The Voinovich Spectacle
Ohio Republican Senator George Voinovich just made quite a disturbing spectacle of himself on the Sean Hannity radio show.
Voinovich hadn't read the immigration bill, hadn't read the Heritage Foundation analysis, was unaware that Senator Hutchinson's amendment hadn't passed today, and for good measure was vaguely supportive of the return of the Fairness Doctrine.
Sean attempted to question Voinovich about specific aspects of the immigration bill and what the costs to taxpayers will be if the bill passes, but the Senator plainly had no facts to back his position, and instead ranted about people trying to "intimidate" him.
Although Sean offered to keep Voinovich on the entire hour to afford him time to defend his point of view, Voinovich ended the conversation by hanging up on Sean, saying he hoped they could discuss another subject more "rationally" in future.
Voinovich was, plain and simple, arrogant, uninformed, and angry about being questioned by the American people. It's quite embarrassing to me as a Republican that he is a representative of my party.
Nasty, Brutish & Short live-blogged the conversation as it occurred (subject link).
Free Republic also had a live thread on the show. Hannity's website also has a brief thread.
Update: The interview reruns today at 2:30 Pacific Time/5:30 Eastern.
Further Update: Hot Air now has the story.
Late Update: WorldNetDaily on Voinovich's self-destruction today on the radio.
posted by Laura @ 1:21 PM
11 Comments:
Laura,
Let me tell you... He has never been a Republican as far as I'm concerned. Just ask anyone living in the state of Ohio. Why Ohioans have repeatedly voted for this man is beyond me.
It's a sad thing that your Republican senator is as much a nut as my Democrat senators!
Wasn't he the one who cried over John Bolton?
Best wishes,
Laura
Laura:
Right after I heard this on the radio I considered blogging about it and then checked to see if you did--you hadn't gotten to it at that point. I went to his website and was pretty much done sending him an e-mail telling him--respectfully--that he was a pompous a%*. I didn't send it because I didn't one day want to find out I was being audited or something. It was a stunning display of arrogance. It will be very interesting to see what happens tomorrow.
I actually did send Voinovich an email, before I blogged, so I sure hope I don't get audited (grin). It was truly appalling, and I felt although I'm not one of his "state" constituents, when someone has so much power to change the lives of all Americans, he owes all of us courtesy and straight answers.
For more outrageous info, check out this at Power Line:
http://powerlineblog.com/archives/018067.php
The billions "allocated up front" for security aren't allocated at all! The money can be used for Z visas or anything else. It's just a scam to try to sell us that they're serious about border security.
My husband and I were talking about the ability American citizens now have (thanks to talk radio and the Internet) to analyze what's in bills, and the senators absolutely can't stand it. This is one reason even Republicans are talking about the Fairness Doctrine -- their power is threatened.
The way the Senators are absolutely frantic to try to push this mess through -- hundreds and hundreds of pages no one really has time to study and absorb, with lots of pork goodies tucked in (Senator Bennett of Utah's vote is being bought with various new offices in Utah, for example) -- just boggles the mind. Voinovich personified the arrogance and lack of knowledge or critical thinking on the part of so many of the senators. The push for this bill is one of the most disturbing things I can ever remember happening in politics in my lifetime. And my previous admiration for the President has sunk to all-time low levels.
And I'll mention one other thing that disturbed me, when I was away last week I heard Tony Snow tell Sean Hannity that Sean was putting out misinformation about the bill on the radio. Sean challenged Tony to tell him what he'd said that was wrong and he would be glad to correct it (unlike many senators Hannity had actually read the bill and told listeners what was in it), and Tony said something like he'd have to look it up and get back to him. Sean said today Tony never came up with anything.
Best wishes,
Laura (in immigration ranting mode!)
I heard that Snow interview too. It's so bizarre because when Snow had a radio show he would have been on our side--wouldn't he? I feel like I live in Bizarro World (oh, never watched Seinfeld so you might not recognize that allusion). I will be very disappointed if this passes and we don't rally in the streets on Saturday.
Hey Laura - Thankfully, Senator Voinovich is not my senator but sadly is my mother's senator. And yes... he cried... in fact he cries quite frequently.
I'm in the great Commonwealth of Kentucky and represented by Jim Bunning and Mitch McConnell.
My state is sort of 50-50. While we have Sen De Mint who is fighting the passage of this thing as best he can, we've also got that McCain-sycophant Lindsay "Amnesty Rules!" Graham trying just as hard to pass it.
I watched Newt on Hannity and Combs last night and two things he said stuck with me. He kept repeating he didn't know why they were doing this and trying to ram it through. He said this isn't how its normally done, and he alluded that there is something behind all this, though he doesn't know what. I personally think it would have to be more than just favors to get so many Senators from both sides of the asile to be so committed to it. That in and of itself is disturbing, especially when it is so obvious that none of them have read the bill.
He also reiterated what has been said before- the President can implement many of the security features without this bill. The money, he implied, and the amount of money is suspicious. He has made a list of 10 suggestions on his site that will be better than what we have. I am so tired of the cop-out excuse "This is better than what we have now. This is the best we can do." That's, excuse my french, Horse Hockey. Me and trained monkey can do better than this, and the monkey takes alot of banana breaks.
I'm offended J.C.! I don't take that many banana breaks!
Cathy asked "Why Ohioans have repeatedly voted for this man is beyond me."
As an Ohioan, I apologize. However, consider the other choices. This guy has basically made a career out of being smarter than Dennis Kucinich who he replaced as mayor after Kucinich bankrupted the city of Cleveland. He completely lost me when he aided and abetted the left in attacking John Bolton.
As a Californian, thank you Ohioans - I somehow feel a tad better about my state.
Voinovich...and hate to say, Tony Snow, reflect the worst in character - when they don't know what the hell they're talking about, they need to either be quiet or just say they don't know. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the masks are off and one can always see people more truthfully as a result.
The worst part of their bluster is assuming - again - that the public is as uninformed and ignorant as they assume.
DeMint has been awesome on this, J.C.!
Thanks for clarifying your Senators, Cathy -- my condolences to your mom and to you, Large Bill. :)
Best wishes,
Laura
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