The summer recess, the Do Nothing Congress comes home.

[chrisinhouston]

Well it's August and the Do Nothing Congress is home for an attempt to bolster their dismal popularity. My congressman, Ted Poe is back and I read in our local newspaper that his first public appearance was at the local Tea Party group's meeting. He was quoted as saying how great it was to be back among "regular folks" and out of Washington. I chuckled as I read that and wished if he likes the Tea Party "regular folks" perhaps he should just leave Washington all together and let someone else do the job he seems so bad at doing.

Ted Poe was a judge here in Harris County before he went to Washington. He held court in the Criminal Courts building and was known for his tough controversial sentences. He was known as a no nonsense judge and in less controversial cases would require the accused to stand on the street with a sign explaining their crime, I think they call them Shame sentences. I actually was a juror in his courtroom 20 years or so ago and remember him as a pretty effective judge as far as moving his docket along and the day to day court proceedings.

Now he has been in Washington for 10 years in a gerrymandered district pushed through by Republicans here and in Washington. He is known for making daily speeches in the House mostly in the morning to a mostly empty chamber. He talks incessantly about government over regulation, especially on topics like CFL light bulbs, the EPA, any and all regulations on oil drilling and especially on the evils of the health care law. His record is not quite as right as Louie Gohmert or Michelle Bachman but not far from it.

Well, back to his appearance at the Tea Party meeting. He mostly complained vehemently on all things Washington and especially the President and the Democrats. He told the group how the IRS is evil and out to get freedom loving folks like the Tea Party; they are not only evil for targeting so called conservative non profits (he didn't refer to any of the liberal or progressive groups that have now been shown to have been targeted) but also evil because they enforce tax laws and will enforce the health care rules. He harped on all of the other so called scandals, Fast and Furious, Benghazi, and the NSA. And he defended his 40 votes to repeal the health care law! He is doing a great job of using the talking points that the GOP put out here:
http://media.spokesman.com/documents...-Americans.pdf

And he never told the Tea Party about how he has always supported the Patriot Act and the NSA in his voting record or how repealing the health care law will stop several popular things like college kids being able to stay on their parents insurance, removing pre-existing conditions as a reason for denial and the so called doughnut hole for seniors medicare drugs being eliminated. And as far as Washington scandals he never mentioned that he wholeheartedly supported the Iraq war based on the lies about WMD!

Sadly I live in a very conservative solid Republican district that was specifically mapped with borders to include several large wealthy communities as well as some areas with quite a bit of poverty, unfortunately they don't get much attention from our Congressman or discussion on how the health care law will help them. And I hold out little hope of a more central opponent to run against him. He will most likely be my congressman until he retires.

Oh well.

[Griff]

I am feeling your pain here in Pennsyltucky.

[regular.joe]

No, it's great! Really! The farther to the right the Tea Party minority can push the GOP the better it is for all of us in the large elections. They will push their party right out of the race. I think it's wonderful.

[xoxoxoBruce]

No, it's not great. Their goal is to constipate congress and the federal government, which they've done. Their agenda is to take control at state level, and they're doing real well there.

[Aliantha]

What exactly do the tea party members want? No government at all or just no government intervention which sort of comes back to no government I guess.

[xoxoxoBruce]

They want to bring back the good old days that never were.

[BigV]

I dedicate this to chrisinhouston, in recognition of the pain he feels from his palm against his face, when his representative opens his mouth...to sing.