Some months back I was reading some articles on
townhall.com and I clicked to open a new page Imagine my surprise and horror when Alan Grayson's great big head appeared in an ad. I thought Grayson (following his re-election loss) would be gone from the public eye and would probably entertain himself by suing companies out of existence, something he was very proficient at in the past. But no, there he was, and running for re-election also.
Now to provide a little disclaimer. I used to write for a very snarky website called
ihatethemedia.com, it is a great site and if you have never been there you owe yourself a visit. Trust me it is definitely worth your time. Jim (the editor) continuously tried to ween me off 'Alan Grayson' stories because I submitted so many of them and because the articles always made it readily apparent that I was not exactly an Alan Grayson fan.
For those lucky few among you who are not familiar with the former Congressman from Florida let me provide some quick back ground:
"Prior to his tenure as Congressman during which he inspired two Florida ladies to start a website called "
MyCongressmanisnuts.com" Grayson seemed to love the spotlight that his antics on the house floor provided him with. A couple of quick examples of the massive ego of Alan Grayson are in order here. In one instance related to the website above, the former attorney asked Eric Holder to put the creator of the website Angie Langley from Lake Country, Florida in jail without the benefit of trial.
http://voices.yahoo.com/alan-grayson-demands-jailing-fining-political-critic-5123431.html
He also infamously requested that his name be put up in lights - really. The story can be found at the Huffington Post of all places and reads as follows:
"UPDATED In yet another signal of Democratic Rep.
Alan Grayson's larger than life persona -- and his spirit of political
protest -- the Florida congressman
reportedly
has plans in the works to have his name plastered in red neon lights on
a massive sign, which he intends to hang above Interstate 4 from a
window in his downtown Orlando district office. The Orlando Sentinel
reports on Grayson's request for a "4-foot-high [sign with] red neon letters that would spell out 'G-R-A-Y-S-O-N.'"
The story also tells us that the former Congressman's rational for the request was "...so that his district constituents can spot his hometown headquarters and
easily find their way to his offices when they are in need of federal
services"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/27/alan-grayson-wants-name-i_n_592169.html
So there you have a little bit of insight into the man. What also aggravated me about Grayson was that I considered him to be cut from the same attorney cloth as Johnathan Edwards, except where Edwards was a "razzle dazzle" attorney who would bring jurors to tears while holding a toy baby and lamenting it's death, Grayson went after businesses and literally sued them to death. For insight into the ALLEGED ploys of Attorney Grayson check out the Florida Legal Press
http://www.floridapoliticalpress.com/2011/01/26/alan-grayson-frivolous-lawsuit-tossed-by-dc-court/
Okay enough background, let me get to the point of my story which really isn't that Alan Grayson sucks, (not that I'm not saying that he doesn't) just that there is an additional point to be made here. Once I saw Grayson's overlarge cranium on my web-browser I put myself on an email list to keep track of the former "ahem" "Congressman with guts". A few days ago I received an email that at first had me furious and then after a few moments had me laughing like hell.
The email read as follows and please note that the
bold is mine and not part of the original email. I added it to draw attention to particular parts of the message:
Dear Patrick:
A few weeks ago, it was reported
that some right-wing rich guys' club had pledged $100 million to defeat
President Obama. The Koch Brothers led the way, pledging $60 mil. Which
is pocket change, when your net worth is $50,000,000,000.00.
Leaving aside the obvious issue – the estate tax – I'm puzzled as to
why all those
right-wing rich folks feel that way. The foundation of
their wealth – the stock market – has performed vastly better when
Democrats have been in charge.
In 2008, the New York Times reported that since 1929, $10,000
invested in the stock market under Democratic Presidents (over 40 years)
had become $300,671. Meanwhile, $10,000 invested in the stock market
under Republican Presidents (over 35 years) had become only $11,733.
Well, at least t
he affluent caste didn't
lose money during
Republican regimes, right? Wrong. The value of the dollar dropped by 92%
during that period. So in real value, $10,000 invested in the stock
market under Republican Presidents actually became just $955. And
forty-six cents. In economic terms, roughly the same effect as some
foreign enemy blowing up 90% of our factories, warehouses, farms, malls,
office buildings, apartment buildings, and every other productive
asset.
Poor rich people. All the money gone. Those darned Republicans.
