Congresscritters

The only thing more annoying than a politician that "rolls up his sleeves" to show solidarity with those who actually have to work and produce things for a living is when politicians curse to show how tough/cool they are--you can imagine how I would feel if a politician were silly enough to do both.



Check out the above video, especially from 1:58 to 2:10. This was embedded with an article from Roll Call about Patrick Murphy (D, PA-8, the rat I'm currently cursed with) addressing and how his race is emblematic of Pennsylvania politics as a whole.

For now, I'll skip his opponent claiming that Murphy doubled the unemployment numbers and focus on Murphy's idiocy. First, Mr. Murphy cannot point to a single job, firm or industry from his district that pulled up and headed to Central America after CAFTA was passed. Second, even if he could, would Americans, including members of his district be better off? Short-term of course some would be worse, but balanced by the immediate short-term gain by everybody else, that's a wash. Long-term, of course, everybody gains with free trade.

Mr. Murphy, as he has done since he took office, here proves that either he knows absolutely nothing about economics or that he does and ignores all of that silliness and facts to pander to his constituents in an effort to keep his job. If it's the former, fine. If you don't know your subject, though, you really ought not speak on it. True, this would make politics a lot quieter, but I think that's something most voters would embrace. If it's the latter, also fine. I just wish he had a capable opponent who could effectively demonstrate this, expose the idiot and have him drummed out of office. The problem here is that his opponent is doing the exact same damn thing.

One of my favorite teachers in high school once said that the "function of politics is to remain in office." The older I get and the more elections and campaigns that I see, I realize that this may have been the most accurate statement uttered in my four years there.