period. Another 41 senators have signed onto the pledge to never raise taxes. Even in a Democratic-con- trolled Senate, that’s enough votes to stop any tax hike from coming to the fl oor for a vote. All but one 2012 GOP presidential
candidate — former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman — have signed the pledge. The mainstream media, meanwhile, remains mystifi ed that the highbrow Huntsman couldn’t get traction. One measure of how the pledge
has transformed the political dia- logue: Norquist says not a single Republican in the House or Senate has voted to raise taxes since former president George H.W. Bush’s politi- cally disastrous decision in 1990 to renege on his “Read my lips — no new taxes” commitment. Politicians come and politicians go. But the Norquist pledge endures. For his part, Norquist says it is the
simplicity of the pledge that makes it so powerful. It reads:
I [candidate’s name] pledge
to the taxpayers of the state of [fi ll in the blank], and to the American people that I will: One, oppose any and all ef- forts to increase the mar- ginal income tax rates for individuals and/or busi- nesses; and Two, oppose any net reduction or elimi- nation of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.
“The pledge is not to Grover or to ATR. The pledge is to a member’s constituents. It is a representation that members of Congress make to the people who elect them, that they will honor the trust that people placed in them, and that they will place as a priority the fruits of one’s labors, and again to make sure the government doesn’t overreach and doesn’t overtax.”
— House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.
WORDS
OF HONOR Norquist
brandishes the document that changed
Washington.
That’s it. No wiggle room. No spin.
No chance of misunderstanding. Nor- quist says none who sign can later say their pledge was taken out of context. There is no context, he says. It’s not a pledge to him, or even ATR. It’s a pledge between the candidate and the American voter. He couldn’t void the pledge if he wanted to, he says. “The pledge is not to Grover or to
ATR,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., tells Newsmax. “The pledge is to a member’s constituents.
46 NEWSMAX | FEBRUARY 2012
It is a representation that members of Congress make to the people who elect them, that they will honor the trust that people placed in them, and that they will place as a priority the fruits of one’s labors, and again to make sure the government doesn’t overreach and doesn’t overtax.” Cantor made that remark in De-
cember after attending an intimate dinner of 25 ATR supporters. (The organization has over 250,000 sup- porters.) The night before, at another ATR function, the guest of honor
was rising GOP star Sen. Marco Ru- bio. Norquist scoff s when people like MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell call him “the most powerful man in Republican politics.” But there’s no denying that the mastermind of the pledge has a ton of political juice. He recently appeared on Meet the Press and was featured on 60 Minutes. But what really generated buzz
for Norquist inside the Beltway was a December Saturday Night Live skit. President Obama impersonator Fred Armisen named Norquist the second-
P.45/NORQUIST/PETE MAROVICH/
ZUMAPRESS.COM / NORQUIST/THE WASHINGTON POST/GETTY IMAGES
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