Norquist: McCain Can ‘Say Anything He Wants’ About CEO Pay ‘As Long As He’s Not Talking About Legislation’»

During an interview on the Fox Business Channel yesterday, right-wing anti-tax activist Grover Norquist revealed that John McCain’s promise to fight corporate greed is simply empty talk. Norquist essentially stated that McCain has embraced an all-rhetoric, do-nothing attitude with regard to executive compensation:

CAVUTO: So when he [McCain] talks about CEO salaries that are out of wack, that is one thing you think he should stay out of?

NORQUIST: Well first of all, it doesn’t do any harm, the president can say anything he wants, I guess…As long as he’s not talking about legislation, let him talk!

CAVUTO: Alright, so the windfall profit tax-type stuff that we see out of Democrats on the hill, you do not see him subscribing to that?

NORQUIST: No, and that’s a very big difference…You can complain about something, but when you ask the government to come in…that’s slightly different.

In a separate interview on CNN’s Glenn Beck Show, Norquist told guest host Michael Smerconish that McCain’s tax plan is a greater version of the Bush tax cuts. “[McCain] has recognized and stated that [Bush’s] tax cuts are what turned the economy around, that they’re necessary to keep the economy growing and that he wants them continued. He’s gone beyond that, to call for full expensing for business investment, taking the corporate rate from 35% down to 25%… ”

Watch it:

Norquist hasn’t always been McCain’s biggest fan. In 2005, he called McCain was a “tax-increasing Bolshevik.” But now that McCain has outsourced his economic agenda to Grover Norquist, Norquist is singing a different tune.