Grover Norquist, the founder of Americans for Tax Reform, predicted a tea party backlash that would dwarf the movement’s success in the 2010 midterm elections if President Barack Obama pushes the nation over the “fiscal cliff.
“Tea Party two is going to dwarf tea party one if Obama pushes us off the cliff,” warned Norquist on NBC’s “Meet The Press.”
When asked “Are you over?” by host David Gregory, Norquist responded, “That was last week’s news.”
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The anti-tax movement leader has become a central figure in negotiations between Republicans and Democrats, with some congressional Republicans signaling a willingness to violate his no-new-taxes pledge to avert the cliff.
But Norquist said he believes televising the negotiations would prevent tax increases from being part of any deal.
“If people watch this on C-SPAN, then you won’t have higher taxes,” he said.
“This is a massive collection of spending increases and tax increases,” Norquist said of the proposal presented to Congress by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner last week.
“Republicans want to continue the Bush tax cuts, and the extenders and the AMT [Alternative Minimum Tax] package . . . it’s the president who’s threatening to raise taxes if he stamps his feet and doesn’t get his way,” he said.
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