Just the other day, Buerkle declared that Operation Fast & Furious was "first and foremost" on the minds of people in the district. Seriously - she said this on the floor of the House, which I'm sure would have brought the house down had she actually said it back here at home. My Sweet Baboo and I were completely baffled by her statement, since neither of us have heard anyone talking about this, other than in my Twitter feed or on the nightly news.
Then I remembered an online town hall Buerkle did recently, and found this in the transcript:
Q: How about an update on what's going on in Washington, then we'll dive right into questions.
A: That sounds great. Tomorrow morning I will have the opportunity to vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr. in contempt of Congress.Sounds like she's talking about going to the beauty parlor or something. "Tomorrow morning, I'll have the opportunity to color my roots!" Sheesh. First and foremost on Darrell Issa's mind maybe, and we know anything that's first and foremost on his mind is first and foremost on Buerkle's mind. But folks in the district? Not so much.
Here's another fun one, related to an article in the Syracuse Post-Standard which questioned some of her recent statements on Medicare. The article pointed out that several 'facts' Buerkle has been passing to us are not quite factual. At a recent fundraiser she was questioned on the article, and offered up that her messages has passed 'frank muster' and therefore must be true:
Although she did not specifically rebut any of the assertions in the article, she gave two reasons why she believed it was not “fair and balanced.” One was that a letter to constituents that was challenged in the article was subject to a review by a congressional “Franking Commission” — just like every other mass mailing from a member of Congress. She said the letter’s accuracy was not challenged by the commission.The second reason? Voting for Paul Ryan's budget was just a vote on a bill, it wasn't really that she wants to cut $500 million from Medicare, which is what her mailing says the Affordable Care Act will do.
"I think there’s really a marked difference between a bill versus a law,” she said. “We vote on things in the House all the time. So many of them just don’t go anywhere because the Senate chooses not to act on them."Thankfully, she's right. I wish she'd go back to focusing on jobs.
Just for grins, why aren't people talking about Fast and Furious? It is a scandal that has much more reach than both Lewinski and Watergate yet there has been no legitimate investigation.AG Holder is now on television pushing his views and spin on everyone, while the honest Agents under his indirect command are facing persecution as "whistle blowers" within an organization that has a long history of bending rules and creating their own policy.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Watergate, between the Republicans secretly recording President Obama's rant on hard core conservatives and their frustrations, and now Romney's 47% comment the line has clearly been blurred as to what is OK and what is off limits in terms of political spying. Any argument that claims each "freelance reporter" was acting on his own free will is completely nullified by the aftershocks of the videos, and the ease of transferring money and services in the modern era.
Fast and Furious is not a big deal in most areas, I think, because people know that police actions often fail, and it's silly to ask for someone's head each time they do. And in Buerkle's district, miles removed from Mexican border issues, we don't understand why it's such a big deal to Buerkle, other than it's what she was told to be enraged about.
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