At the Palm Springs Lincoln Club, I had the pleasure of speaking as the opening act for Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack.
(This column does not constitute an endorsement of me by her, although rumor has it I am as delightful as she is hot.)
The event was set up by San Bernardino Radio Host Elyse Richmond.
I got to speak with Congresswoman Bono Mack at length, and she is an incredibly funny and thoughtful person. She is not just thoughtful in her kindness. She is thoughtful in terms of the careful deliberations she puts into studying issues. She is not an ideologue. Far from it. In a world where being a moderate is seen as a curse word, she is an openly proud, out of the closet, moderate Republican.
Yet she is also tolerant. She does not denigrate the more conservative members of the party. She understands that moderate and conservative Republicans are interdependent.
Before getting down to policy, she began by telling a hilarious story about her neighbor, an American Indian. She looked at her neighbor in the audience before cracking us all up.
“Your dog leapt over the fence and impregnated my dog. I should now be entitled to 1/16th of the Indian gaming revenue.”
She also pointed out the reason why he liked to tell that embarrassing story of what happened to her dog.
“I won $700 at your casino.”
Later in the evening a supporter offered to make a $700 donation to her campaign to match her winnings. She was quick to respond.
“Did I say $700? I think it was close to $1000.”
She then pointed to me and said, “Eric, it is good that you do conservative comedy. You are in the business and support the GOP. That makes four of us.”
She then got down to nuts and bolts.
“The Axis of Evil is spreading. I wish President Obama took foriegn policy more seriously.”
(Her tone the entire evening was respectful and calm. She was not tossing out red meat.)
“We will not have health care reform until we have meaningful tort reform.”
“I am a moderate Republican. I reach across the aisle.”
“I sponsored the MATCH Act. This created a national registry of arsonists. We do this with sex offenders, and we needed to do it with arsonists. I worked on this with Adam Schiff.”
“I would be a prime suspect for President Obama to reach out on health care reform. He never did, not once.”
“We need to scrap this bill and start over.”
“They are going to tax Coca-Cola. Sorry Eric.”
(The crowd laughed since I was drinking from a Diet Coke bottle as she said this. I put the bottle down, horrified. Her timing was impeccable.)
“The doctors at the Veteran’s Administration are good. The bureaucracy is not.”
Congresswoman Bono was asked about President Obama’s lack of transparency. She was very charitable toward the President.
“President Obama is still getting his sea legs. He has only been in office a few months. Yet I work in Congress, and Nancy Pelosi is not being transparent. Bills are available only 12 hours before we vote on them. She needs to create a more transparent House. Obama is still getting his sea legs.”
“Nancy Pelosi lives in San Francisco. She is not hearing the rest of America.”
“We benefit by her being speaker. Steny Hiyer would be an amazing speaker. I disagree with him, but he would be effective. We do not want Pelosi to be removed as Speaker.”
“Pelosi has a 727. She doesn’t have to stop in Fargo, North Dakota, to refuel. She doesn’t meet the people in Middle America.”
“Barbara Boxer has said that on health care, the Federal government should cover 75% and the state government should cover 35%. She said this. You do the math.”
“Nobody should be dropped from their insurance due to preexisting conditions.”
“The crisis is not with healthcare. It is with the uninsured. How do we deal with the invincibles? Many young people don’t want coverage. We can’t force them.”
“This bill is a political ploy. It is a chicken in every pot.”
What surprised me was that nobody in the audience brought up cap and trade. Congresswoman Bono Mack was one of only eight Republicans in the House that voted for it. She has taken considerable heat from conservatives. Some have vowed never to support her again, while those in the audience fiercely defended her and said that they would not judge her by that one issue.
To the credit of Congresswoman Bono-Mack, she decided to bring the issue up herself. She had every opportunity to hide and accept plaudits, but she decided to show a spine and honestly explain her rationale in voting for what many see as an awful bill. Even if opne still disagrees with her, her integrity and courage are admirable.
“Put yourself in my shoes on this vote. The administration on cap and trade was doing the equivalent of performing surgery with a hacksaw.”
“The EPA was beginning to move toward regulating greenhouse gases. They worked with Shell, British Petroleum, John Deere, and others who wanted to help craft legislation rather than be regulated out of business.
“I needed to head off Henry Waxman. Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are upset about this, and I understand.”
“Remember, the Federal government has broad powers to punish businesses. They are currently shutting the water off for Central Valley farmers.”
“We also need to fight for nuclear energy as part of any energy policy package.”
