Tea Party Congressman makes a spash, first day on commitee

[KevinNYC]

Check out this video. I'm familiar with your country and I love your country.
http://vimeo.com/101737613
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/07/25/exclusive_freshman_congressman_mistakes_senior_gov ernment_officials_for_foreigners

And if you're not aware of the rituals of Congress, there is ALWAYS a printed handout that states the job titles of everyone appearing before the commitee.


In an intensely awkward congressional hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday, freshman Rep. Curt Clawson misidentified two senior U.S. government officials as representatives of the Indian government.
The two officials, Nisha Biswal and Arun Kumar, are Americans who hold senior positions at the State Department and Commerce Department, respectively. Although both Biswal and Kumar were introduced as U.S. officials by the chairman of the Asia and Pacific subcommittee, Clawson repeatedly asked them questions about "your country" and "your government," in reference to the state of India.
"I'm familiar with your country; I love your country," the Florida Republican said. "Anything I can do to make the relationship with India better, I'm willing and enthusiastic about doing so."
Apparently confused by their Indian surnames and skin color, Clawson also asked if "their" government could loosen restrictions on U.S. capital investments in India.


Following Clawson's opening statement, Rep. Eliot Engel, the full panel's ranking Democrat, appeared eager to point out that Biswal and Kumar work for the United States. "Thank you both for your service to our country, it's very much appreciated," New York's Engel said.

[BasedTom]

People are electing these idiots, it's not like he just assumed command of the office. So of course, part of the blame lies on the population. But it's not like there's actually many viable options in the current system.

[Derka]

Garbage in, garbage out. You have a population of unenlightened dimwits going to the polls, they're going to elect unenlightened dimwits to represent them.

[Rake2204]

Check out this video. I'm familiar with your country and I love your country.
http://vimeo.com/101737613
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/07/25/exclusive_freshman_congressman_mistakes_senior_gov ernment_officials_for_foreigners

And if you're not aware of the rituals of Congress, there is ALWAYS a printed handout that states the job titles of everyone appearing before the commitee.Politics aside, that video was downright cringeworthy - worse than I thought it'd be. That smile, their confusion, his "let's see some progress". That one hurt good.

[Akrazotile]

I was actually on the fence about joining the Tea Party before watchin this vid...


But now Im in with both feet.

[Godzuki]

I was actually on the fence about joining the Tea Party before watchin this vid...


But now Im in with both feet.


ughhh seriously? :facepalm ...i can't even believe they're still getting members, i was thinking they were having mass exodus's these days.

[Godzuki]

To be fair those 2 people were dressed as civilians and in chairs that looked like they were appearing in front of Congress or a Congressional committee.

anyone that votes for a tea party member or supports them should never ever complain about a do nothing Congress. there aren't bigger government 'their way or the highway' obstructionists than these assholes. you're basically supporting government obstruction with zero will to negotiate....which is everything wrong with politicians today.

summing all politicians up as bad is retarded but thats what retarded people often do who don't follow shit...tea party is relatively new thing where these assholes get elected by a base that is fanatical in their views with no compromise, and thats what they do in office.

i think they annoy me more than the foreign conspiracy history idiots always blaming the US for everything. fukkin hate the tea party, they are a big reason the system is broken and they encourage unwillingness to compromise(on the right)....still not over the free government vacation they gave on taxpayers dime costing tens of millions all to try and blackball the ACA away under the initial guise of the debt. they also were the reason our credit rating got dropped years ago...self destructive obstructionist fgts. almost like the political version of suicide bombers unless they get their way.

[NumberSix]

To be fair those 2 people were dressed as civilians and in chairs that looked like they were appearing in front of Congress or a Congressional committee.

anyone that votes for a tea party member or supports them should never ever complain about a do nothing Congress. there aren't bigger government 'their way or the highway' obstructionists than these assholes. you're basically supporting government obstruction with zero will to negotiate....which is everything wrong with politicians today.

summing all politicians up as bad is retarded but thats what retarded people often do who don't follow shit...tea party is relatively new thing where these assholes get elected by a base that is fanatical in their views with no compromise, and thats what they do in office.

i think they annoy me more than the foreign conspiracy history idiots always blaming the US for everything. fukkin hate the tea party, they are a big reason the system is broken and they encourage unwillingness to compromise(on the right)....still not over the free government vacation they gave on taxpayers dime costing tens of millions all to try and blackball the ACA away under the initial guise of the debt. they also were the reason our credit rating got dropped years ago...self destructive obstructionist fgts. almost like the political version of suicide bombers unless they get their way.
Tea party is a little too left leaning for my liking.

[Akrazotile]

Kudos to OP for the pun in the title, altho he probably stole it

[KevinNYC]

To be fair those 2 people were dressed as civilians and in chairs that looked like they were appearing in front of Congress or a Congressional committee.
As I mentioned there is always a printed description of everyone who appears before the committee and foreigners rarely testify to Congress.


Kudos to OP for the pun in the title, altho he probably stole it
Didn't steal it. Didn't even realize I was in pun territory. 'Twas inadvertant.

