{"id":2621,"date":"2009-08-18T15:40:19","date_gmt":"2009-08-18T19:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/?p=2621"},"modified":"2010-03-11T14:07:30","modified_gmt":"2010-03-11T19:07:30","slug":"congressman-eric-massa-i-will-vote-against-the-interests-of-my-district","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/18\/congressman-eric-massa-i-will-vote-against-the-interests-of-my-district\/","title":{"rendered":"Congressman Eric Massa: I Will Vote Against the Interests of My District"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sen. Tom Coburn is right<\/a>, American’s have lost faith in their government and I can’t think of a better example of why than the attitude displayed by Congressman Eric Massa of New York<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rep. Massa met with an intimate group of Netroots activists during their annual Netroots Nation gathering in Pittsburgh this past weekend reiterated his support and promised the he would\u00a0 “… vote adamantly against the interests\u00a0of my district if I actually think what I am doing is going to be helpful.” In a broad sense I don’t have a problem with that, politicians aren’t supposedly to be automatons who blindly follow public opinion. George W. Bush, for example, ignored broad public opposition to order implementation of the surge strategy in Iraq. And it appears he was right to do so.<\/p>\n

The problem here is that when you take Rep. Massa’s remarks in context with remarks by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid calling opponents of health care reform “un-American” and\/or an “Evil mob” you’re left with a very frightening impression… You’re left with the impression that our elected leaders have forgotten that they were elected to represent we the people, you are left with the impression that they have forgotten they are our\u00a0 representatives\u00a0 not are rulers.<\/p>\n

Thomas Jefferson said “When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.” We have come to a point were a broad swath of Americans have lost faith in their government… Remarks like those of Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid and Rep. Massa’s only serve to reinforce the belief that our elected leaders no longer respect we the people, and instead consider us a bunch of ignorant rubes who need to be told to shut up and stand quietly by while their betters rule the nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sen. Tom Coburn is right, American’s have lost faith in their government and I can’t think of a better example of why than the attitude displayed by Congressman Eric Massa of New York. Rep. Massa met with an intimate group of Netroots activists during their annual Netroots Nation gathering in Pittsburgh this past weekend reiterated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[43,7],"tags":[534,160,59,796,161,1366,131,477],"class_list":{"0":"post-2621","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-health-care","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-2010-elections","9":"tag-congress","10":"tag-democrats","11":"tag-eric-massa","12":"tag-harry-reid","13":"tag-health-care","14":"tag-nancy-pelosi","15":"tag-new-york","16":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfpI7-Gh","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2863,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/10\/19\/jack-and-squat-obama-not-leading-on-health-care-reform-says-dem-congressman\/","url_meta":{"origin":2621,"position":0},"title":"Jack and Squat: Obama Not Leading on Health Care Reform, Says Dem Congressman","author":"Jeff","date":"October 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"From The Hill: President Barack Obama is falling short as Democrats' leader in the fight for health reform, according to a freshman Dem lawmaker. Freshman Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) openly lamented the Obama administration's calculated decision to let the House and Senate craft their own health bills, with the congressman\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Health Care"","block_context":{"text":"Health Care","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/health-care\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1860,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/04\/01\/holder-overrules-doj-ruling-saying-dc-vote-bill-is-unconstitutional\/","url_meta":{"origin":2621,"position":1},"title":"Holder Overrules DOJ Ruling Saying D.C. Vote Bill Is Unconstitutional","author":"Jeff","date":"April 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The Washington Post reports in today's edition that Attorney General Eric Holder overruled lawyers in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel who ruled that the DC voting rights bill violates the Constitution: Justice Department lawyers concluded in an unpublished opinion earlier this year that the historic D.C. voting rights\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Law"","block_context":{"text":"Law","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/law\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2795,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/09\/30\/alan-grayson-idiot\/","url_meta":{"origin":2621,"position":2},"title":"Alan Grayson: Idiot","author":"Jeff","date":"September 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL) took to the House floor Tuesday and let fly with what may just be the most idiotic remarks in the history of American politics: Grayson is a first term Congressman representing Florida's 8th Congressional District... A traditionally Republican leaning district. He's vulnerable, he knows it and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Health Care"","block_context":{"text":"Health Care","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/health-care\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2659,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/27\/arrogance-congressman-asks-for-voters-id-before-answering-question\/","url_meta":{"origin":2621,"position":3},"title":"Arrogance: Congressman Asks For Voters ID Before Answering Question – Updated","author":"Jeff","date":"August 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I've have to hand it to Congressman Jim Moran of Virginia... I didn't think members could be anymore dismissive or condescending towards constituents than Steny Hoyer or Nancy Pelosi, who called town hall protesters un-American in a USA Today op-ed... But Congressman Moran found a way to sink to a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Health Care"","block_context":{"text":"Health Care","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/health-care\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2260,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/27\/rep-joe-sestak-to-chalenge-arlen-specter\/","url_meta":{"origin":2621,"position":4},"title":"Rep. Joe Sestak to Chalenge Arlen Specter","author":"Jeff","date":"May 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"TPM is reporting that Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) is privately telling supports that he intends to challenge newly minted Democratic incumbent Arlen Specter: \"He intends to get in the race,\" says Meg Infantino, the Congressman's sister, who works at Sestak for Congress. \"In the not too distant future, he will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4046,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2011\/06\/16\/breaking-weiner-tells-friends-he-will-step-down\/","url_meta":{"origin":2621,"position":5},"title":"Breaking: Weiner Tells Friends He Will Step Down","author":"Jeff","date":"June 16, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The New York Times\u00a0 is reporting this morning that embattled New York Congressman Anthony Weiner has told friends he will step down: Anthony D. Weiner has told friends that he plans to resign his seat after coming under growing pressure from his Democratic colleagues to leave the House, said a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Breaking News"","block_context":{"text":"Breaking News","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/breaking-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2621\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}