Peter King says the anti-tax activist was being a 'low life.' Peter King: My wife would knock Grover Norquist's head off

Rep. Peter King said his wife would take a swing at Grover Norquist if she ever met the anti-tax activist, upping the ante in a running battle over tax policy that has so far been limited to vivid rhetoric.

“The fact that he brought my wife into it – I don’t think he’s ever met me, certainly he’s never met my wife,” King, a New York Republican, said in an interview with POLITICO LIVE on Wednesday. “And he better hope he doesn’t. She’ll knock his head off.”


Norquist had suggested in an interview earlier in the week that King’s willingness to abandon a “Taxpayer Protection Pledge” should worry Rosemary King – a jab that King thought crossed the line. He told Newsday that Norquist was “being a lowlife” by bringing up the Kings’ marriage.

Both men are known in Washington for speaking with color and candor, and they’ve done just that since King said on last Sunday’s “Meet the Press” that he no longer felt bound to Norquist’s oath against raising taxes.

That troubled Norquist, who is trying to keep Republicans from cutting a deal with President Barack Obama that would let the top two marginal income tax rates go up.

“A pledge you signed 20 years ago, 18 years ago, is for that Congress,” King said. “For instance, if I were in Congress in 1941, I would have signed a … declaration of war against Japan. I’m not going to attack Japan today.”

Norquist, whose influence is based partly on Republicans treating the pledge as a sacred vow, took aim at King in an interview with CNN the next day.

“I hope his wife understands the commitments last a little longer than two years or something,” Norquist told CNN’s Piers Morgan. He also said King was trying to “weasel out” of the pledge.

On Wednesday, King played down the significance of Norquist and a pledge that most Republicans say is still in effect for them.

“I have no contact with him. He means nothing to me,” King said. “I did sign the pledge thing … But to say that a pledge on an issue like taxes lasts for a lifetime is absolutely ridiculous. We’re not talking about a moral issue like capital punishment or abortion or war and peace. We’re talking about an issue where obviously I am opposed to tax increases as a general rule, however … I’m saying if we need more revenues, I’m leaving that to the Speaker of the House John Boehner to negotiate the best deal he can with President Obama.”

— Christine Delargy contributed to this story.