U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC) faced a 90-minute "verbal firing squad" from right-wingers intent on disrupting the Congressman's town hall meeting on health care Thursday night.
Speaking before a crowd of 350 at the Upstate Family Resource Center in Boiling Springs, SC last night, Inglis was met by shouts of "I'm afraid of Obama! He's got too much power!" and "Go home, Bob!" as he tried to answer questions from audience members.
An IJ reader sent us the YouTube video below of Inglis responding to the woman who cried out that she feared President Obama. In the clip, Rep. Inglis suggests that the woman and her friends should turn off Fox News' Glenn Beck and tune out the fear-mongering. Needless to say, the Congressman's advice did not go over well with the wing-nuts:
Gubernatorial candidate Gresham Barrett, Lexington Republican Joe Wilson and Greenville's Bob Inglis all voted against H.R. 1586 just minutes ago. Henry Brown joined Jim Clyburn, John Spratt and 240 others voting for the bill.
The measure would tax individuals on any bonuses received in 2009 from companies getting $5 billion or more in money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Bonuses for people with incomes over $250,000 would be taxed at a 90 percent rate.
The GOPhers have formed, as Keith Olberman described it last night, a circular firing squad to argue over who most wants to ruin Barack Obama. The catalyst is the original Fat Bastard, Rush Limbaugh. All the little wingnuts are rushing - heh - out to denounce and/or (and yes, there are some "ors" in there) pay fealty to the Big Fat Idiot.
So here's a little exercise I picked up from Kos. Let's ask our own GOPhers where they stand on the whole damning the president to failure thingie.
Let's call our Congresscritters today and find out if they agree with this statement from Limbaugh:
"The dirty little secret ... is that every Republican in this country wants Obama to fail, but none of them have the guts to say so; I am willing to say it."
So call your Republican congressman or Senator and ask them if Rush Limbaugh was wrong. It's a yes or no question; certainly they should have, in Rush's endearing words, "the guts to say so."
Let us know in the comments whether your guy has the guts to say it, and I also hope you'll do the same over at Kos.
Andrew Smart of Greenville says he plans to run against Inglis for the 4th District seat in 2010. Smart is the president and CEO of Duke Sandwich Franchising. The 31-year-old Smart told state House Republicans of his plans during a caucus meeting Tuesday. He says an official announcement will come later. [AP]
Despite early opposition from his right flank, Inglis has had little difficulty weathering past primaries and begins his re-election bid with a respectable $140,715 in his campaign coffers.
No word yet on whether any brave (and preferably well-financed) Dem plans to take on “The Bob” in this blood Red district.
Is your congressman a Bush lackey? Does he say he supports bi-partisan solutions while quietly backing most of his party’s agenda? Does he even show up to vote?
The pre-eminent authority on all things congressional, CQ Politics, has just created a cool new flash media program that allows you to track the party unity, presidential support, and voting participation statistics for each federal legislator.
So what says the CQ gizmo on our own esteemed S.C. delegation?
Biggest Bush fans: Reps. Gresham Barrett, Joe Wilson, and Bob Inglis love them some Dubya. The three men voted with the President 83%, 82%, and 79% of the time, respectively, during the last year. Ditto for Sen. Jim DeMint who was South Carolina's top Bush loyalist at 84%. Fellow Republican Rep. Henry Brown showed a bit more independence, only siding with 69% of Bush’s legislation in ’08.
Party Animals: All of our congress critters marched lock-step with their parties’ platforms this year. Democratic Reps. Jim Clyburn and John Spratt voted true Blue 99% and 98% of the time, respectively. Likewise, Reps. Wilson and Inglis sided with Team Red on 98% of all bills. But the big winner in this category is Sen. DeMint, who voted with the Grand Old Party a whopping 100% of the time.
Attendance Records: Our delegation may not be a bi-partisan bunch, but at least they show up to vote. Six of our S.C. congressional members voted on at least 97% of all legislation. The outlier: Sen. Lindsey Graham, who was off galavanting with pal John McCain most of the year. However, between campaign stops, Graham still managed to make 86% of this year's votes.
We've long recognized that Jim Demint is a blowhard, but now we have actual scientific proof! Thanks to Capitol Words, we can see that Demint is the wordiest member of South Carolina's congressional delegation.
Capitol Words is a project of the Sunlight Foundation. For every day Congress is in session, Capitol Words visualizes the most frequently used words in the Congressional Record, giving you an at-a-glance view of which issues lawmakers address on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. Capitol Words lets you see what are the most popular words spoken by lawmakers on the House and Senate floor.
Over the previous 12 months, Junior Mint has 2885 words in the Congressional Record. Our most reticent member is Bob Inglis, clocking in at 474. The complete hot air rankings word totals and favorite words of South Carolina congress critters after the jump.
Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans has released its scorecards for members of Congress to see who really supports our troops and who is, as my longtime friend and idol T. Baker says, just whistlin' Dixie out their a-holes.
The IAVA Action Fund is the foremost nonprofit, non-partisan advocate for our nation's returning warriors and their families. The 2008 Veteran Report Card, based on the key veterans' legislation that came to a vote during the 110th Congress, grades every Senator and Representative on their level of support for our troops.
A former Navy JAG lawyer, Graham swears that he opposes torture. But what can explain his amendment that purports to ban the practice--and then pointedly refuses to define it, while allowing evidence obtained by it into military courts? Graham once carried the moral position on this issue; his capitulation is deeply disappointing. But no one can dispute his intellectual heft or his hard work for his state.
Esquire endorses: Graham
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Congressional District 1
Henry Brown (R)
Linda Ketner (D)
Speaking of hypocrisy, Brown's never met a spending bill he liked--unless it benefited his district; in that case, let the money flow.
Esquire endorses: Ketner
District 2
Joe Wilson (R)
Rob Miller (D)
Ill-mannered, impolitic, immovable. If these traits were in the service of principle, Wilson would be worth the trouble. They're not. And he has spent the last six years justifying his support of the Iraq war on the basis that Congress has no business insisting on oversight. His opponent, an Iraq veteran, argues otherwise.
Esquire endorses: Miller
District 3
Gresham Barrett (R)
Jane Dyer (D)
The Barrett record: No to revitalizing crumbling public housing. Yes to sexual discrimination. No to grants to minority colleges. Yes to gutting endangered-species protection.
Esquire endorses: Dyer
District 4
Bob Inglis (R)
Paul Corden (D)
We named Inglis one of our Nine Pillars of Congress in 2006. We would again. His staunch antispending principles endure; his turn against the neocons on the war and his humble acknowledgment of his errors in denying global warming add reason and flexibility to his list of virtues.
Esquire endorses: Inglis
District 5
Albert Spencer (R)
John Spratt (D)
Well-respected all around, Spratt is one of the quiet masters of his craft--not politics per se, but what politicians do: spend tax dollars. His grasp of budgetary rules and patterns is second to none.
Esquire endorses: Spratt
District 6
Nancy Harrelson (R)
James Clyburn (D)
Long a central figure in South Carolina politics, Clyburn is now majority whip. He has excelled in his primary duty: to bring the diverse and easily divided Democratic body into alignment on major issues.
Esquire endorses: Clyburn
