The saddest thing about this is these morons are going to be running this country when you and I are laying help less in some nursing home with our fingers crossed praying that the meds we need don’t exceed our estimated life expectancy. milwife88 on February 10, 2009 at 5:24 PM

Don’t worry these people will just barely have the skills to empty our bed pans, and little else. The dimwits will not be running this country.

El Coqui on February 10, 2009 at 10:29 AM

I try. :D

Torch on February 10, 2009 at 10:44 AM

This site illustrates all the possible agonies of redeployment to Okinawa. Some twisted people even pay for it…

In the Summer.

Like Chris Matthews before me, I think it moved. Ed reprints this:The FBI raided the offices of a defense lobbying firm with close ties to Democratic Rep. John Murtha (Penn.), sources tell ABC News… PMA is the second company with……

This useless airbreather is the worst in Washington, bar none……

norm1111 on February 10, 2009 at 11:55 AM

He’s up there but I’m not sure he is the worst. My top five:

Robert Byrd (king of worthless pork)
Robert Waxman (never met a Republican he doesn’t want to investigate)
Barney Frank (nuff said)
Chris Dodd (co-conspirator in the mortgage implosion)
Ted Kennedy

Maybe Murtha needs to be “redeployed” to Okinawa (spelling might be off there).

Torch on February 10, 2009 at 10:03 AM

You want him rewarded?

This useless airbreather is the worst in Washington, bar none……

That’s right. He lost to Republican Joseph Cao.

rockmom on February 10, 2009 at 10:53 AM

Clearly, I painted with too broad a brush. I’ll limit myself to criticism of the spending lobbyists, then. I particularly hate those who work to get fine-print tax provisions for only one client.

Nice work on the policy statement from HUD. That sounds very worthwhile.

They caught Jefferson with 90,000 dollars in his freezer, and enough evidence to convict two of his cohorts, but he’s still in Congress.

DFCtomm on February 10, 2009 at 11:04 AM

Actually he is not.

BuckeyeSam on February 10, 2009 at 10:41 AM

You are right about the appropriations lobbyists, though they are a fairly small subset of lobbyists. Most lobbyists are just trying to help their clients navigate the leviathan federal government, and get it to work for them. I once lobbied for a trade association, and its president used to say in speeches that “there are only two people who can put me out of business: Me, and my Congressman.” I helped a corporate client get a policy statement out of HUD that enabled it to win a dismissal of a $1.2 billion class action lawsuit that would have put it out of business and resulted in massive claims against every mortgage lender in the country. This would not have happened without lobbyists. Government can make huge mistakes that can cripple an industry that is doing nothing wrong. Corporate CEOs are too busy running their companies to spend time traipsing around Washington trying to get such mistakes fixed. That’s why they hire lobbyists.

If government were not so damn big and intrusive, nobody would need a lobbyist. Microsoft did not have a lobbyist or a PAC until it got sued by the Justice Department in 1999.

What we need most is a permanent ban on former Members of Congress or their staff becoming lobbyists when they leave. The one- and even two-year bans are a joke. When Tom DeLay’s chief of staff left Capitol Hill, there was a bidding war for her and she ended up with a near-seven figure salary. When Bob Livingston resigned from the House in disgrace, he opened a lobbying shop the next day and is making millions.

I try. :D

Off and on, Hot Air commenters dump on lawyers, and, I suppose, lawyers do much to put them near the bottom of most lists. But as far as I’m concerned, lobbyists come dead last. Their efforts have no socially redeeming quality whatsoever.

Parasites, all of them.

If Steele had any brains, when Murtha’s organization is all fleshed out, Steele should create an organizational chart of corruption. He should then insist that Republicans with comparable arrangements close them down, and, if they won’t , cut off their funding. With a fairly clean house, Steele could turn his sights on Dems and provide GOP candidates opposing corrupt pork kings and queens with the ammo to humiliate them. This has gone on long enough.

I analogize taxpayers and public officials to beneficiaries and trustees. Sure, the public officials, in the first instance, are in a position to squander our money. But we have recourse, and to the extent that we aren’t getting timely and understandable information about what they’re doing with our money, we should be demanding it. And once that information is obtained, we should go after the spendthrifts tooth and nail for their breach of our trust. These clowns are stealing our money.

Maybe Murtha needs to be “redeployed” to Okinawa (spelling might be off there).

Torch on February 10, 2009 at 10:03 AM

T:

You beat me to it. :D

BTW, you are right is Okinawa.