

Click here to download TV listings for the week Dec. 2 - 8 in PDF format This week's TV Movies     SATURDAY Good Morning America (N) 7 a.m. KABC The Chris Matthews Show "Fiscal cliff" negotiations: Richard Stengel; Katty Kay; John Heilemann; Gloria Borger. (N) 5 p.m. and Sunday 5:30 a.m. KNBC McLaughlin Group 6:30 p.m. KCET SUNDAY Today "Electric" diet; living with honor. (N) 6 a.m. KNBC Good Morning America (N)

Ayatollahs seem to just appoint themselves and then start enforcing their own brand of orthodoxy. Grover Norquist has been doing that in the Republican Party for years. Norquist has never been elected to anything. Nobody ever said he should be in charge of the GOP's true religion (although he claims President Ronald Reagan urged him to found his lobbying group, Americans for Tax Reform). But he certainly has been the Republicans' key political theologian, making opposition to tax increases the party's central tenet for more than 25 years.

Grover Norquist on Wednesday rebuffed claims that his anti-tax crusade is losing steam, calling statements from prominent Republicans hinting at their departure from his anti-tax pledge "impure thoughts. " Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, met with Politico's Mike Allen to offer his thoughts on the looming “fiscal cliff,” and the growing narrative that Republicans, after years of tying themselves to ATR's pledge not to raise taxes, may be ready to jump ship.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday joined the ranks of Republican lawmakers stepping away from Grover Norquist's famous anti-tax pledge, offering to cut his support for the pledge - with a catch. “I will violate the pledge for the good of the country only if Democrats will do entitlement reform,” he said on ABC's “This Week,” adding that “the only pledge we should be making to each other is to avoid being Greece.” Graham specified that although he agrees with Norquist's stand against raising tax rates and not raising taxes for wealthy Americans, he disagrees with him on deduction caps and buying down debt.

Re "Grover Norquist's tough year," Opinion, Nov. 21 One thing to add to Doyle McManus' excellent piece on Republicans in Congress finally turning away from the Grover Norquist pledge never to increase taxes: Norquist has been clear about his reason for demanding that promise. He's on record advocating lowering tax revenue to, in his words, "reduce [government] to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub. " In 1949, 11 members of the American Communist Party were tried in New York City, not for a specific plan to overthrow the U.S. government by force but for a "philosophy" of violently overthrowing governments.

Grover Norquist is losing his grip. It once seemed as if Washington's most powerful anti-tax crusader had the Republican Party firmly in hand. Signing Norquist's public pledge not to raise taxes was almost mandatory in GOP politics. Nine of the 10 candidates initially vying for the Republican presidential nomination, including Mitt Romney, signed on, as did candidates for local, state and national office. Some of them even signed Norquist's vow in public ceremonies, then gave him the originals to store in the vault of his group, Americans for Tax Freedom.

Re “ Republicans in disarray over how to fix damage ,” Nov. 12 I've been inspired by Mark Z. Barabak's article on the disarray of the GOP. Republicans believe that government is the problem and that just about every sphere would be better managed by the private sector. It would be most persuasive to see America's rich and powerful movers and shakers demonstrate exactly how this could be done. Let's see the private sector give billions of dollars to the Red Cross in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.

In the eight years since he died, Ronald Reagan has lent his name to at least 31 roads, 17 schools, a federal courthouse in Orange County, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier based in San Diego, a missile-testing range in the Marshall Islands and now, a golf hole in Moorpark. It's the par-three 11th hole at Tierra Rejada Golf Course, where the tee commands a sweeping view that includes the Reagan Library on a hilltop in nearby Simi Valley. Course officials and Reagan Foundation executives on Thursday unveiled a plaque set in a rock monument and dedicated to the 40th president, "who always believed, like golfers do, 'Our most glorious achievements are just ahead.' " Taken from his speech at the 1992 Republican convention, the trademark ray of Reagan sunshine is not misplaced on the 210-yard hole, which requires golfers to loft their first shot over a cliff.

Re “ Boehner still faces House divided ,” Nov. 13 Voters in this election were very aware of the looming “fiscal cliff.” Mitt Romney's solution was to cut expenses/essential programs; President Obama was very clear he would raise taxes. The country voted to raise taxes. Note to Congress: Get the job done. We've got to move on; time is of the essence. Global opportunities are passing us by every day our country stalls. Elizabeth Eyerman Los Angeles I found the first comments by Obama and House Speaker John A. Boehner after the election very telling.