Video: When Jason Met Jim
posted at 8:45 am on April 1, 2010 by Ed Morrissey
I think it’s fair to assume that Jason Mattera failed to make a sale of his new book, Obama Zombies: How the Liberal Machine Brainwashed My Generation, in his meeting with Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA). Jason introduces himself as a constituent from Virginia’s 12 Congressional District, which exists only in the fevered imagination of Porkulus data entry operators, as a way to make a point about the $6.4 billion that got lost in the tracking system for stimulus spending. When Jason challenges Moran on the issue, it gets ugly very quickly — and Moran’s professional aides keep Moran from making a bad mistake (video by The College Politico):
There is some truth in Moran’s statement, but it’s still a ridiculous dodge. We’re not talking about a few rounded-up pennies that didn’t get tracked properly. We’re talking about $6.4 billion dollars that wound up being reported to non-existent CDs like VA-12. That’s $6,400,000,000, which is more than what Democrats claimed as revenue from revoking that tax credit for employers who kept retirees on their prescription drug plans. As I wrote at the time, it wouldn’t have taken a database genius to devise an entry system that tested for that kind of bad data, and in the meantime it meant that billions of dollars couldn’t be tracked.
Calling that a “clerical error” is rather jaw-dropping, considering the fortune that went untracked as a result. Moran’s aide at the end affirmed the obvious: Jason made his point … which is probably why Moran’s other aides had to restrain the Congressman. Kudos to those aides for handling that situation about as well as they could.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages: « Previous 1 2
Had this on my twitter days ago
William Amos on April 1, 2010 at 4:08 PM
William Amos on April 1, 2010 at 4:08 PM
Oh please, I met Moran.
He’s a dottering old goat, I wouldn’t be the least bit physically afraid of him.
What’s he gonna do, drool on me?
NoDonkey on April 1, 2010 at 4:25 PM
For all those claiming that Mattera should calm down, ask more serious pointed questions, etc. Consider this:
Mattera isn’t a journalist, he’s not pretending to be a journalist, he’s an activist, making points, and doing so quite well. There’s no debate about the point he’s making, and he’s making Democrat Congressmen uncomfortable by delivering them the truth.
It’s the JOURNALISTS who should be doing the “more respectful” thing with more serious questions and exploring the intricate details of the bills these morons are passing without reading. Those telling Mattera to be more like a serious journalist need to get their programs out and look at who’s at what position.
If you think for a moment that Mattera would be granted access to these people for interviews or more than just a quick “hi howya doing”, you’re delusional. Mattera is just a citizen, to Congressmen, he and the rest of us are just chumps. So the ambush is what Mattera has, and he’s using it quite well.
Go complain to ABC, CBS, NBC about their not doing their jobs before you criticize about Mattera doing his job, an activist, correctly.
Jason Coleman on April 1, 2010 at 4:31 PM
.
Egg-Zachary! He does a great job of exposing the arrogance of power that Congress is so rotten with.
ronsfi on April 1, 2010 at 4:53 PM
Jason Mattera’s love of confrontation is a great help to us in exposing these corrupt congressional tactics.
b1jetmech on April 1, 2010 at 5:40 PM
I’d love to see a discussions with Bart Stupak, Pete Stark
and Kirsten Gillibrand. I guess the list is endless..
diogenes on April 1, 2010 at 7:38 PM
Oh my god, Jason was so rude, wah wah wah. I agree with everything he says, but he does himself, and us, a serious disservice when he confronts people like this. /sarc
People who respond to this like that are STUPID. Idiots. If you have a problem with how he does his “interviews,” go do your own. At least Jason is actually physically putting himself out there, instead of saving his grievances for text on a blog!
Narutoboy on April 1, 2010 at 8:13 PM
Nah, see, I don’t like the ambush thing on either side. While I don’t think Jason is actually doing anything wrong I have this weird empathy thing…I hate seeing people being made to look like fools (even when they are, indeed, fools). It’s the same reason I change stations when callers start to sound stupid…even if they are stupid, I can’t bear to listen.
Mike Gallagher made a great point about Jason the other day…he IS doing the work that needs to be done, and probably in the only way that it wil get done. I would never suggest that he stop. I just prefer to read the transcripts.
WaltzingMtilda on April 1, 2010 at 9:11 PM
So where did the money go? I mean who signed for it? You’d think they’d send the feds out looking for the people who perpetrated the fraud.
Clerical error? When a bank accidentally puts 100k in your account and finds out about it, they take it back. You spent it? Doesn’t matter, your account is negative and you better pay it back or you go to jail. This has happened.
- The Cat
MirCat on April 1, 2010 at 10:00 PM
The Virginia Primary election is on June 8.
Here is a list of candidates who have raised money to run against Rep. Jim Moran:
http://www.fec.gov/DisclosureSearch/HSRefreshCandList.do
The good news is that there is a Democrat challenging Rep. Moran in the Democrat Primary: Roland Mitchell
If you live in Virginia, please review the list via the link and let us know who the best candidates are.
Vote Rep. Jim Moran out of office in 2010!
wren on April 1, 2010 at 10:30 PM
Who does this guy think he is, Rorshach?
Huckabye-Romney on April 2, 2010 at 9:17 AM
Jason, bravo!
Keep it up.
For those who object to the ambush from either side, look more closely at how the Left handles ambushes.
Mr. Mattera is asking legitimate questions about the actual facts in a bill.
Leftist ambushes usually involve either a straw-man question, a rhetorical question, or a question about opinions and not facts.
Go and look at the Mike Moore ambushes, and compare them to Mr. Mattera.
Night and day.
Mark7788 on April 2, 2010 at 4:21 PM
Moran’s district is so gerrymandered and he gets so much money from special interests and middle easterners that he cannot be beaten. Everyone hates him including most of the democrats. He is full scale nuts.
Several years ago a friend of mine honked at the car in front of her (a little beep) to encourage right turn on red. The car didn’t move and when the light turned she proceeded to the grocery store, parked and got her 7 year old daughter out of the car. The car she had beeped at came screeching up—Jim Moran who then proceeded to scream and yell and threaten her. It scared her to death and traumatized the child. He had the cops called on him for beating his now ex wife, he accused a small black child of trying to car-jack him, and on and on…..I’m waiting for his aides to slip up and him to do something really outrageous. I love to see him confronted because one day it will draw him into a situation that he won’t be able to buy or threaten his way out of.
Haunches on April 3, 2010 at 1:38 PM
Comment pages: « Previous 1 2