WASHINGTON & SANTA
FE, NM (By
Dana Milbank, WP)
November 24, 2011 ―
Kyl is different
from you and me.
In the days
following Hurricane
Katrina, the nation
was reeling over the
death and
destruction in New
Orleans and along
the Gulf Coast. But
Kyl, now the No. 2
Republican in the
Senate, saw
opportunity:
According to a
voice-mail recording
left at the time by
Sen. Jeff Sessions
(R-Ala.). Kyl and
Sessions were hoping
to find a business
owner killed in the
storm so they could
use that in their
campaign to repeal
the estate tax.
It was vintage Kyl:
cold and ruthless.
So when the Arizonan
was named as one of
six Republicans on
the debt
supercommittee,
Democrats feared the
worst — and they got
what they feared. It
exaggerates little
to say that Kyl
thwarted agreement
almost
singlehandedly.
While some
Republicans on the
panel — notably
Reps. Dave Camp and
Fred Upton — were,
with House Speaker
John Boehner’s
blessing, prepared
to strike a deal,
Kyl rallied
resistance with his
usual table-pounding
tirades.
The tragedy here is
Kyl, who has
announced his
retirement at the
end of his term,
could have risen
above political
pressures to strike
an agreement to
right the nation’s
finances for a
generation.
Boehner’s House
Republicans, aware
voters will hold
them to account for
inaction, were
willing to deal. But
Kyl’s Senate
Republicans, hoping
voters will evict
the Democratic
majority in the
Senate, had no such
incentive.
The sabotage began
on the very first
day the
supercommittee met.
While other members
from both parties
spoke optimistically
about the need to
put everything on
the table, Kyl gave
a gloomy opening
statement. “I think
a dose of realism is
called for here,” he
said. That same day,
he went to a
luncheon organized
by conservative
think tanks and
threatened to walk
(“I’m off the
committee”) if there
were further defense
cuts.
When Democrats
floated their
proposal combining
tax increases and
spending cuts, Kyl
rejected it out of
hand, citing
Republicans’ pledge
to activist Grover
Norquist not to
raise taxes. Kyl’s
constant invocation
of the Norquist
pledge provoked
Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid
(D-Nev.) to snap at
Kyl during a private
meeting: “What is
this, high school?”
Kyl’s defenders say
his motives were
pure because he had
every incentive for
the supercommittee
to succeed: He never
has to face voters
again and he
desperately wanted
to avoid the
automatic Pentagon
cuts that now loom.
But there’s little
doubt that he was
doing Norquist’s
bidding in killing
any notion of higher
taxes.
Norquist, who worked
to defeat a
compromise, brags
about his control
over Kyl. When Kyl
made remarks in May
that appeared to
leave open the
possibility of tax
increases, Norquist
called Kyl and
adopted “the tone of
a teacher scolding a
second grader as he
recalled the
conversation,”
Politico reported.
Norquist boasted to
the publication
that, after he
upbraided Kyl, the
senator “went down
on the floor and he
gave a colloquy
about how we’re
against any tax
increases of any
sort. Boom!”
While other
supercommittee
members on both
sides searched for a
grand bargain, Kyl
countered with
suggestions they
focus on small
items, such as
selling off federal
property. On Monday,
when Sen. John Kerry
(D-Mass.) made his
last-ditch effort to
salvage a deal,
observers knew the
effort was going
nowhere for one
simple reason: Kyl
was in the room. He
divided his time
between the
“negotiations” and
barbed interviews
with TV networks:
“Can I make a point?
. . . Your job isn’t
to convince me.
. . . Let me make
this point to you.
. . . Let me just
finish my sentence.”
Kyl had demonstrated
his distaste for
negotiation before.
In June, he joined
House Majority
Leader Eric Cantor
(R-Va.) in walking
out of budget talks
with Vice President
Biden. He had also
displayed his
disdain for fellow
Republicans who were
willing to
negotiate. During
the health-care
debate, when Sen.
Chuck Grassley
(R-Iowa) was
negotiating with
Democrats on the
Senate Finance
Committee, Kyl went
on TV and said
Grassley “has been
given no authority
to negotiate
anything.” Amid
hints GOP leaders
might punish
Grassley by denying
him the top
Republican slot on
the Judiciary
Committee, Grassley
reportedly told
colleagues: “Maybe I
should just go home
and ride my
tractor.”
“Walking napalm” is
how one Democratic
aide involved in the
supercommittee
described Kyl this
week. And if the
senator makes some
mistakes as he burns
down the village —
well, that’s just a
cost of doing
business. Earlier
this year, when Kyl
was leading an
effort to cut off
funding for Planned
Parenthood, he
claimed on the
Senate floor
abortion is “well
over 90 percent of
what Planned
Parenthood does.”
The actual number is
3 percent. An aide
to Kyl explained:
“His remark was not
intended to be a
factual statement.”
As Kyl leaves the
Senate, he will be
remembered as a
lawmaker who
intended to be not
factual but a
destructive racist.
