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Political Insider

Florida congressman confronts Paul Broun over ACORN

2:57 pm October 22, 2009, by jgalloway

Since last month, when he declared that the GOP health care plan could be summed up as “die quickly,” U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) has been something of a hero to the Democratic base.

On Wednesday, he warmed Democratic hearts again during a House Science and Technology Committee meeting in which he took apart our own U.S. Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.).

Broun had introduced an amendment to the Fire Grants Reauthorization Act of 2009, to bar any of the funds from reaching the group ACORN. (We’ve no knowledge whether any funds were actually headed in that direction.)

Grayson, the last speaker on debate over Broun’s amendment, grilled the author on the ban on bills of attainer in the U.S. Constitution, which the Athens congressman always carries in his suit pocket. This video first appeared on DailyKos:

Concluded Grayson:

“We are trampling on people’s constitutional rights. And I think it’s unfortunate that the mania that exists on the other side of the aisle regarding this one organization, and we know why that mania exists, it’s because they’ve registered an awful lot of Democrats, continues to distort and waste the time of this committee and many other committees here in Congress. Enough is enough.”

Broun had the last laugh, however. His amendment was adopted by a large margin. Grayson voted neither yes nor no, but “present.” And the full bill was reported out.

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20 comments Add your comment

Stan

October 22nd, 2009
3:05 pm

Alan Grayson = Cynthia Mckinney, only not as cute.

ugaaccountant

October 22nd, 2009
3:24 pm

If you don’t understand why the government shouldn’t be paying ACORN then there’s no hope for you.

Mr. T

October 22nd, 2009
3:42 pm

I hope one day Stan or ugaaccountant are lucky enough to have Congress pass a bill specifically limiting or prohibiting them. Then perhaps they might get it. This isn’t about ACORN…it’s about whether the constitution allows this type of bill. You don’t get to ignore the rules just because it suits you. It’s about time the supposed patriotic party started actually supporting the constitution.

K. Frank

October 22nd, 2009
3:49 pm

The video posted above does not show the most important part of the exchange–the Constitutional BEATDOWN that Grayson took moments after this video ends. Watch it here, and watch how Grayson’s argument rapidly dissolves into “but you supported the Iraq war!”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fOdt8GFDmg

HA!

ugaaccountant

October 22nd, 2009
4:18 pm

Mr. T – The consitution was written in a day when the government wasn’t crooked. Those times have changed.

deja vu

October 22nd, 2009
4:29 pm

Present ? He voted present, after leading the cheer for ACORN ? Did he not believe enough in his own position to vote against the amendment? Does he think that he is an Illinois State Senator, rather than a US Congressman? I guess he is just following the lead of ACORN’s biggest beneficiary, by merely voting present. How courageous. It must really make his constituents proud ! That is some great representation you have there , folks. Maybe he can brag about this vote in his next re-election campaign. His slogan can be ” Vote for me. I was there !”. Then again, maybe the people in his district will just vote “present”, rather than check the box beside his name.

TW

October 22nd, 2009
5:36 pm

Watching the GOP pee itself at the slightest return of mud is so predictable. Unable to run a country, unable to manage war, unable to get the guy who dropped our towers, they turn their dull blade on ACORN. Wow, tough bunch.

God I miss the real GOP. This inbred, meth head white trash version that can’t fight, can’t think, and don’t know when to shut it’s mouth just ain’t funny anymore.

A Political Demographer

October 22nd, 2009
8:02 pm

“bills of attainer” – it’s spelled “attainder”

tc

October 23rd, 2009
6:29 am

the saying goes “even a blind pig can find an acorn (no pun)” applies to broun; how in the heck did that guy get into med school….he had to hide behind sensenbrenner…and while he might have been right, aig stole billions from taxpayers, acorn pales in its offense….

shaggy

October 23rd, 2009
7:04 am

Vote ALL incumbents out, across party lines, and make it clear to their replacements to do the will of the people, or else. Both parties are hopelessly corrupt and only concerned with their re-election. These politicians couldn’t care less about you. You amount to a nuisance, nothing more.

Grumpy

October 23rd, 2009
9:24 am

Everyone of you should be grateful that Grayson did what most of our elected officials don’t do: question the thinking (or lack thereof) going on and motives behind the introduction of silly, politically-motivated amendments to bills. These type of silly amendments create more problems and waste more tax then one would assume they fix. What that idiot Broun got was an ass-whipping by a congressman with far more intelligence and integrity than Broun will ever have. Those of you who voted for Broun voted a guy into office who sits on the edge of insanity/sanity. He got a good public ass-whipping. Maybe he’ll think twice before introducing the kind of amendments/legislation he’s known for introducing.

The REAL GodHatesTrash, Superstar

October 23rd, 2009
10:07 am

Let’s face it.

Broun is an ignorant stumpbroke cracker. Unfit for dog-catcher, unfit for Congress.

An Explanation

October 23rd, 2009
10:29 am

“how in the heck did that guy get into med school/”

Maybe because his daddy was chairman of the state Senate committe that had jursidiction over higher education ?

JD

October 23rd, 2009
11:17 am

If the government “shouldn’t” be contracting out to groups like ACORN because of something a few members of the group did, then they “shouldn’t” contract out to faith based organizations either.

I do not like the words “should” or “ought” to come up in issue discussions…especially on trivial matters (which seem to be the only matters the GOP and their propagandist care about).

I propose the government stop contracting out to any Catholic organization to provide drug rehab and soup kitchen services. Eric Robert Rudolf is Catholic. Funding these organizations means we are funding potential Eric Robert Rudolfs.

Seriously, that is the tortured logic these right wing nut jobs are using with ACORN.

In the end, ACORN registered a lot of minorities and poor people to vote. It is not their fault that the GOP consistently discriminates against minorities and the poor…that is the choice of the GOP and you can not blame ACORN for the GOP’s preferences.

Base

October 23rd, 2009
12:17 pm

Two lunatics at work and we pay them to do this.

The Snark

October 23rd, 2009
12:50 pm

The Republicans seem hell bent on trying to convince me that ACORN is the biggest problem our nation faces at the moment.

That just about sums up what that party has to offer.

The Snark

October 23rd, 2009
12:54 pm

Oh, and “ugaaccountant”:

“The consitution was written in a day when the government wasn’t crooked”? You must have taken a different history class. I learned that the guys who framed the Constitution were pretty well convinced that the colonial government imposed by England was crooked and dominated by special interests, and that their primary focus was designing a government that couldn’t be hijacked by the same kinds of crooks and special interests. Hench the prohibition against “bills of attainder,” which were common in those days.

Mike

October 23rd, 2009
1:25 pm

K. Frank,

You’re wrong and so is Sensenbrenner. AIG took federal bailout money and the government amended the way they could spend it. If they wanted to give big bonuses, they could return the money. See how that works? It didn’t only apply to AIG either – another mistake by Sensenbrenner.

ACORN applies for federal, but more often state funds through the grant process. Maybe AIG and all the companies getting bailed out should have considered that approach?

Jim

October 24th, 2009
10:11 am

Grayson actually voted “present” on this amendment. The guy doesn’t even have the guts to vote against it after all of that phony grandstanding.

What a waste.

Mike "Hussein" Smith

October 26th, 2009
11:23 am

Hey, Snark, if things were that bad, our Founding Fathers should have done something about it.