Fresh Loaf

U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachmann, R-Minn., recently said she’d protest the upcoming census survey by only filling out the number of people who lived in her household. (Bachmann said ACORN, which is a census “community partner,” wanted to eat her home. She was wrong. Earlier this week the Libertarian Party’s DeKalb County party issued a press release in support of Bachmann’s stance.)

U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Uppity, and some fellow elephants are asking their cosmos-dwelling colleague to come back to Earth.

From the Washington Post’s Federal Eye blog:

Republican colleagues have now called her boycott illogical and illegal.

“Every elected representative in this country should feel a responsibility to encourage full participation in the census. To do otherwise is to advocate for a smaller share of federal funding for our constituents,” Reps. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) and John Mica (R-Fla.) said in a statement. The trio is members the House Census Oversight Subcommittee.

They argue that her boycott only increases the likelihood of political interference, because Census staffers and volunteers would have to visit her home to do a followup interview.

“Anyone who completes and returns their census form will remove any need for a census taker to visit their residence,” the group said.

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As I write this, local and federal officials are gathered at the Henry County Chamber of Commerce in McDonough for an invite-only meeting to discuss just what the hell can be done to finally make the long-planned Atlanta-Griffin commuter rail line a reality.

CL tried to weasel its way into the meeting, which has been called by the Atlanta Regional Commission. But no dice. Word from sources is that U.S. Reps. Lynn Westmoreland and David Scott are either personally attending or have representatives at the meeting.

Time’s a-tickin’ on the project. The U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee told Congressmen last month it was ready to pull federal funding on people-moving projects that have languished in limbo for extended periods of time. For nearly a decade the state has sat on $87 million in federal funds to build the Atlanta-Griffin project. The money’s there to upgrade the lines, but state and local leaders haven’t been able to figure out a way to pay for the rail lines operations and maintenance costs.

More to come when we hear from our li’l birdies who are attending the meeting.

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Republican Rep. Lynn “Uppity” Westmoreland of Newnan is standing in a nearly empty U.S. House and addressing his fellow lawmakers as I write this. About 12 guys — two of whom I think are really just cardboard cutouts — have stuck around to listen to each other talk about President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan. (The House passed a bill 244-188 earlier today.)

Westmoreland kicks off his speech with:

“When I watch Scooby-Doo with my grandchildren and he runs into some unexpected trouble, he says ‘ruh roh.’ Well, there’s been some ‘ruh roh’s’ lately.”

He goes on to say “ruh roh” about five more times. This isn’t politics, this is poetry, brah.

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What can Broun do for us? He can start by saying fewer shockingly stupid things.

In the race between Paul Broun and Lynn Westmoreland to be Georgia’s Dumbassiest Congressman, Paul Broun just pulled way ahead.

In an interview Monday with the Associated Press, Broun compared President-elect Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler.

Broun cited a July speech by Obama that has circulated on the Internet in which the then-Democratic presidential candidate called for a civilian force to take some of the national security burden off the military.

“That’s exactly what Hitler did in Nazi Germany and it’s exactly what the Soviet Union did,” Broun said. “When he’s proposing to have a national security force that’s answering to him, that is as strong as the U.S. military, he’s showing me signs of being Marxist.”

[. . .]

“We can’t be lulled into complacency,” Broun said. “You have to remember that Adolf Hitler was elected in a democratic Germany. I’m not comparing him to Adolf Hitler. What I’m saying is there is the potential.

I love that bit at the end. I’m not comparing him to Hitler, except for the two times I just compared him to Hitler.

The powerful civilian “force” to which Broun refers is Obama’s proposed expansion of federally-funded Americorps-type public service programs. As Obama proposes, they would perform such Nazi-like functions as giving tuition vouchers to college students who tutor school children, feed the homeless and assist the elderly.

Helping kids learn algebra. Starting WWII and the Holocaust. Pretty much the same thing, right? I can see why Broun is so confused.

Incidentally, one of the Obama plan’s inspirations is FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps, which during the Great Depression built several popular parks in Georgia, including a very nice one in Broun’s district.

In case you don’t remember FDR, Paul, he was President when we beat Hitler.

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Rep. Lynn Westmoreland isn’t the only Georgia Republican dropping the u-bomb.

During a radio interview in Macon last week, Republican congressional candidate Rick Goddard called a black MSNBC reporter “uppity” for daring to ask Newt Gingrich a non-softball question about Gov. Sarah Palin.

Like Westmoreland, Goddard denies he meant “uppity” in the “who does this black guy think he is?” sense.

Like I wrote about Westmoreland — it’s a flimsy explanation that doesn’t sound plausible because white people only seem to refer to black people as uppity.

Calling an intelligent, accomplished black person “uppity” bugs me, but honestly, I’m just as irritated this morning by the alleged non-racist point Goddard insists he was making.

Goddard says Allen was being “arrogant” and “presumptuous” by suggesting to Gingrich that Palin’s resume is not that of a typical VP-running mate. Allen was trying and (and, incidentally, failing) to get Gingrich off his party’s talking points.

Apparently, it’s arrogant, presumptuous and uppity for a reporter to challenge a politician’s spin.
(H/T: AJC Political Insider)

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As discussed here yesterday, Georgia Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland publicly shamed the Peach State for the second time in three years yesterday when he referred to Sen. Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, as ‘uppity.’

“Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they’re a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they’re uppity,”

A brief uppitydate on the story:

Westmoreland now insists he didn’t mean uppity in the commonly understood, racist, “I prefer my black people working in the fields, who does that boy think he is?” sense.

Rather, he says, he meant it in the race-neutral “they’re a bunch of snooty elitists who think they’re better than everybody” sense.

His explanation might be more plausible if a living person could recall an example of a redneck using the word uppity in any other sense but to demean an ambitious black person.

And just to be clear, Congressman, I don’t mean redneck as a slur.

I am merely pointing out that you don’t wear enough sunscreen between your collar and your hairline.

(Photo by Jim Stawniak)

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From The Hill:

“Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they’re a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they’re uppity,” Westmoreland said.

Asked to clarify that he used the word “uppity,” Westmoreland said, “Uppity, yeah.”

Keep it classy, sir!

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Is it a reflection of Sonny Perdue’s so-far lackluster second term that rumors are already flying in Republican circles about potential candidates for the next governor’s race? To be fair, speculation was kick-started during the recent General Assembly by the game of budgetary one-upmanship undertaken by newly minted rivals House Speaker Glenn Richardson and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle. Both men are widely assumed to be on a collision course to the Governor’s Mansion.

Even before the calamitous legislative session ground to a thankful close, however, there was talk that GOP strategists were hoping to coax U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson into returning to Georgia to take over the helm of the ship of state. The logic is that Isakson, a longtime state lawmaker and former gubernatorial candidate, would prefer being governor to a junior senator in the minority party. Again, after the mess of the session, was this more wishful thinking?

The latest rumor out of the GOP ranks, and one that circulated freely at last weekend’s state Republican convention in Gwinnett, is that that U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland from west Georgia’s 3rd District is likely to throw his hat into the ring. That speculation, however, is contingent on whether Isakson runs, as the well-liked senator would be expected to scare most other GOP candidates out of the race.

While the next governor’s race is nearly three years away, it’s safe to say Westmoreland would be a blogger’s delight. Even YouTubers who had never heard of the Georgia congressman delighted in the clip of his fumbling interview with Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert, in which Westmoreland couldn’t seem to name more than three of the Ten Commandments he claims to revere. Although the clip has been pulled from the Internet and has even been edited from Colbert’s own site, does anyone really imagine it wouldn’t reappear in time for the 2010 general election?

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