HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Today, on the House floor, my wonderful Representative and embarrassment to the state, Scott Garrett, read from a “memo” that was already discredited as fake earlier in the day. Rep. Anthony Weiner completely shredded Garrett’s willingness to talk about fake memos as opposed to things like reducing the deficit or expanding health care or, as Weiner said so well – “we’re here to solve the problems of the American people, not quote from fake memos”.
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PolitickerNJ, take it away:
By Matt Friedman | March 12th, 2010 – 9:57am
Tod Theise Tod Theise, a Republican-turned-Democrat who ran for Warren County freeholder last year, has decided to challenge U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-Wantage).
“I view politics as a calling that demands public servants act as just that – servants of the people. Far too many elected officials sell their souls to special interests in return for the money that fuels their political careers,” said Theise in a written statement.
Theise lives in Washington Township and works as a litigation analyst at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. He is a former West Orange Republican chairman and aide to former Essex County Executive James Treffinger. He was the GOP candidate for State Assembly in 2003, losing to incumbents John McKeon (D-West Orange) and Mims Hackett (D-Orange).
Theise has already won the support of the Warren County Democratic Party and expects to receive the endorsement of the Sussex Democrats, but he did not compete for the support of the Bergen County Democratic Organization, where most of the district’s population – and even more of its Democratic vote – resides (Bergen Democrats did not pick a candidate for Congress against Garrett at their convention last week). He does plan to court Bergen County Democratic grassroops groups.
In an email message to PolitickerNJ.com, Theise acknowledged that taking on Garrett was a long shot.
“But he needs an intervention of sorts,” he wrote. “Voting against the goals and accomplishments of the National School Lunch Program (one of 13 Congressmen to do so) is nothing short of a twisted cry for help. Even Michelle Bachman and Eric Cantor voted to give props to the NSLP.”
The Record and the Express-Times have more on Theise’s announcement.
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I’ll start by saying that anyone who uses the sentence that “MSNBC is the only counterpart to FOX and the right wing noise machine” has their head completely up their ass. Two hours per day (Olbermann and Maddow) do not make up for the countless hours of “fair and balanced programming” that Chris Matthews, Joe Scarborough or much of the daytime programming comprises – certainly, this is a mixed bag at best and nothing near the ridiculously and blatantly skewed programming on FOX – or even worse, the “supposedly neutral” but SO NOT neutral CNN.
But I digress….
A couple of weeks back, Chris Matthews had two Congressmen on Hardball to discuss health care reform and how the issue could be moved forward in a bipartisan manner. The Republican Congressman appearing was New Jersey’s own Scott Garrett. At the end of the segment, Chris heaped effusive praise on Garrett, calling him his type of Northeastern Republican, which I guess means the most radically rightwing kind. He even invoked the word “moderate” to describe Garrett (at which mention Garrett visibly cringed).
To grasp the abject stupidity of Matthews’ misplaced admiration, you have to understand who Scott Garrett is and what he stands for. As we have documented here time and time again, Garrett is arguably THE most radical right-wing member of Congress. His illustrious legislative record includes, among many other things:
Oh, and by the way Chris – He’s also catering to the birthers – if not necessarily an outward one himself, having said at a public meeting that he wanted to see Obama’s birth certificate. Garrett further distinguished himself following the earthquake in Haiti. His message on his Congressional web site said the he was praying for those constituents of his affected by the quake. No mention of the thousands of Haitians who were dead or injured. Garrett also opposed abortion even in the case of rape or incest – allowing a rapist to choose the mother of his child or a molesting father to force his daughter to bear his own grandchild. And he referred dismissively to the push to eliminate DADT as a “side issue” not worthy of his consideration. That’s Chris Matthews’ kind of Republican.
As Jason notes over at Blue Jersey, Garrett also recently appeared on MSNBC’s The Dylan Ratigan Show with guest host Ed Schultz. Once again he performed his one man show designed to portray himself as the sincere moderate that truly wants to work across party lines for the good of the American people. I can’t blame Ed because he was filling in at the last moment. But I can blame the show’s staff for not doing even a modicum of homework on their guest. Like Matthews, Schultz – someone who should know better – bought the well rehearsed charade hook, line and sinker.
By giving Garrett this kind of forum without challenging him on his record, MSNBC has aided and abetted an insidious political fraud. It is incumbent upon MSNBC to make sure this journalistic incontinence doesn’t happen again. First, try to actually do some research on your guests. You know, like Rachel Maddow does so well. Second, next time you extend an invitation for Congressman Garrett to appear on one of your infotainment shows, ask him why he voted time and time again to deprive Americans of their most basic civil rights. Then ask him how we can buy into his fairy tale of working toward a bipartisan utopia when he questions the very legitimacy of our President to serve in office based on debunked crackpot theories.
