Wanker of the Day: Rep. Mark Meadows

I guess Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) isn’t overly proud of his pre-congressional career as a “small business owner.” His official bio says he was a small business owner for 27 years, but it doesn’t mention what kind of business or businesses he owned. His official Wikipedia page says that “In 1987, Meadows started a small restaurant. He later sold it, and used the proceeds to start a development company in Florida.” Unfortunately, this statement has been flagged as needing a source.

Maybe if I cared more, I could Google around and learn a little bit about Rep. Meadow’s development company in Florida. Feel free to do this if you are having a slow Sunday.

The only reason I was remotely curious about this man is because he just got stripped of his chairmanship of some lowly subcommittee for pissing off Speaker Boehner.

House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) has removed Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) from his post as a subcommittee chairman, according to a Chaffetz spokesperson.

The removal comes after Meadows bucked House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in opposing a vote that would give President Obama expanded powers to “fast track” his trade agenda.

Boehner meted out less serious discipline to several other members, as well.

Meadows represents Western North Carolina. It’s basically Heath Shuler’s old territory. He’s a big Tea Party guy whose greatest legislative contribution so far has been to pass a bill related to Hizbollah. I can pretty much guarantee that Rep. Meadows doesn’t know how Hizbollah did in the latest Lebanese elections. Someone told him they were a terrorist organization and he probably pictures them as hiding out in caves in Afghanistan or something. You see, Rep. Meadows is a moron.

He didn’t want to give us any federal aid to assist us after Superstorm Sandy hit the Mid-Atlantic. Do you know that hurricanes often land in North Carolina?

He supports a Balanced Budget Amendment, which is the stupidest, most irresponsible idea to be introduced by the leadership of a party in the history of the country.

He wants a balanced budget, mind you, after we repeal the Estate Tax, the capital gains tax, and enact a flat income tax that will eliminate most revenue from that source.

He not only opposes reproductive rights, he opposes churches giving their parishioners information about birth control.

He was also a leader of a rump group of lunatics who demanded that Speaker Boehner default on our debts and destroy our country’s credit rating to avoid funding Obamacare.

John Ostendorff of the Asheville Citizen-Times wrote Meadows “said it’s best to close the government in the short term to win a delay on ‘Obamacare’, despite the potential negative impact on the economy.” Ostendorff wrote that Meadows said he was doing what Tea Party members in Western North Carolina wanted him to do. Meadows said his constituents wanted him to fight against “Obamacare” “regardless of consequences.” Jane Bilello, head of the Asheville Tea Party and political action committee said Meadows “truly represents us” on the issue of “Obamacare”. Meadows reportedly holds conference calls with members of the Asheville Tea Party, telling them what’s going on in Congress, and about challenges he faces promoting their agenda.

At this point you won’t be surprised to learn that he’s a climate science denying member of the “Drill, Baby, Drill” camp and wants to put his state’s beautiful beaches at risk by opening up the coastal waters to oil and gas exploration.

But he was some of kind of small businessman, so you can’t question his judgment.

Author: BooMan

Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.