GROVER NORQUIST LOSES THIS ROUND

The Senate voted today 73-27 to end tax breaks for the ethanol industry:

Thirty-four Republicans voted in favor of Coburn's amendment on Tuesday, which signaled many Republicans saw the ethanol tax credit as wasteful and were willing to kill it.

Norquist sees this as a first step toward more tax increases:

Norquist [said the vote was] essentially a gateway drug that would inevitably lead to additional [tax] increases down the road. “He said, ‘Ha ha, popped your cherry, lost your virginity. Now give me $2 trillion in tax increases,’” Norquist says. “As soon as they voted, he turned around and called them sluts. Guys like that didn’t get second dates in high school.”