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More: All in With Chris Hayes on Msnbc

After what we saw last weekend in Washington at the annual Faith and Freedom Coalition conference, it’s possible that Ralph Reed’s coalition might just tank.

The event gave off the same vibes as last year’s Republican primary contests, which some pundits unkindly referred to as a “freak show.” Many of the same characters showed up: Sarah Palin, Donald Trump, Herman Cain and Rick Perry, along with Pat Robertson, Reince Priebus and Grover Norquist. And there were a couple of new faces who I bet would prefer to distance themselves from that group: Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had the good sense not to show up.

There was one new face, however, who stole the show; someone who would have done last year’s contests proud and promises to be a star in some future round of Republican primaries. That would be the Virginia GOP’s nominee for lieutenant governor, Bishop E.W. Jackson.

Jackson, an African American, is the founder of Exodus Faith Ministries and STAND (Staying True to America’s National Destiny).

Jackson is puzzled as to why black Christian voters support President Obama. In an article written for the Washington Times, he asked, “How have [the Democrats] managed to hold on to black Christians in spite of an agenda worthy of the Antichrist?”

More: Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference: A New Year, but the Same Tired Formula

I apologize in advance for anyone made dumber by this post.

The Far North Dallas Tea Party posted a video this week of a PowerPoint presentation that Cathie Adams, president of the Texas Eagle Forum, gave recently on “Radical Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Unsurprisingly, Adams sees the influence of “stealth jihad” everywhere in American society – including in the Republican Party. In her speech, Adams claimed credit for personally bringing down the candidacy of Amir Omar, an Iranian-American Republican who ran for Congress in Texas in 2006. She also railed against former Bush administration official and conservative activist Suhail Khan, wondering, “Where did he come from? How did this man get here? Did he overstay a visa?” (The short answer, if she really wants to know, is that he was born in Colorado, so no.)

But Adams saved her true vitriol for anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist, who has provoked the wrath of anti-Muslim activists for his marriage to a Muslim woman and his efforts to reach out to Muslim conservatives. Adams warned that although “oftentimes we like what he says about economic issues,” Norquist is in fact “Trouble with a capital T” and is “showing signs of converting to Islam himself.”

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More: Cathie Adams Finds Proof Grover Norquist Is a Secret Muslim: ‘As You See, He Has a Beard’

The full video of Cathie Adams’ presentation is here.

Grover Norquist, America’s leading antitax advocate, said Friday that California Republicans should have no more trust in a moderate 2014 GOP gubernatorial candidate like former Lt. Gov Abel Maldonado than they would in Arnold Schwarzenegger “if he says he wants his wife back.”

Norquist, whom Jerry Brown once derided as a part of the California GOP’s “Legion of Acceptability,” an elite group of conservatives that Brown said dictates party policies, made the comments in a wide-ranging session with The Chronicle’s editorial board Friday.

The conservative who once declared he would like to see government so small it could be drowned “in a bathtub” talked about immigration reform, Silicon Valley politics and what he called California’s role as the poster child of bad tax policies under Brown, a Democrat.

The head of the national advocacy group Americans for Tax Reform, Norquist’s antitax pledges have been signed by most of the Republicans in the California Legislature, and he has issued stern warnings to those who have considered voting for tax increases.

In 2009, Maldonado, then a state senator, became the focus of Norquist’s wrath, derided as a “tax-hiking Republican” after breaking with his party to give Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a crucial vote needed to reach the two-thirds threshold for passing a budget - one that included tax increases.

More: GOP’s Norquist: Don’t Trust Maldonado - SFGate

She also said that the President’s speech to the UN last year (where he said the future does not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam), where he denounced Islamic “blasphemy laws,” was actually in support of them.

And you know, that’s a perfect example of the hidden clues Glenn Beck was talking about…but I digress.

Anyway, on to Pamela’s keen insights:

It was so deeply troubling and so disturbing when you had the President of the United States Barack Obama go before the UN after our embassies had been attacked and say ‘the future does not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.’ Well first of all he’s not my prophet, so chill President of the United States you speak to everybody. He may be your prophet but he’s not mine. And then to use the weight of the United States to say you know violating the blasphemy laws is not the future, I think is pretty scary stuff, pretty scary stuff. I don’t care how they package it in the media, taking a steaming pile of dung and putting it in a Tiffany blue box with a little white ribbon, it is still dung.

There is audio at the link.