Maybe then MSNBC can begin to regain some semblance of journalistic integrity.
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Hat tip to Hopeful at Blue Jersey
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If outrage described the right reaction to Scott Garrett’s vote this week against school lunches, what’s left for this “no” vote on a bill to stop child abuse by school officials:
In a move to provide the first comprehensive protections for children against abusive disciplinary actions by schools, the House on Wednesday easily approved a bill to restrict the use of forcible restraint and seclusion, in which children are held down, drugged or isolated in a locked room to control their behavior.
and, no, it’s not an imaginary problem:
The legislation stems in part from a government report last year that found evidence that hundreds of children — from preschool age to high school — had been traumatized or physically harmed by being held down or locked alone in rooms, some even tied to chairs. Many had developmental problems or were in special needs programs; many others were in regular classes. Some children have died, apparently because of overly aggressive discipline, according to numerous reports over the last decade.
Our other New Jersey Republicans rightly broke with their party to support the bill, but Garrett is a right-wing fanatic. Down With Tyranny and Digby have more on this shameful vote.
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As pointed out by our friends at Down With Tyranny, a vote was held yesterday in the House with respect to the National School Lunch Program – a program that is even more necessary now given the state of the economy:
H.Res.362. It expresses the House’s support for the goals and ideals of the National School Lunch Program and “recognizes that our pupils deserve access to high-quality, safe, and nutritious meals in school.” It passed 403-13, every Democrat and 155 Republicans, including the entire GOP congressional leadership voting in favor.
And guess who was one of the 13?
Let’s look at some numbers. There are approximately 200,000 children living in Bergen, Sussex and Warren Counties. Of that, there are 12,400 children in Bergen who are on reduced or free lunch programs due to need, over 2,300 more in Sussex County and another 1,900 in Warren County. That is one out of every twelve children in these three counties who can’t afford a decent meal and rely on the National School Lunch Program.
And this is too offensive for Scott Garrett to support.
Garrett is very good at explaining away his unconscionable votes with a caveat such as “I agree in principle but…” or “I would have supported this, but….”. And frankly, actions speak louder than words. Time after time and vote after morally reprehensible vote, Garrett shows where his loyalties lie. This is about struggling families. And just as his vote against clean drinking water shows, Garrett can’t keep explaining away votes that show a pattern of disdain for the health and welfare of those in his district that he is supposed to represent.
What makes this worse is the fact that the BCDO is choosing to give Garrett a pass without even so much as a challenger to a man whose actions and record are nothing short of abominable.
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Congressman Scott Garrett is quick to use fear and hyperbole when talking about his views of healthcare reform. And the interesting thing with all of his fearmongering is the complete absence of some of the most basic underlying concerns on why health insurance providers are able to collude, deny coverage and hike rates by however much they feel like.
So, with it being time for him to actually put the considerable money he gets from Big Insurance where his mouth is on the bill that Congressman Pallone discussed on repealing the antitrust exemption for insurance companies, what does he do?
Yup – he votes for collusion and price gouging and less competition (one of only 19 House members).
Here is some context:
Congressman Pallone recently posted about repealing the antitrust exemption that health insurance companies currently enjoy (linked above). And while this may not be the only reason why rates have been hiked and competition is all but eliminated, the simple fact remains is that there are industry wide price and competition abuses that are fostered by the exemption.
Now, there is more than just the anti-trust exemption at issue. There have been over 400 corporate mergers in the healthcare industry since the late 1990’s, and the Department of Justice/Federal Trade Commission were about as hands off as could be with respect to the mergers and the elimination of competition that resulted from it. Towards the back of this link is a summary of some major mergers and how they weren’t really challenged, just to provide more context. As a result of this, the five largest providers of group health insurance companies controlled 75 percent or more of the market in 34 states, and 90 percent or more in 23 of those states, a significant increase in concentration over a six year period.
So, back to Garrett – he is always in favor of more competition and more “market forces”. Even his own website section on healthcare talks about competition across state lines. But without a removal of the antitrust exemption, this is close to a nonstarter. And because of the lack of oversight on the hundreds of mergers that occurred, the competition that he talks about was bound to disappear rapidly. It is clear that when it comes to standing up for the very principles he purports to have, Garrett is nothing more than a walking hypocrite and contradiction.
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Assemblywoman Connie Wagner (D-Paramus) has shot down rumors that she will challenge Rep. Garrett in this year’s election. Oh well – she would have presented a strong challenge to Garrett. She is an experienced and respected legislator. I have spoken to her a number of times; she is charming and charismatic. There is still time for someone to come forward though. If you are interested in taking on Scott Garrett please contact us as soon as possible at RetireGarrett@gmail.com, or visit our contact page above. We would be happy to meet with you and potentially provide you with our significant resources to help in your campaign. Below is the original PolitickerNJ.com article about Assemblywoman Wagner’s decision not to challenge Garrett:
There have been rumors that Assemblywoman Connie Wagner (D-Paramus) might take the plunge. No way, she says.
