Poor, poor, poor Grover Norquist. Just a few years ago, he was at the top, writing the Bush tax cuts, making crooked deals with Jack Abramoff, and spending his leisure hours in the bathroom, practicing his technique for the great day when he'd finally be able to drown the government in a bathtub
Not only is his party out of power and his ideology finding little support, but today, he was forced to issue a definition of "is"-style statement after nearly half of the Republicans in the House of Representatives who signed his "Taxpayer Protection Pledge" voted for the so-called AIG Tax which, if enacted, would put a 90% tax on bonuses given to those making over a quarter million a year at companies getting at least $5 billion from the government.
See, ol' Grover's organization, "Americans" for Tax "Reform," has what they like to call a Taxpayer Protection Pledge. They urge elected officials to take the pledge, and most Republicans do.
Specifically, 169 of the 178 House Republicans, and 33 of the 41 Senate Republicans (as well as, sadly, Ben Nelson, Ben Chandler, Gene Taylor and Brad Ellsworth)
The pledge for the House of Representatives is as follows
... oops, sorry, that was Jack Abramoff's cousin's Virginity Pledge.
More on that later.
But first, here's the "Taxpayer Protection Pledge"
Today, 78 of the Republicans who signed the pledge voted for the AIG Tax in what seems like a clear-cut pledge violation.
Norquist began his response to ABC News' inquiry on the subject agreeing with this:
Any tax increase is a violation of the pledge. However, ...
and then he later "called ABC News back to clarify his stance. While he doesn't agree with the AIG tax bill and is urging tax pledge signatories to oppose it, he's not going to say that people who vote for it are breaking the pledge."
In other words, it's a tax increase, but it's not "breaking your pledge" or anything like that. God forbid!
Frankly, I think he should've gone with the path used by the innovative folks over at Lifeway Student Ministry TRUE LOVE AWAITS
On their page hawking their sexual abstinence pledge, after going on about being filled with "Holy Spirit," they have this section.
What if ...?
Some people have a past they wish they could erase. A lot of times, we do things we wish we could take back. You may have been involved in premarital sexual activity and wish you could blot it out of your past and be rid of all the memories. Whatever may have happened or whatever your sin, God offers second chances! His forgiveness is a gift. We don't deserve it, but He offers it to us anyway! That's called grace! See Ephesians 1:7 and Colossians 1:13-14.
When you decide you want to stay sexually pure from this day forward, then you can experience a second virginity. This second virginity comes by asking for God's forgiveness through Jesus and by committing to stay sexually abstinent until marriage. Reclaiming your purity can give you a whole new outlook and freedom in your life. See 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Ephesians 4:21-24.
In other words, if you've had sex, no problem. You can be "BONE AGAIN," as it were.
Mr. Norquist should've taken this approach instead. He should've demanded that those Republicans who broke their pledges put videos on HouseHub
begging God their constituents Grover Norquist for forgiveness, and then, after committing again to abstain from tax increases, have their "past indiscretions" blotted out.
At the very least, that would've given us some quality videos.