Is Norquist Conceding Defeat on Social Security and the Nuclear Option?

By DHinMI

Grover Norquist is the most important coordinator of right wing lobbying, activism and campaigning in Washington.  He's also the man who said "bipartisanship is another name for date rape."  Since he is at the nexus of rightwing activism and is adept at redefining words and phrases, we should consider this a significant move toward defining a Nuclear Option that fails to detonate and a Social Security privatization that fails to privatize as delayed successes:

First Read spoke yesterday with conservative anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, who said he isn't sure exactly who would win the vote if Frist pulls the nuclear trigger soon, but holds out the possibility that even if enough Senate moderates side with Democrats to defeat the move now, if Democrats then hold up a future Bush judicial nominee, some of those moderates might side with the Republicans on a later nuclear vote.  "We either pass it on the vote or after [the Democrats] abuse the hell out of the process," he tells First Read. Norquist also tells us that Bush and the Republicans will have a difficult time passing any Social Security legislation this year or next, but holds out hope for after the midterm elections. 

Nobody in Congress, the White House or among conservative activists is more central to orchestrating conservative initiatives and talking points than Grover Norquist.  After Karl Rove leaves the White House, Grover Norquist is will presumably still be "the head of the vast right-wing conspiracy."  So when the head of the conspiracy backpedals on their two most important initiatives, one policy, the other process, that tells me they've concluded that they will not succeed. 

This concession by Norquist is probably more important than if George W. Bush himself had said that Social Security will have to wait until after the 2006 elections.  If Norquist is correct and the administration has lost all momentum on Social Security and won't be able to ram through their extremist judicial appointments, the Bush administration is on the verge of presiding over the longest lame-duck presidency in modern history. 

Comments

[DemFromCT]

The Times article is all CW:

Both Democrats and Republicans said they believed the months-long sparring over a Republican threat to change the rules so Democrats would be prohibited from using filibusters to block Mr. Bush's judicial choices is about to end. By next week, they said, they fully expect Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the Republican leader, to change the Senate rules. Democrats are then expected to retaliate by slowing Senate business to a crawl if not a full stop.

[Marblex]

Of COURSE he's optimistic about mid term elections. They plan to steal their third national election at that time.