“I need to get a little more standing here [in the Assembly], and I enjoy what I’m doing,” she said. “I’m not ruling it out for the future.”
Despite a well-financed and spirited challenge by blind rabbi/psychologist Dennis Shulman last year, Garrett, who is considered the most conservative member of the New Jersey congressional delegation, easily won reelection. Attorney Camille Abate, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination to challenge Garrett in 2006 and 2008, may have a clear path to be the nominee this year.
Personally, I would prefer someone with a more balanced approach to government, someone who listens to all sides,” she said. “And I don’t think he listens to all sides.”
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We’ve just released another newsletter – this one featuring 7 pages of Congressman Garrett’s regressive ideas and policies. Here’s an excerpt illustrating Garrett’s unwillingness to admit fault despite leading the country into its current economic downturn:
“His political pronouncements and his voting record clearly show one of his very favorite ideologies to be that of anti-regulation: Regulation by the government is wrong and will lead to catastrophes even worse than global warming. He is one of those, like Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairperson, who believes that the market, that amorphous collection of buying and selling, will punish investors who invest unwisely, and is thus self-correcting – no need for government regulation. The major difference between Mr. Garrett and Mr. Greenspan is that Mr. Greenspan, in light of the great recession of 2008-9, admits he was wrong. Mr. Garrett has made no such concession to the facts; he soldiers on spouting his anti-regulation ideology in the face of the typhoon of evidence to the contrary.”
Read the rest of Marty’s spot-on analysis of Garrett by clicking on the link below.
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Scott Garrett issued the following statement regarding the humanitarian disaster in Haiti:
“I am gravely concerned about the situation in Haiti. I am saddened over the tragic loss of life and I am remaining in close contact with the State Department regarding the state of the constituents from my district who were in Haiti at the time of the earthquake. My prayers are with their families and I will do everything I can to ensure their safe return home.”
Now, I’m not going to compare quotes or statements from others, but there is so much wrong with this statement, starting with the utter lack of compassion for the magnitude of this disaster. This “situation” in Haiti is something along the lines of 200,000 – 500,000 dead and a disaster “like no other in UN memory”.
Usually, one can tell a lot about someone by their initial thoughts or statements, or how they react to tragedy. In this case, I remember how Garrett was the only NJ Representative to vote AGAINST Katrina relief. Here, he makes no mention of the citizens of Haiti, the families of those who live in Haiti or anyone other than the people in his district who happened to be visiting at the time the earthquake struck.
What a guy.
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Someone recently told me that Scott Garrett spends more on mailers to his district than any other Congressman or Congresswoman. And while I’d love to find out if that is actually true, I tend to ignore (probably foolishly) his 3 or 4 page glossy “newsletter” that I receive a few times each year. My reasoning is that I know his schtick – he routinely votes against bills that 400 other members of the House vote for because of some “technicality” and then tells his constituents that he is really in favor of the bill but couldn’t have it 100% his way so he has to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
So when I got his latest mailer, I tossed it with the rest of my recyclables (of course), but then had the fortune to come across this post by a former Goldwater conservative who hits fat cat CEO’s favorite Congressman right between the eyes with a brilliant takedown of the fluff, misdirection and outright twisting of the facts contained in Garrett’s latest mailer.
I won’t repeat all of Michael Fremer’s arguments, especially since we have made them here issue by issue, and there really is nothing new. He rails against the stimulus (which presumably would include the vote he cast against the largest middle class tax cut in history and scary teabagger talk about healthcare. That being said, it is refreshing to see someone say it so plainly when it comes to Garrett’s hypocrisy regarding unemployment:
“You offer no job creation plans in your email other than more tax cuts.“A job creation engine” was the supposed purpose of the Bush tax cuts for the rich back in 2001 that produced the weakest job growth out of a mild recession in recent history. All it produced was a deficit from what had been a projected surplus.
Had we allowed G.M. and other businesses to fail, the unemployment rate would now be catastrophic, yet that would have been your “solution.”
So I find your carping about unemployment churlish and dishonest.
Lest we forget that Garrett’s proposed solutions include his very own stimulus bill that he introduced consisting entirely of corporate tax breaks. When Wall Street needs more tax breaks, they call on their “Hero” to champion a bill for them. And when AIG executives want to keep the bonuses they paid out from Government money, they call on “Wall Street Hero” Scott Garrett. But when families in his district are struggling, they get smacked in the face by his votes and his disingenuous rhetoric.
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