Today on Republican Idiocy Watch, your handy five part guide to looking like a fool, as modelled by Congressman Kevin Brady:
Step 1: Vote against the Stimulus Bill because it's Big Government spending;
Step 2: Organise massive rally against Healthcare, because it's Big Government spending;
Step 3: Fail to get everyone to rally, due to inadequate subway facilities;
Step 4: Demand Big Government spend more on subways;
Step 5: Be reminded that the subway is in the process of being improved, using funds from the Stimulus Bill.
So, just to be clear: the US government must spend more money to allow its citizens to more easily reach protesting crowds demanding the US government spend less money. Roger that. Perhaps each subway station should provide magic markers, as well, so that protesters don't have to draw Hitler moustaches on Obama photos at their own expense?
Update: Spielbergo points out that Brady's explicit complaints against the Metro aren't in the above link. They can be found here.
7 comments:
Is there a further link(s)?
Step 4: Demand Big Government spend more on subways;
Is not referenced in the article you linked to so I’m assuming it’s supported elsewhere. There is a difference between saying they didn’t adequately prepare for the rally and saying that the solution is more government spending (you can prepare for something through reallocating of resources to cope with the predicted peak use, not just by spending more money generally). Hence seeing what he actually asked for is important as it determines how much of a fool he actually is (plus you probably have to factor in that the Stimulus Package was government spending on a whole lot of things and I would imagine most people would be happy with some of that spending and not on others to a greater or lesser extent).
Nice to see I’m being listened to, BUT I’m still not seeing anything that tells me he demanded more government spending on the Metro, which is essential in order for this to show him as being a tool. All it states is:
He “asked for an explanation of why the government-run subway system didn’t, in his view, adequately prepare for this past weekend’s rally”
“These participants, whose tax dollars were used to create and maintain this public transit system, were frustrated and disappointed that our nation’s capital did not make a great effort to simply provide a basic level of transit for them.”
“there weren’t enough cars and there weren’t enough trains.”
And it “appears that Metro added no additional capacity to its regular weekend schedule.”
Now there is a BIG difference with him complaining that it is badly run, and that they did not do anything to reallocate services despite knowing about the upcoming rally, and him demanding more money be spent on it. Without that key point the process becomes:
Step 1: Vote against the Stimulus Bill because it's Big Government spending. Republicans of course believing that Government run services are badly managed / overpriced and Private Sector services in a free market are the way forward.
Step 2: Organise massive rally against Healthcare, because it's Big Government spending and as above they believe it should be dealt with by private companies in the free market economy.
Step 3: Fail to get everyone to rally, due to inadequate subway facilities which were provided by a Government run service.
Step 4: Express anger that the government run service is badly managed and actually serves as an example of how a private sector provider (in his opinion) would have done a much better job realising that greater demand requires greater supply rather than simply following along to a set timetable.
Step 5: Realise that all these Democratic bloggers are missing the point and in fact your position has remained consistent throughout.
So from my perspective the key point I need to see is him actually saying the government should spend more money on the Subway as otherwise he’s not being a fool, just being a Republican.
3 new posts and no response in comments? What should I read into that?
That I'm trying to get my post count up to acceptable levels :)
That's fair enough, you're actually only tied with me this month... Pretty poor show.
Good Lord! I hadn't realised you'd started up again. Will have to peruse later...
I doubt it will last long. But iPhone functunality has made it simpler...
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