Jack Kingston

Jack Kingston appeared on Dan Abrams last night to continue his meme about Obama being unpatriotic. Just like on Real Time, Kingston once again appeared with out his lapel pin to blast Obama for (dramatic pause) not wearing a lapel pin.

Freakin' awesome! Can we make Kingston the spokesman of the RNC, that way Americans see what a bunch of retards they really are?

(h/t Mike for the video tip)

During Friday night's Real Time, Republican Congressman Jack Kingston took to the airwaves to echo the right wing talking points of Obama being "not patriotic enough". One of the memes that Kingston brought up was about Obama not wearing his lapel pin. Let's take a look at people not wearing their lapel pin:

(click for larger view)

How interesting. That looks like Rep. Jack Kingston talking about Obama not wearing his lapel pin. What's missing? Jack Kingston's lapel pin.

So does this make Kingston unpatriotic, a hypocrite or just plain stupid.

Of course this isn't the first time Kingston played a game of "open mouth, insert foot". A little over a year ago, Kingston said if families couldn't survive on the old minimum wage then they needed to work longer hours. Just a month before that he was crying that working a 5 day work week in Congress would "take away from families". I guess his family is more important than yours or mine.

So far nine House Republicans have announced they won't seek re-election next year. Now we start hearing the excuses for them not running:

Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.), 61, one of those who announced he’s packing it in, said that the Democrats’ new five-day workweek made traveling back home that much more difficult.

“I do think the schedule and the flying is a huge pain for people, particularly those who are from the Midwest or even further West,” he said, adding that it’s “probably the worst part of the job.”

“I think that has played into these retirement announcements,” said the seven-term congressman from Peoria.

Wow I think the whole nation should listen to LaHood. If you work five days a week, quit. What would that do to our economy?

Think Progress reminds us that Jack Kingston (R-Ga) also blasted the Democrats five day work week last winter. He tried to say that Democrats don't care about families. This was only a month after Kingston said people need to work more hours or take second jobs instead of raising minimum wage.

From today's WAPO:

Even as their confrontation with President Bush over Iraq escalates, emboldened congressional Democrats are challenging the White House on a range of issues -- such as unionization of airport security workers and the loosening of presidential secrecy orders -- with even more dramatic showdowns coming soon.

For his part, Bush, who also finds himself under assault for the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, the conduct of the Iraq war and alleged abuses in government surveillance by the FBI, is holding firm. Though he has vetoed only one piece of legislation since taking office, he has vowed to veto 16 bills that have passed either the House or the Senate in the three months since Democrats took control of Congress.

Despite the threats, Democratic lawmakers expect to open new fronts against the president when they return from their spring recess, including politically risky efforts to quickly close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; reinstate legal rights for terrorism suspects; and rein in what Democrats see as unwarranted encroachments on privacy and civil liberties allowed by the USA Patriot Act.

"I suppose there's always a risk of going too far," said House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), "but the risk of not going is far greater."

The money quote from this article comes towards the end with old double standards Jack Kingston (R-GA):

"It's going to be like the government shutdowns" of 1995 and 1996, predicted Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.). "The Democrats' honeymoon is fixing to end. It's going to explode like an IED."

Remember - it was Kingston who said came out against the minimum wage increase. His argument was poor people should just marry and work longer hours. This was a month after he started complaining about Congress having to work a 5-day week.

This shows the hypocrisy of people like Kingston. Back in 1995 and 1996 it was great for the Republicans to investigate everything in the Clinton White House, from Monica to Christmas card lists. But now we have a Congress who wants to investigate lies that have lead us to war, the stripping of our Constitution by the President, torture and many other serious allegations and that is not good. Suddenly a Congress investigating a President is evil, yet the last President was worth over 50 investigations.

As Josh says about Kingston's little line there:

Maybe he can go try that one out on some of the kids over at Walter Reed.

I wonder if we asked those soldiers, who had to stay in building 18 at Walter Reed, if they thought the conditions there were more or less important than a President getting a blow job, how they would respond? How would the Republicans respond? I know the proper answer on that question, and I am sure most of you do. The problem is the Republicans want to play politics with everything and that includes the treatment of our wounded soldiers.

The Republicans created this high moral ground they want to walk on. They created this atmosphere of heavy oversight of the administrative branch during the last President's time in office. They created the legal mess that is plaguing Washington today by rubber stamping a rogue President and all of that lead to their spanking last November. If they want a prayer of retaking either hall of Congress then perhaps they should embrace the Democrats and work with them on this. Bush don't care one bit about throwing people under the bus for his failures, so why should the Republicans continue to protect him? He would throw the Republicans to the wolves in a second.