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Tuesday, Nov 27, 2012 10:45 PM UTC

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

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Topics: Chris Matthews, Grover Norquist, Drown, Alan Simpson, Hardball,

Alan Simpson: I hope Grover Norquist drowns in the bathtubAlan Simpson (Credit: 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.

David Daley is the executive editor of Salon. More David Daley.

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