Anti-government rightwing activist Grover Norquist saysallegations emanating from the Senate’s Indian Affairs committee, chaired by Sen. John McCain, that Norquist laundered tainted money from Indian tribes in the Abramoff scandals are just political payback for Norquist’s anti-McCain activities in the 2000 GOP primaries:
Norquist says a Senate Indian Affairs Committee report last month outlining his efforts to funnel money from Abramoff’s tribal clients to former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed is riddled with half-truths and falsely implicates his nonprofit group, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), in wrongdoing.
The activist says McCain, chairman of the committee, issued the report in retaliation for Norquist’s efforts to thwart McCain’s 2000 presidential bid.
“He has exhibited personal animus toward me,” Norquist said. “McCain, who’s running for president and is ostensibly the front-runner, takes time and effort to throw a punch at me and Ralph Reed. Why? He has told people we stopped him in the presidential election last time, and he thinks we might do it again. He is delusional. George W. Bush Beat [sic] him in South Carolina. But that’s high praise of the taxpayer movement that he has told so many people this.”
McCain staffers said the 373-page report, the culmination of a two-year investigation, is a neutral, factual account of Abramoff’s movements. E-mails from Abramoff cited in the report indicate that the disgraced lobbyist used ATR — for a fee — as a conduit for moving money from the Mississippi Choctaw American Indian tribe to anti-gambling grassroots activists who would have been uncomfortable receiving money from gambling profits…
“If that was a personal attack they would have stuck more in there,” one McCain adviser said. “Grover’s fingerprints where all over this stuff. You would have to work hard to keep him out of it …”
Norquist is notoriously obnoxious and McCain is notoriously bad-tempered. This dust-up could play out as a terrific grudge match of the circular firing squad variety.
Possible next move: If there is more about Norquist’s involvement in the money-laundering scheme that the committee could have “stuck” in the report, it would not be surprising to find that it is leaked to the media within a week or so.
If you do the deed…you pay the time. Go McCain. It is such a shame to see a hero like McCain sitting with Jerry Falwell, but nice to see a spark of truth left in McCain.