Grover Norquist Could Give Republicans Lessons In Media Management

Had Chuck Muth not sent out an alert, I would have missed Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform, on “60 Minutes,” Sunday November 20. The interviewer was liberal hit man Steve Croft, who – aided and abetted by editing – chumped many conservatives over the years, including Rush Limbaugh.

Norquist, however, acquitted himself brilliantly in what was clearly an attempted hit piece. Croft tried to make the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a written promise by candidates for elected office not to raise taxes, look like Norquist’s personal ego trip. But Norquist cleverly interspersed a response to each of Croft’s allegations, sentence by sentence, that the pledge was to each office holder’s constituents, not to himself.

Croft’s off-screen narration was an attempt to smear Norquist and ATR, but I think the average independent watching the show would have discerned the truth of the matter quite easily. Norquist needs to give classes to Republican candidates on how to handle hostile interviews.

Lynn Muzzy