And under President Obama, the difference actually has increased,
dramatically. On the day that President Obama was sworn into office, the
S&P 500 index closed at 805. Today, it's at 1321. Under President
Obama, the stock market is up 64%, in less than four years.
That brings the Democratic average annual stock market performance up
to 10%. The Republican figure is 0.4%. No wonder Republicans hate
government – they're so bad at it. Particularly when it comes preserving
national wealth.
And despite the incessant
whining of the corporate rich, by no
stretch of the imagination are they suffering under the Obama
Administration. Just today, it was reported that pay for CEOs has
reached an all-time high, just short of $10 million a year. Or roughly
$5,000 an hour. Good work, if you can get it.
So why are all these right-wing deep pockets going after Obama and
the Democrats? Even if you're some selfish rich guy, that's just dumb.
That's cutting your wallet to spite your pants.
Maybe the rich need to
develop a little class consciousness.
Honestly, when you look at the facts, these
robber barons spending
huge wads of cash to get rid of the Democrats are like lemmings. They're
all jumping off the money cliff, and they're taking everyone else with
them.
Most of us have heard the question, "If you're so smart, why aren't
you rich?" But a better question would be, "If you're so rich, why
aren't you smart?"
Courage,
Alan Grayson
Now if you are reading the above letter for the first time, you would probably come to the same conclusion that I did, No, not that Alan Grayson is an idiot, that part is coming, but rather than "rich people" sure do suck. In fact they are "right wing rich-folk" worthy of being stoned, or at least of having the glass smashed out at their 'damned rich people' corporate offices.
If you didn't know better, you would think that poor Alan Grayson was just scrimping by, barely making enough money to defend the poor folk that he so obviously loves.But sadly, you would be totally wrong, it's not your fault however as that is exactly the image that Grayson and his fellow 'rich folk' of the left try to promote. Witness the way Grayson dresses, kind of like he got his suits in the "Used by Al Capone" section of goodwill. To hear him talk he is just a poor boy from Florida helping out other poor folks, but maybe not.
There was an interesting story about Grayson falling victim to a scheme in Florida the story follows:
"
Grayson, D-Orlando, fell victim to a billion-dollar Ponzi
scheme operated by Derivium Capital, a South Carolina firm that a
federal jury ruled in February defrauded Grayson of $34 million -- an
amount equal to more than half of Grayson's 2008 net worth."
Now I am in no way making fun of Grayson for falling victim to such a scheme as the persons purporting it are in all likelyhood far worse than Alan Grayson, but I would like to make a couple of points.
First of all before you feel really bad for the former Congressman, he did recover all but approximately two million dollars, and secondly do the math. If half of Grayson's worth is $34 Million than the guy is worth $68 Million - at least where I went to school. Does the 'rich guy' label not go on until you are worth over $69 or $70 million.
So isn't Grayson a 'rich' guy? Isn't Pelosi a 'rich woman', what about John Kerry? What about Barack Obama? What about Joe Biden? What about Al Gore? I could go on and on, but hopefully I have made my point. Is George Bush rich? Hell yes, but I can't remember the last time Bush was heard publicly chastising the rich as 'not doing there fair share', whether they were of the left or right. I have not heard Mitt Romney talking about those "damn rich people" either, which of course would be stupid. Romney would be called on it immediately, but then why aren't those of the left?
Can Alan Grayson possible be re-elected using this tired old "It's us against them" BS that is constantly being spun by the left? Can President Obama's hypocritical class warfare entice anyone beyond union bosses and the misled members of Occupy? Let's hope not.
But it just might happen. It might happen if Conservatives everywhere don't point out every act of hypocrisy on the left to everyone they know.
Grayson (much like Debbie Wasserman Schultz) get's money from all of America as progressive's consider them both Progressive heros. Those opposing them in the election like DWS's opponent Karen Harrington karenforcongress.com or @Karen4Congress are facing an uphill battle. A significant part of that battle is money. Remember Schultz and Grayson receive money from everywhere and right or wrong sometimes a sucessful campaign is one that out fund raises the other. Please do reseach on those opposing Schultz and Grayson and help them in anyway possible.
There will always be Graysons and their ilk. Just be sure to point them out and explain to your friends who might not follow politics why to avoid bring people like them to office.
Remember America, it's not just about Obama/Romney, there are offices in contention everywhere. This class warfare and class envy crap cannot stand. It must be voted out.
Patrick Arnold