[MMM]

Garbage in, garbage out. You have a population of unenlightened dimwits going to the polls, they're going to elect unenlightened dimwits to represent them.

I:applause:

[9erempiree]

Very cringe worthy and the Tea Party and their watchdogs are idiots.

[bladefd]

Wow. That's absolutely inexcusable. :roll: :roll:

[MMM]

the tea party wasn't always terrible. In the beginning wasn't it made up with people across multiple political parties and agendas. It sort of reminded me of the early years of the Reform party(Canadian Politics)

[Patrick Chewing]

The problem with Curt is that he's just a businessman trying to go to Washington to change the current establishment.

He just got elected a couple of months back and probably has a lot of catching up to do. Seems like an honest mistake, but apparently some of you are satisfied with the current establishment and rather demonize the entire Tea Party as a whole due to his blunder.

[KyrieTheFuture]

The problem with Curt is that he's just a businessman trying to go to Washington to change the current establishment.

He just got elected a couple of months back and probably has a lot of catching up to do. Seems like an honest mistake, but apparently some of you are satisfied with the current establishment and rather demonize the entire Tea Party as a whole due to his blunder.
It's even less excusable as a businessman. Imagine if that were a business meeting where he didn't realize a potential partner wasn't a foreigner. Just because the current system sucks doesn't mean any change is good. Influx of idiots won't help us

[Akrazotile]

What I dont understand is why he was addressing these guys in the first place if he didn't know who they were? If the meeting was ABOUT India it would be a reasonable mistake to make. If the meeting was about something else completely you'd think he'd be making statements relevant to the topic, not going on about India.

My issue isnt that he mistook a couple Americans for Hindians, it's that he must have had no idea why he was even at the meeting in the first place.

[masonanddixon]

Garbage in, garbage out. You have a population of unenlightened dimwits going to the polls, they're going to elect unenlightened dimwits to represent them.

This.

[KevinNYC]

the tea party wasn't always terrible. In the beginning wasn't it made up with people across multiple political parties and agendas. It sort of reminded me of the early years of the Reform party(Canadian Politics)

No. It was not. It was always associated with and led conservatives and libertarians.

The movement didn't spring into being when the TARP bill was signed by President Bush in Oct 2008. It sprung into being in February 2009. The anger may have been there in the fall of 2008, but nobody was in the streets until they had a Democratic president in office to focus their anger on.

This woman was credited with holding the first anti-stimulus protest and would go on to become a national coordinator with the Tea Party Patriots started her blog 5 days after the inauguration and quite openly identifies as a Republican and a Conservative. The Tea Party Patriots would team up with Glenn Beck to hold a protest that brought about 70,000 people to Washington. His Fox News show also started in Jan 2009. He wasn't the only host on Fox who heavily promoted the Tea Party. Check out this clip. (http://mediamatters.org/video/2009/04/06/beck-says-you-can-celebrate-with-fox-news-at-an/148942)

Other conservatives have heavily promoted the Tea Party. The initial spark was a rant by Rick Santelli, and ex-derivatives trader on CNBC which no one really watches, but it was promoted by the Drudge Report and went viral.

The first tea party website was set up with a day, www.reTeaParty.com. See where that link take you now. The Tea Party was promoted a spontaneous populist uprising, but long-term conservative activists from the Beltway provided the organizational structure and the money. Check out any news on the Tea Party from 2009 and 2010.


FreedomWorks, a conservative advocacy group run by lobbyist and former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, helped fund the protests. The Web site Tea Party Patriots encouraged supporters to be aggressive at Democrats' town hall meetings that summer.

Also that summer, the bus tour Tea Party Express (TPE) was launched, backed by longtime Republican operatives. The tour's sponsors were the Our Country Deserves Better PAC (formed in 2008 to oppose Obama), and Americans for Prosperity (launched by oil and manufacturing billionaire David Koch). Americans for Prosperity also provided tea party activists with lists of elected officials to target and helped them with strategy, online coordination and training.
Sal Russo: The chief strategist for Tea Party Express, Russo has worked for a range of establishment Republican campaigns going back three decades. He was an aide to Ronald Reagan when Reagan was governor of California. Russo has also worked for Orrin Hatch, Jack Kemp and George Pataki.

In Feb 2010, the first "Tea Party Convention" was held and Sarah Palin was the headliner.

[KevinNYC]

When they did polling on the Tea Party, they basically found they were the more conservative wing of the Republican party particularly on economics.


The 18 percent of Americans who identify themselves as Tea Party supporters tend to be Republican, white, male, married and older than 45.

They hold more conservative views on a range of issues than Republicans generally. They are also more likely to describe themselves as “very conservative” and President Obama as “very liberal.”

......
But while most Americans blame the Bush administration or Wall Street for the current state of the American economy, the greatest number of Tea Party supporters blame Congress.

They do not want a third party and say they usually or almost always vote Republican. The percentage holding a favorable opinion of former President George W. Bush, at 57 percent, almost exactly matches the percentage in the general public that holds an unfavorable view of him.