The short, ugly career of Alan Grayson. ORLANDOâThere are hundreds of plausible nominees for the title of Americaâs Second-Smarmiest Politician, but surely the top spot is un-contested. Americans of all political persuasions can come together in affirming one proposition: Public life would be improved by scrubbing Rep. Alan Grayson from it. This act of civic hygiene probably will be performed Nov. 2 by voters of Floridaâs Eighth Congressional District. Polls indicate that a majority of them plan to deny Grayson, 52, a second term by electing his resonantly named opponent, Daniel Webster. Grayson, never missing an opportunity to live down to his reputation, ridicules Websterâs â18th-century name.â Given Graysonâs relentless advertising of his intellectual shortcomings, it is surprising that he recognizes the name. Graysonâs preferred name for Websterâhe used it in an adâis âTaliban Dan.â Graysonâs idea that whatever rhymes is witty is sophomoric. His innuendo is worse. Consider: Webster, 61, the third-generation manager of his familyâs air-conditioning business, served in Floridaâs legislature for 28 years, becoming the first Republican speaker of the state House in 122 yearsâsince Reconstructionâthen serving in the state Senate until retired by term limits two years ago. A devout Christian who home-schooled his six children, in 2009 he addressed a religious conference of men in Nashville on the subject of how to be a good husband. Concerning relations with their wives, he urged the men not to focus on biblical verses that enjoin wives to be submissive: âDonât pick the ones that say, âShe should submit to me.â Thatâs in the Bible, but pick the ones that youâre supposed to do. So instead, âLove your wife, even as Christ loved the church he gave himself for itâ as opposed to, âWives, submit yourself to your own husband.â â Grayson sliced and spliced a videotape of Websterâs words to depict Webster as saying, âShe should submit to me. Thatâs in the Bible.â When asked about his lie-by-editing, Grayson blithely said, âThese were his words.â Graysonâs ad says: âReligious fanatics try to take away our freedom in Afghanistan, in Iran, and right here in central Floridaâ¦Daniel Webster wants to impose his radical fundamentalism on us.â Hence âTaliban Dan.â In another ad, titled âDraft Dodger,â Grayson, who never served in the military, falsely says that during the Vietnam War Webster ârefused the call to serviceâ and âdoesnât love this country.â The truth is that Webster, after receiving routine student deferments, reported for his draft physical but was classified as medically unfit for service. Graysonâs rhetorical style is schoolyard crude. He has said, âIf you get sick, America, the Republican health-care plan is this: Die quickly.â He has compared Republicans to âknuckle-dragging Neanderthalsâ and Nazis burning the Reichstag. He has said, âI have trouble listening to what [Dick Cheney] says sometimes because of the blood that drips from his teeth while heâs talking.â He has referred to a high-ranking woman official at the Federal Reserve as a âK Street whore.â Pity Florida. Like Grayson, Gov. Charlie Crist, a political contortionist of astonishing flexibility, has become a political sociopath. To rehearse his year of living ludicrously: When seeking the Republican nomination for senator, he described himself as âa true-blue Reaganite Republicanâ and initially had a 30-point lead over his challenger, Marco Rubio, former speaker of the state House of Representatives. Rubio argued that Crist was not really a conservative and, when Rubio surged to a 30-point lead, Crist decided that he was not even a Republican. He began running as an independent, sprinting away from his previously held positions on a variety of issues, from education to marriage, and health care to taxes. Crist has run an ad against Rubio featuring a headline âIRS Investigating Rubio Expendituresâ and attributing the headline to National Review magazine, in an obvious attempt to injure Rubio with conservatives. But National Review Onlineânot the magazineâhad merely quoted the St. Petersburg Timesâs headline and the Rubio campaignâs response. The supposed investigation went nowhere. Cristâs mendacity is mild compared with Graysonâs paltering with the truth, but one wonders: Do Florida broadcasters exercise any quality control over the political advertisements they air? The vulgarity of Graysonâs brief congressional career validates the axiom that there is unseemly exposure of mind as well as of body. Concerning his nonstop anger, whether real or feigned, remember: âAnger is not an argument.â So said Sen. Daniel Webster (1782â1852). http://www.newsweek.com/2010/10/24/america-s-worst-politician.print.html
Newsweek: America's Worst Politician I thought you were going to say Obama, Reid, Pelosi, Wrangle or Frank.
i think grayson is a funny guy. he calls it like he sees it. no matter how the bible thumpers want to rationalize it. the bible does instruct that wives are to submit to their husbands no matter what. the more fundamental christian sects still abide by that verse. you seldom see women in leadership roles over men in those churches. women seem to not have much problem with subservient rolls in the church. they seem to be easily brainwashed just as muslim women are brainwashed into covering their faces without complaint.
I find it hard to believe anyone would defend Grayson. Grayson is as loathsome as anyone in congress, and that includes Barney Frank, Maxine Waters, Charley Rangel et al. The problem is not that he "calls them as he sees them." The problem is he is a sociopathic liar. The media should be ashamed to have run those ads. We're not talking about drawing implausible inferences. What he did was to cut and paste the guy's words to make them mean the exact opposite. That is worse than being dishonest. Of course, the liberal media would never interfere with a leftwing democrat's lying. Crist is also beyond loathsome. If possible, he is worse than the other sore loser, Lisa Murchowski, who is so convinced that a Senatorial seat is her family birthright that she started a write-in campaign after losing badly in the primary to remain in her deceased father's seat. At least she was elected once. Crist never even made it through the primary.
lmao it's written by George Will. Really, Grayson is the one guy republicans hate the most as he tells it like is.
Tells what like it is? You mean one lie after another? No wonder Democrats are going down on Nov. 2nd. lol
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-usmvYOPfco?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-usmvYOPfco?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object> America's Taliban really hate this one: <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SrnJB_FaDek?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SrnJB_FaDek?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
its too bad, too. grayson has potential. he would take on bernanke every time he faced the guy and pull no punches. a shame he couldn't just focus on what was important.