I see over at WIS that questions have been raised about Joe Wilson using taxpayer funds for a mailing I got at my house the other day.
Interesting. I had not noticed that I was paying for it (I should have looked where I circled in red above). But apparently Joe has an explanation for that:
We got in touch with Congressman Wilson’s office. A spokesman tells us the mail out does not blur the lines of being a campaign flier. They call it a “congressional piece.”
The spokesman says the flier clearly lays out Joe Wilson’s official legislative actions and plan to create jobs in South Carolina. They also say it has a survey on it and Wilson is looking for feedback on which job creating ideas they support.
What do you think of that claim? It seems pretty bogus to me. Because even though I didn’t notice that I was paying for it, I did notice how typical this was of communications from Joe Wilson. The poor man seems utterly incapable of expressing himself in any way other than the rhetoric of partisan wrangling.
Wouldn’t you think that a constituent communication that was NOT a campaign flier would use neutral language — not self-promotion — to tell folks back home what is going on in Washington? True, Joe is hardly alone in seeming to be incapable of this, but this particular mailing just doesn’t seem to me to have anything about it to distinguish it from his campaign.
For instance, the front of it is emblazoned repeatedly with the word “Jobs,” which, as it happens, is Joe’s campaign theme. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
Then there’s the language. I could probably not explain to Joe what’s wrong with it in a million years, since he has been one of the most partisan (enthusiastically, innocently, unself-consciously partisan, partisan in the way Adam and Eve would have been before eating of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil — Joe truly believes that partisan language is simply the same as Mom’s apple pie) Republicans I’ve ever known, ever since he was in the Legislature.
Read the flier. He states:
In this difficult economy, it is incumbent on all of us to work across the aisle and put a bill together that we all agree on.
At this point, you’re thinking, Brad,what’s wrong with you? He’s calling for bipartisanship; he’s being open-minded, not partisan! But read the next sentence:
Congressional leadership and the Administration should look at other proposals that my colleagues have presented to Speaker Pelosi.
In other words, “working across the aisle” means that Democrats should wake up and do what Republicans want to do. What follows is a list of standard-issue Republican planks, every one of them of the pandering, sugar-coated variety — no tough medicine here.
There is not one idea expressed that is not out of the GOP playbook.
Which is fine — in a campaign piece. But that’s not what this is supposed to be, is it?
When did you move in with the “Johnson Family”?
That’s not the one that came to my house. That’s the one WIS posted. I just added the red circle…
In 2008 the money word was “Change”.
In 2010 the money word is “Jobs”.
So there ya go, citizens of Joe Wilson’s district (which includes me). Joe Wilson is using OUR money to print the word JOBS a bunch of times next to pictures of himself, and then using OUR money to mail it to us.
Gee, thanks Joe.
And then insulting our intelligence, by proxy spokesman, with a fabrication. “No, not for my campaign! Just a piece!”
Yet, I’ve never received one piece of mail from Joe Wilson that wasn’t about re-electing Joe Wilson.
Hmmm, a certain phrase comes to mind…something we heard yelled once at a most inappropriate time, in a most inappropriate venue: “YOU LIE!”
What exactly is this “conservative” conserving? Certainly not dignity.
I guess we figured out that Joe Wilson IS a “congressional piece,” eh?
Joe can’t help himself. Nothing in life suits him as well as representing the mindlessly Republican haven of Lexington County. Heaven forbid he should ever attempt anything more ambitious.
joe wilson is delusional and dangerous to himself and others
I just read this little flier. It’s funny that right under the bullet point that says Addy voted “against proposals to increase our nation’s debt” is a set of proposals all of which would reduce revenues. Not that this is surprising from Wilson.
And even if it were true that he votes against legislation which would lead to reckless spending, which it’s not, I think pretty much everyone serious about the issue agrees that the tough choices of both cutting spending and raising revenues are necessary to tackle the public debt.
Maybe this is why I thought the “you lie!” incident wasn’t a big deal; I didn’t have any respect for him to lose in the first place.
I dug mine out of the trash.
I like Joe, but he’s no leader, and since the Republicans are the current minority, I think his main job for two years is to get re-elected to two more years.
And don’t kid your self, we pay for the campaign anyway, either through matching funds (?), or higher costs of goods and services from the companies who contribute to the campaigns.