Let the name calling begin. Grover Norquist, founder of Americans for Tax Reform, blamed Mitt Romney’s election loss on the Obama campaign’s painting the Republican candidate as a “poopy-head.”
“The president was elected on the basis that he’s not Romney and that Romney was a poopy-head and you should vote against Romney,” Norquist said on CBS This Morning Monday.
He continued on to describe negative campaign ads released by the Obama campaign.
“You can trash an individual and get them to vote against him,” Norquist said.
Norquist, who is likely nervous about all the pro-tax talk in Washington right now, said he didn’t believe the president’s re-election provided a mandate to raise taxes on the wealthy — or anyone. Norquist’s organization encourages elected officials to sign a pledge that they will oppose any attempts to increase taxes on individuals or businesses.
President Obama’s campaign stump speech consistently called for “the wealthy to pay a little bit more,” particularly by ending a Bush-era tax cut for those American households making more than $250,000 a year.
Norquist disputed that either President Obama or Republican House Speaker John Boehner were interested in raising taxes.
“Because the American people expect us to find common ground, we’re willing to accept some additional revenues via tax reform,” Boehner said in a press conference last week.
“What Speaker Boehner said in his presentation is we’re not raising marginal tax rates,” Norquist said.
The anti-tax champion also said that the president did not make the case that the country should “have higher taxes” during his campaign.
Instead, Norquist suggested “cooler heads” might once again prevail to sort out the fiscal cliff without any tax increases.
Rose Gordon Sala