Grover Norquist, in an appearance on MSNBC this morning, said a future Justice Department needs to open a probe into the Obama stimulus package. Watch the video below.
Speaking about Attorney General Eric Holder's current investigation concerning the CIA under the Bush administration, Norquist had less to say about the substance of the probe and instead focused on how this could be good for future GOP presidencies:
Holder is making a decision that one administration should go back and second-guess another administration. Yes, it's political, but he's also opening the door...I think it's a good idea, I think that someday when we have a different Justice Department, people need to go back and look at how all of this money in the stimulus package was paid, and who it went to. And what about all those secret meetings that were never transparent about who was going to get what?
Norquist is a conservative activist who is president of Americans For Tax Reform, an anti-tax lobbying group. He did not elaborate on which "secret meetings" he meant. The Obama administration has repeatedly plugged the website Recovery.gov, which provides a timeline of stimulus implementation, as well as link to Inspectors General's reports on the act and a state-by-state breakdown of stimulus recipients.
"I didn't expect that, you're saying reviewing what another administration did makes sense?" clarified MSNBC's Carlos Watson. Norquist responded "sure" and then launched into a critique of the Bush administration, calling them "foolish" for not looking into the "cash-for-pardons challenge that the Clinton administration had."
"They were wrong to decide not to do that, and I think that the next Republican administration will follow Holder's path rather than the Bush path of the past," he said.
Norquist also criticized Holder for not investigating a voter intimidation case relating to the New Black Panther Party, saying that decision meant "Holder has announced that he's completely political."
The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
August 31, 2009 12:40 PM
Totally predictable. In fact, I've been predicting it.
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markg8
August 31, 2009 12:48 PM
Why Wait? Let's make sure state lawmakers in all states are spending their stimulus cash as directed. Be my guess Governor Haircut down in TX or Loverboy in SC aren't spending it where it was intended to go in their states.
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BluGrass
August 31, 2009 12:50 PM
Nice try, Grover. You're equating the torturing of prisoners with decisions about economic recovery? You truly have lost all your morality if you're talking that way. And you're lucky if this is the only Bush scheme that gets investigated, because we all endured eight years of larceny condoned by that White House. Eight years... any one day of which involved enough graft to send the whole lot to prison. What a den of sanctimonious thieves.
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eve cairo
August 31, 2009 12:57 PM
He is assuming there will be future Republican administrations? ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
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Rich in NJ
August 31, 2009 12:58 PM
Norquist is just whining.
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mjshep
August 31, 2009 1:07 PM
Of course. Because the stimulus package is just like torture.
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ejb3
August 31, 2009 4:57 PM in reply to mjshep
They will need to get a retroactive international treaty making Keynesianism a war crime. The Germans might be willing to sign on.
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Shrubbit
August 31, 2009 1:11 PM
*COUGH*ABRAMOFF.
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ploeg
August 31, 2009 1:17 PM
Yer right. The Bush Administration should have started a criminal probe on the Clintons removing all the Ws from computer keyboards in the White House.
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dustbunny44
August 31, 2009 2:01 PM
Grover is an evil opportunist, an enemy of the state, and a threat to the decency of all humanity. And he dresses funny.
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Frankly_my_dear
August 31, 2009 3:51 PM
They will anyway. Christ, doesn't anybody remember the Clinton Administration? They even investigated his cat, fer cryin' out loud.
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The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
August 31, 2009 4:19 PM
Actually, it does make a kind of sense. To Norquist, it's a crime that the government spends any money on anything.
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