Monday, November 07, 2011

Billy Long and the politics of "NO". Mel Hancock Dies.


From PoliticoMO comes this report: Long: "I'm still "fed up".

NEOSHO, MO. — After ten months in Congress, Freshman Rep. Billy Long says he is still “fed up” with Washington.

The former Springfield auctioneer, who made a campaign out of being upset with the ways of Washington, told Republicans in Neosho his time in Washington hasn’t been easy.

“We thought we could stop all of the things we were fed up with,” Long said, citing the Affordable Care Act, the Recovery Act, and other pieces of legislation passed by the Democrat-controlled congress of 2008.

But the Republican controlled House is trumped by a Senate controlled largely by Democrats, who won’t have anything to do with the Republican’s legislative agenda. Long said taking control of the U.S. Senate should be a top priority for local activists.

“When you have half of the government, you don’t have much,” he said. “We’ve got a key, important senate race.”

Long said though they haven’t been able to achieve huge legislative victories, Republicans have changed the conversation in Washington. Beyond that, “Our job has been to stop as much as we can stop,” he said.

A highlight of the last couple weeks, he said, was having the opportunity to meet with multiple Republican presidential candidates, including Herman Cain, Mitt Romney, and others.

His pick? “I’m A.B.O.,” Long, always ready with a one-liner said. “Anybody but Obama.”
In other news, former congressman Mel Hancock died in his sleep Sunday morning.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

As they say in the cattle business, "He looks fed out."

Timeshare Jake said...

Seriously, he is "still fed up with Washington." He wasn't fed up when he voted to raise the debt ceiling another $2.4 trillion. What an imbecile! He still thinks we are going to buy that fed up line.

Anonymous said...

If Billy keeps this up, Mel will roll over in his casket before it even hits the grave.

Busplunge said...

Did you ever notice how Long says one thing to one group, like he's still fed up and the complete opposite to another group.

Some say Long goes which ever way the wind blows,

Some say Long is only as smart as the last person he talked to.

Still others say a person doesn't play $20,000 high stakes poker without being able to bluff.

And I think Billy pulled the bluff on all of us.

I remember when Hancock won the primary, it was a 4- way primary. That's where the race was, not in the general. If it would have been a two person primary, Mel probably wouldn't have won.

Does anyone remember who else was in that primary?

Anonymous said...

Nodler, Smith, and another???

Busplunge said...

Gary Nodler,
Dennis Smith and
Cecil Huff.

Hancock won the primary with a plurality of 38.8%,
Nodler got 35.5%,
Smith got 21.3%,
Huff got 4.5%.

Nodler and Smith were the rational candidates. If either of them had been out of the race, Hancock would not have won the primary.

In MO7, the winner of the Republican primary will win the general, usually with a wide margin. The real race is in the primary.

Compare this election to Long's win in the 8 person primary.

Busplunge said...

http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=375006

Anonymous said...

Other than the Long endorsement, I agreed with and appreciated Mel's years of dedicated service to the Republic, not only as an elected official, but, more importantly, as an involved, dedicated citizen.

Anonymous said...

Cecil Huff, the dude ranch and trail ride dude from down in Douglas County, near Ava. A good guy, but, he hooked up with every radical farm organization that came down his lane.

You are right about Nodler and Smith versus Mel, but, again a minority decision.

Anonymous said...

My Pappy tolt me that they carry on in the big ciddy.

JOH said...

You know how I feel about Billy Long. I have made my feelings known to you too many times. He is an idiot that is in Washington D.C. to fill his own pockets. He is not "Fed Up" with Washington, he just wants to get all he can from the lobbyist.

Anonymous said...

Certainly looks like he has bin fed well at least, if not fed up at some point.

Anonymous said...

So...Republicans only have half the government. Help me here: I thought we have 3 branches of government, Legislative, Executive and Judicial. Which half of those three do Republicans control?

Never mind. Every time Long talks, I get a headache and a puppy dies.

Anonymous said...

Billy Long looks like he's still fed up! hehe