I Must Use a Different Dictionary

Leaders of the Tea Party Express observed Tax Day yesterday by revealing their lists of Tea Party Heroes and Tea Party Targets (both incumbents and candidates) for the upcoming midterm congressional elections. Included on the list of targets are obvious and well deserving choices, such as Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Arlen Specter (D-PA). With that being said, let's examine the wonderful cast of characters designated as so-called heroes:

1. Sharron Angle (R-NV): After Angle was endorsed by the Tea Party Express during an event at the National Press Club, the former member of the Nevada Assembly introduced herself by stating "You know, I feel a little lonely today. I usually bring Smith & Wesson along."

2. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN): Where do I begin with Bachmann? No seriously, WHERE DO I BEGIN? I honestly do not have enough time to detail all of the things wrong with this complete wacko so just take a look at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michele_Bachmann.

3. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN): In June 2009, Blackburn co-sponsored a bill which would, in response to the ridiculous claims that President Obama is not a natural born U.S. citizen, require future presidential candidates to provide a copy of their original birth certificates.

4. Sen. James DeMint (R-SC): Aside from opposing all forms of abortion (including in cases of rape and incest), DeMint does not feel that same sex marriage should be legalized due to the prevalence of certain diseases among homosexuals. During his first senatorial campaign in 2004, DeMint uttered the following comments: "If a person is a practicing homosexual, they should not be teaching in our schools" and "I would have given the same answer when asked if a single woman who was pregnant and living with her boyfriend should be hired to teach my third grade children".

5. Charles DeVore (R-CA): A current member of the California State Assembly, DeVore has supported Floyd Brown, who is an unmistakable birther and the architect of the Willie Horton television advertisement from the 1988 presidential campaign.

6. Rep. Thomas McClintock (R-CA): In March 2008, McClintock was criticized by one of his opponents in the Republican primary for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax free per diem payments from the State of California during his tenure in the State Senate. Those payments of $170 per day were established to assist legislators who live far from the state capital of Sacramento. (McClintock lived in Elk Grove at the time, which is approximately fifteen miles from Sacramento. However, McClintock claimed that he lived at a family home in Thousand Oaks but this is actually where his mother resides.)

7. Rep. Walter Minnick (R-ID): Yes, a Democrat. But that is where the positives end. Minnick has voted against the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 and the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

8. Randal Paul (R-KY): An ophthalmologist and the son of Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), Randal is "100% pro-life. I believe abortion is taking the life of an innocent human being. I believe life begins at conception and it is the duty of our government to protect this life."

9. Rep. Michael Pence (R-IN): In a statement opposing the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act due to the legislation's expansion to include a victim's race, religion, disability, national origin, gender, gender identity or sexual orientation, Pence declared that "This legislation is unnecessary and bad public policy...The hate crimes bill is broad enough to encompass legitimate beliefs and protecting the rights of freedom of speech and religion must be paramount in our minds."

10. Rep. Thomas Price (R-GA): During the health care debate from last year, Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) of the Democratic Women's Caucus attempted to address the benefits that the health care bill would provide to mothers and children on the floor of Congress. Capps was only able to utter "Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous..." before Price (in the behavior similar to a two-year-old) shouted "I object! I object! I object!". When Capps started her statement again, Price bellowed "I object! I object! I object! I object!". Price then bellowed "Mr. Speaker, parliamentary inquiry. Mr. Speaker, parliamentary inquiry." before being called "out of order" by presiding chairman Rep. John Dingell (D-MI).

11. Marco Rubio (R-FL): Despite a net worth of negative $103,000, a mortgage and thousands in student loans when he was first elected to the Florida House of Representatives, approximately $600,000 in contributions were stored in two inconspicuous political committees created and controlled by Rubio. A joint investigation by the "St. Petersburg Times" and "The Miami Herald" uncovered the following improprieties (among others) from that eight-year period:

• Rubio and his wife (a former cheerleader for the Miami Dolphins and the "Treasurer" for the first committee, Floridians for Conservative Leadership) failed to disclose more than $34,000 in expenses over an eighteen-month period. Those expenses included $7,000 in travel re-imbursements to Rubio, bank fees, payments to consultants and credit card payments. In addition, re-imbursements of $5,700 to his wife were, according to Rubio, for travel expenses charged to her personal credit card.
• For that same committee, Rubio charged more than $51,000 in unidentified "travel expenses" to three different credit cards. Florida law does not require charges to be itemized but other state lawmakers detailed nearly all of their committee expenses.
• Rubio's second committee, Floridians for Conservative Leadership in Government (Notice the extremely similar name? Certainly nothing fishy there.), re-imbursed his mother-in-law's freight company for $3,500 worth of rental car services and authorized more than $10,000 in payments to teenage relatives of both Rubio and his wife. The total amount of nearly $14,000 was reported to the Internal Revenue Service as "courier fees" and was justified by Rubio regardless of the fact that none of those recipients were listed as political aides and that a non-existent was used for one of the individuals.
• If that wasn't enough, Rubio's spending habits continued when, in 2005, when the Republican Party of Florida provided an American Express credit card for him to utilize at his own discretion. While he was Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives from 2007-2008, Rubio charged more than $3,700 in meals on that credit card even though he was receiving $126 on a daily basis from the state to assist in subsidizing legislators' food and lodging expenses. Rubio has already admitted he used the credit card to double bill the Republican Party of Florida and state taxpayers in 2007 for flights from South Florida to Tallahassee. And for his last year as Speaker, Rubio reported a net worth of less than $8,400 despite earning $45,000 from the State of Florida, $69,000 from Florida International University as a Visiting Distinguished Service Professor and $300,000 from Broad and Cassel as an Of Counsel attorney.

12. Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS): When discussing the topic of public funding for abortions last year on the House floor, Tiahrt delivered these startling comments: "If you think of it in human terms, there is a financial incentive that would be put in place, paid for by tax dollars, that would encourage women who are single parents, living below the poverty level, to have the opportunity for a free abortion...[President Obama] grew up in those similar circumstances. If that financial incentive was in place, is it possible that his mother might have taken advantage of it?" Tiahrt's stance on the environment is just as alarming:

• The Republicans for Environmental Protection provided Tiahrt with a score of -4 on a scale of 100 on all environmental issues in 2005; his score for the entire 109th Congress was a 6 on a scale of 100.
• The same organization criticized Tiahrt "for signing a 'Dear Colleague' letter to all House Republicans urging unity in an effort to pressure House conferees to include language authorizing oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge".
• The non-partisan League of Conservation Voters provided Tiahrt with the lowest possible score (0%) for 2005 and 2006; his lifetime score is 3% out of 100%. For the 109th Congress, Tiahrt cast votes designated as anti-environment on twelve out of twelve critical issues.

13. Patrick Toomey (R-PA): As a former member of the United States House of Representatives, Toomey served on the House Committee on Financial Services and co-wrote House Resolution 10. This resolution eventually resulted in the repeal of portions of the Banking Act of 1933 and, in turn, played an enormous role in the country's recent economic issues.

14. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC): "You lie!" Enough said.