Steve Chabot Meets Norman Rockwell

The other day I posted a piece about Rep. Steve Chabot's (R-OH) recent town hall meeting. During this town hall meeting, Chabot banned the use of cameras (though not media cameras) and even had a Cincinnati Police Officer confiscate equipment of those who tried to record the public meeting. This was all done for, as Chabot claimed, "security purposes" of those in attendance but as ThinkProgress pointed out, the real reason was so that people "didn't make a show" of the event.

The backlash from First Amendment advocates was intense and led to Chabot announcing that cameras would be permitted at his next event.

It is curious why some Conservatives claim to champion "personal freedom" while campaigning, but then deploy Orwellian tactics that are anything but open and honest when at a public event. Remember Ohio State Treasury Candidate Josh Mandel, whose staffer tried to block my camera during a public event in 2010? Or how about Rep. Daniel Webster (R-FL) who recently distributed a "blacklist" of local activists who may criticize him at town hall meetings?

It appears that Rep. Chabot has fallen in with the crowd who are first to preach love for the Constitution and love for protesters (especially when speaking to them), but who take a much different stance when it is time to put those words into practice.

This leads me to a reader submitted graphic that might make an appropriate campaign sign for Chabot in the future. The artwork on this one is credited to Roger De Bris, "with apologies to Norman Rockwell":




This piece is cross posted here.

Steve Chabot Bans Cameras at Public Town Hall Meeting "For Security Purposes"

Thinking about taking a camera to record Rep. Steve Chabot's (R-OH) next public town hall meeting? Think again! According to this report from ThinkProgress, Chabot banned constituents from filming the town hall meeting:

Fearing pushback on issues like ending Medicare and corporate tax dodging, Chabot took an extraordinary step in order to prevent a possible “Youtube moment”: he banned constituents from filming the town hall. Outside the town hall were multiple signs reading, “For Security Purposes, Cameras Are NOT Permitted.” In fact, on at least two separate occasions, middle-aged constituents who tried to record the public event had their cameras confiscated and were asked to leave.

Oddly, media were permitted to film the event which undercuts the claim that cameras were banned "for security purposes". What is the real reason for Chabot's ban on public filming of the event? ThinkProgress has the answer:

...as one of Chabot’s staffers told ThinkProgress, they wanted to “prevent” people from “making a show” of the event. Indeed, Chabot and his staff were worried enough about citizens voicing their anger at his policies that they only accepted pre-screened questions chosen by the congressman’s staff.

Check out this video that was captured of Cincinnati Police confiscating cameras from citizens who were attempting to tape this public town hall meeting:

John Boehner Continues to Advance the GOP's Strategy of Opposition

Congressman John Boehner (R-OH) has been a big critic of the stimulus legislation that was signed into law by President Obama last year. He even threw the actual bill on the floor during debate:



After the bill was signed into law, Boehner continued to publicly rail against the legislation, but in June he sent out a release which stated that the money redirected to "shovel-ready projects" by the Obama Administration created much needed jobs for Ohio. Here was the release:

“The stated intent of the so-called stimulus package was to create jobs, and certainly a $57 million slush-fund studying projects did nothing to achieve that goal. With Ohio’s unemployment rate the highest it’s been in 25 years, I’m pleased that federal officials stepped in to order Ohio to use all of its construction dollars for shovel-ready projects that will create much-needed jobs.”

Even though Boehner's statement gives credit to the stimulus for its ability to create jobs, Boehner posted this on his Twitter feed this morning:

Today marks one year since the trillion-dollar “stimulus” was signed into law. Since then, 47 states have lost jobs.

Boehner's post was coupled with the release of his report entitled "Where are the Jobs?" which concludes:

At the beginning of February 2010, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that 20,000 more jobs were lost in the month of January. This report confirmed that the U.S. economy has lost nearly 3.3 million jobs since President Obama signed the trillion-dollar ‗stimulus‘ into law.

The trillion-dollar ‗stimulus‘ was put together so quickly and so secretively that no member of Congress had a chance to read it before it passed, and it shows. Yet, as poorly conceived and badly executed as the trillion-dollar ‗stimulus‘ was, President Obama and Democrats in Congress still think that Washington is the answer to everything. Democrats‘ proposed government takeover of health care is already hurting small businesses by causing additional uncertainty and stifling job creation. The dismal performance of the ‗stimulus‘ demonstrates the dangers of allowing Washington to take more control over our economy.

Americans are asking 'where are the jobs,' but all they are getting from Washington Democrats is more government, more borrowing, and more debt piled on the backs of our kids and grandkids. Our economy will ultimately recover, but it will do so because of the hard work and entrepreneurship of the American people, not wasteful Washington spending. Republicans have proposed better solutions focused on helping small businesses create jobs to get our economy moving again.

Through much of the report Boehner criticizes the Administration for how they count the number of jobs that are created, citing "gross inaccuracies" and examples of "fuzzy math". It is interesting to note that on the same day Boehner decided to release this report, this article appeared in the New York Times. Journalist David Leonhardt writes:

Perhaps the best-known economic research firms are IHS Global Insight, Macroeconomic Advisers and Moody’s Economy.com. They all estimate that the bill has added 1.6 million to 1.8 million jobs so far and that its ultimate impact will be roughly 2.5 million jobs. The Congressional Budget Office, an independent agency, considers these estimates to be conservative.

[...]

In the early months of last year, spending by state and local governments was falling rapidly, as was tax revenue. In the spring, tax revenue continued to drop, yet spending jumped — during the very time when state and local officials were finding out roughly how much stimulus money they would be receiving. This is the money that has kept teachers, police officers, health care workers and firefighters employed.

Not only do you have Leonhardt's piece that highlights the successes of the stimulus legislation, but you have private sector forecasters who are also saying that the stimulus has helped during this recession:

“It was worth doing — it’s made a difference,” said Nigel Gault, chief economist at IHS Global Insight, a financial forecasting and analysis group based in Lexington, Mass.

Mr. Gault added: “I don’t think it’s right to look at it by saying, ‘Well, the economy is still doing extremely badly, therefore the stimulus didn’t work.’ I’m afraid the answer is, yes, we did badly but we would have done even worse without the stimulus.”

In interviews, a broad range of economists said the White House and Congress were right to structure the package as a mix of tax cuts and spending, rather than just tax cuts as Republicans prefer or just spending as many Democrats do. And it is fortuitous, many say, that the money gets doled out over two years — longer for major construction — considering the probable length of the “jobless recovery” under way as wary employers hold off on new hiring.

So while elected Republican officials continue to claim that nothing about this stimulus has worked, it is clear that well-known economic firms as well as private sector forecasters tend to think otherwise. The narrative that Boehner and other Republicans continue to espouse is a narrative of opposition to everything that is supported by the Obama Administration. They continue to rail against the stimulus legislation while accepting funds for their districts that were made possible by the exact same legislation. This proves true once again with Boehner's recent report that slams the stimulus but fails to acknowledge that he supported the money that Ohio received. This is the meme of complete opposition and despite the inherent hypocrisies that result, this meme has become the focused strategy of the Republican Party as we move closer toward the mid-term elections.


This is cross posted here.