Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) declared to reporters today that the pied piper of Republicans was on the Hill, roaming the corridors and asking for tax-free pledges.
“You may be surprised to learn that it’s not Mitt Romney, it’s not John Boehner and it’s not Mitch McConnell,” Reid began a press conference with Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). “You know who it is, is Grover Norquist.”
“Nearly every Republican in Congress has signed the — Grover’s pledge. Mitch McConnell signed it; Mitt Romney has signed it and he’s sticking to it, Mitt Romney,” the majority leader continued. “…Unfortunately, all the Republicans on Grover’s list are at odds with the American people.”
“I’ve attended a lot of meeting on deficit reduction and I’ve met with a lot of Republicans with very, very few exceptions, and there were a couple, they’ve all told me the biggest single problem is the pledge that was signed to Grover Norquist,” Durbin said. “He watched 60 Minutes, he has these pledges now framed on the wall of his office. He walks through and points out to them as if it’s some scalp that he has off of some Republican Congressman or Senator that he wants to show off.”
“And if anybody crosses him, of course, they know the Club for Growth and the whole gang’s going to come down hard on them,” Durbin added. “The problem with that is that none of have taken a pledge to anything other than the Constitution when it comes to service in the Senate and the House and those who think that Grover Norquist is equal to that pledge, I think have lost sight of the notion of public service.”
And the gang wasn’t done with ganging up on the Americans for Tax Reform president.
“Grover Norquist and solving our fiscal problems are opposite poles,” Schumer said. “And today, Norquist is making house calls around Capital Hill. In an hour or so, he’s schedule to visit Longworth Office Building to offer tutorials to House Republicans on what his tax pledge means for the fiscal cliff negotiations later this year.”
“Joe Scarborough said in a fight between Jeb Bush and Grover Norquist, quote, ‘Jeb Bush’s Republican Party,’ one that values compromise over conflict is, quote, ‘the party of the future,'” Schumer added. “So we’re already seeing glimpses of that future on the Republican side and thank God.”
When it came time for questions, though, reporters asked Reid about the transportation bill, a new Commerce secretary, student loans and ObamaCare — nothing about Grover.
Reid began his Grover obsession this week during the same press availability in which he told a reporter “that’s a clown question, bro” in response to a questions about the DREAM Act.
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