Pamela also said on the same radio show she appeared on - hosted by Rick Wiles, perpetuator of all manner of derp, including blaming gay rights activists for North Korea’s recent threats - that she had spoken to ACU head and host of CPAC Al Cardenas about her worries that CPAC was “enforcing the Sharia”, and that ACU Board members Grover Norquist and Suhail Khan were secretly in cahoots with the Muslim Brotherhood.

So there’s plenty of bad craziness for you all the mull over this weekend! :)

Grover Norquist’s Budget Is Largely Financed by Just Two Billionaire-Backed Nonprofits

Grover Norquist’s iron grip over much of the Republican Party is somewhat puzzling. Why should Senators and other lawmakers listen to a guy caught laundering money for Jack Abramoff?

But consider Norquist’s tax pledge and political power another way: that he’s just a proxy for the powerful interest groups that finance him. In the nineties, it was big tobacco that used Norquist’s tax pledge as a cover to lobby lawmakers against cigarette taxes (Norquist still uses an e-mail system donated to him by Altria to send out Tea Party action alerts against tobacco taxes). Now, big PhRMA and other industry groups provide grants to Norquist while his foundation endorses other giveaways, like protectionist support against importing cheaper drugs from Canada and the classification of tax subsidies to refineries as “tax cuts” that must not be cut.

I took a look at the last available budget numbers for Americans for Tax Reform, Norquist’s group. Though they do not reveal their donors, we can cobble together much of Norquist’s donors using foundations and other nonprofits that donate money to him.

The disclosures show that only two billionaire-backed groups have provided over 66 percent of Norquist’s funding:

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Republicans Wisely Break With Grover Norquist

The real fault line for Republicans is between Norquist-style radicals and Ronald Reagan, who presided over the bipartisan 1986 tax simplification deal by closing loopholes to raise revenues. As Reagan said at the time, “We’re going to close the unproductive tax loopholes that have allowed some of the truly wealthy to avoid paying their fair share.” In addition, the “sainted” Reagan oversaw some 11 tax increases during his administration. To be sure, his overall goal was to slash rates and simplify the system — but he was not nearly as absolutist as his activist acolytes who do not have to deal with actually governing.

Norquist’s hold on the GOP has been loosening as congressional leaders recognize that this extreme, unelected activist is helping to hold a balanced bipartisan deal hostage. The election is over. The time for hatred, ideological obstruction and overheated rhetoric has passed. Reasonable Republicans and Democrats need to take on their respective special interests to get a long-term deficit and debt deal done.

It’s foolish to be afraid of Norquist. The only pledge members of Congress should take is the Pledge of Allegiance.

Chuck Rogers over at CFC worries that supposedly fiscally responsible Republicans are signaling a willingness to abandon their pledge not to raise taxes.

CFC: Norquist Goes After the Tax Traitors

While, thankfully, most elected Republicans continue to honor their pledge to Grover Norquist that they will not raise taxes, seven key GOP congressmen and senators have broken ranks: Alan Simpson, Saxby Chambliss, Jeff Flake, Tom Coburn, Lindsey Graham, Peter King, and John McCain have stated that they would consider tax hikes as part of a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff.

This is, of course, unacceptable — now more than ever we should be lowering taxes, not raising them. Our government needs to raise revenue, but that’s accomplished by spurring the economy in the form of tax breaks for job creators. In short — if we take care of the job creators, they’ll take care of us.

Norquist goes after the tax traitors: bit.ly/QlPvEq #tcot #norquist #fiscalcliff

— Chuck Rogers (@CheckFact) November 26, 2012

Via NRO (this piece is straight reporting from NRO, there is no editorializing):

If any politician who has signed the Americans for Tax Reform pledge votes for a tax plan that doesn’t raise rates, but does change the current deduction structure in such a way that the government gets more revenue, he has violated the pledge, says Grover Norquist.

‘If you raise taxes, it’s a problem with the pledge,’ Norquist says in an interview. ‘Romney’s plan was always revenue neutral – I’m in favor of getting rid of deductions and credits and reducing rates, as long as it’s revenue neutral. That’s always been the Republican position.’

He also rejects the notion that a politician could not violate the pledge by allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire as they are scheduled to do at the end of the year. ‘Not an option,’ Norquist responds. ‘There will be a vote to continue all tax cuts.’

‘Some of the Republicans are going ‘well, we could be open to something if he did entitlement reform and you didn’t raise rates,” Norquist remarks. ‘Well, since the President hasn’t moved on either of those, it doesn’t keep me up at night what color unicorn they would like if unicorns existed.’

Grover Norquist at his obstructionist, disrespectful best. I really hope that any Sequestration deal that passes leaves him screaming in butthurt agony.