Alan Simpson: I hope Grover Norquist drowns in the bathtub

In a surreal "Hardball" interview, the former senator makes the wildest threat yet against the anti-tax zealot

By David Daley

Contributing Writer

Published November 27, 2012 10:45PM (EST)

Alan Simpson     (AP/Evan Vucci)
Alan Simpson (AP/Evan Vucci)

So this just happened on "Hardball" -- former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson, of the Simpson-Bowles commission, essentially called for anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist to slip and fall in the tub.

Norquist has said he wants a government small enough that it can drown in the bathtub.

Said Simpson:

"So how do you deal with someone who comes to stop government? ... Grover wandering the earth in his white robe saying he wants to drown government in the bathtub. I hope he slips in there with it."

Chris Matthews, in a new record, was left speechless for several moments.

And that wasn't even the strangest thing Simpson said in the interview. In a discussion of taxes and how the middle-class would end up on the short end, Simpson posed this question: "Who gets diddled the most?"

UPDATE: BuzzFeed now has the video.


By David Daley

David Daley is the author of the new book "Antidemocratic: Inside the Far Right's 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections" and the national bestseller "Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn't Count." He is the former editor-in-chief of Salon.

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Alan Simpson Chris Matthews Drown Grover Norquist Hardball