Cong. Rick Crawford: Machiavelli or Gomer Pyle?

For political writers, Congressman Rick Crawford is the gift that keeps on giving.

In the past few weeks, Crawford lied to voters when he called for a tax increase after he promised to never, ever support a tax increase and he also told the press he’s reconsidering his “no pork pledge.”

Political writers, such as myself, have had a field day exposing Crawford’s flip-flops.

A recent article in The Hill gives us more fodder. In the article, Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, revealed Crawford’s supposed ploy for calling for a tax increase.

From the The Hill article:

Rep. Rick Crawford, a Republican freshman from Arkansas, has floated a plan to impose a temporary 5 percent surtax on millionaires. He has linked it to congressional passage of a balanced-budget amendment.

Norquist said he has since spoken to Crawford about the plan, which would violate Americans for Tax Reform’s pledge.

“Rick Crawford thinks he’s jamming the Democrats. He said, ‘Grover, they’ll be exposed as such hypocrites because they won’t go for the balanced-budget amendment even though they say the reason they want to raise taxes on rich people is to balance the budget,'” Norquist said. “He’s not doing this because he wants to raise taxes on rich people or he thinks this is a popular position. He thinks he is embarrassing the Democrats.”

Norquist’s explanation of why Crawford lied to Arkansas voters is one of the most ridiculous and laughable ideas I’ve heard in quite some time.  Norquist and Crawford expect us to believe this was all some elaborate ploy designed to jam-up Democrats?

Read my blogging colleague Jason Tolbert’s previous story on how Rick Crawford rolled out his tax proposal and you’ll see it was less Machiavelli and more Gomer Pyle in political strategy execution.

When Crawford released his tax hike proposal, the first group to jump all over it were Republicans.  Maybe Crawford should have keyed fellow Republicans into his brilliant strategic ploy.

But even if what Norquist says is true, and Rick Crawford decided to rescind his “no tax hike pledge” as part of a complex strategy, then Crawford is spending more time playing cutesy politics than working for the people of the First Congressional District.