“I am a pragmatist. I had to represent the district. Thank you for not marching on my office. We should be marching on Barbara Boxer’s office.”
Congresswoman Bono-Mack stuck around the entire night. She had dinner in the hotel with everybody else, and did not leave until most everybody else had done so.
As I said, she is a classy, gracious, and intelligent woman. She is not interested in slash and burn politics.
She is in Congress for the very reason people are supposed to be in political office.
She wants to make the lives of her constituents better. She understands that nobody has a monopoly on good ideas.
A very good idea would be for her to be reelected repeatedly.
eric
Ordinary I would applaud the Nobel Peace prize committee for most of their selections, but this time they goofed big time.
If the prize is given for results..and not attempt, they have picked the
worst winner in decades.
I mean, come on, give me a break, giving our do-nothing President
the award, (and over 1m) is appauling. He simply doesn’t deserve it.
I would have given the award to Bibi Netanyahu, whose efforts to date
have included listing red lines for any peace (genuine) with the 100 year old enemy. They include not dividing Jerusalem, a demilitarized Palestinian state, the dismantling of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, economic cooperation between the two sides, Arab control over their holy sites, no return of Muslims whose parent and grandparents fled the area after 6 Arab countries criminally attacked Israel in 1948.
I mean, what has Obama achieved?
As I have posted previously, No. korea still is enriching plutonium..and has several nukes. Venezuela is mining uranium to give ( or sell) to Iran.
Iran now has both enriched uranium and delivery systems (Shihab). It’s leader is being “engaged” by Obama, while thousands are under arrest for demonstrating against the rigged election. Cuba is still under commie control, and China just paraded it’s advanced missiles, which can reach the US armed with nuclear warheads. Syria is allowing Russia to build
a large naval base.
Can anyone imagine Obama, who cannot make a decision about Afghanistan, and Iran, receiving the peace prize?
This is a very sad day for the organization and world peace.
These dictators are laughing at US folks, and those that picked Obama.
I like Obama personally. I also like Jay Leno…but I wouldnt vote him for President.
Red meat???
“The Axis of Evil is spreading. I wish President Obama took foriegn policy more seriously.”
It’s spreading? Iraq, Iran and the PRK are “spreading”? Really? Spreading where???
“We will not have health care reform until we have meaningful tort reform.”
Okay. So you guys want the federal government to tell the states how to run their civil courts? Is that what you’re saying? Is that even constitutional? You can make caps on federal penalties, I suppose. how much do you think that would save? A tiny percent of a percent? That’s red meat?
“I am a moderate Republican. I reach across the aisle.”
From one side of the same aisle to the other.
“I sponsored the MATCH Act. This created a national registry of arsonists. We do this with sex offenders, and we needed to do it with arsonists. I worked on this with Adam Schiff.”
Who knew? That’s nice.
“I would be a prime suspect for President Obama to reach out on health care reform. He never did, not once.”
A prime suspect??? That’s a wierd metaphor? What is she some big shot in the GOP these days?
“We need to scrap this bill and start over.”
LOL!
“They are going to tax Coca-Cola. Sorry Eric.”
They should tax it. It’s lousy for you.
“The doctors at the Veteran’s Administration are good. The bureaucracy is not.”
So then, by that logic, the doctors in private practice all over America are good, but the private insurance bureaucracy is lousy, sleazy, crooked, and evil beyond belief.
“President Obama is still getting his sea legs. He has only been in office a few months. Yet I work in Congress, and Nancy Pelosi is not being transparent. Bills are available only 12 hours before we vote on them. She needs to create a more transparent House. Obama is still getting his sea legs.”
I wonder if Mary said the same thing when the GOP was doing the same thing?
“Nancy Pelosi lives in San Francisco. She is not hearing the rest of America.”
Ewwwww… let’s bash San Franciscoooo…. That’s really original.
“We benefit by her being speaker. Steny Hiyer would be an amazing speaker. I disagree with him, but he would be effective. We do not want Pelosi to be removed as Speaker.”
So they want an ineffective speaker???
“Pelosi has a 727. She doesn’t have to stop in Fargo, North Dakota, to refuel. She doesn’t meet the people in Middle America.”
That’s because she represents SAN FRANCISCO. Duh.
“Barbara Boxer has said that on health care, the Federal government should cover 75% and the state government should cover 35%. She said this. You do the math.”
When’d she say that?
“Nobody should be dropped from their insurance due to preexisting conditions.”
That’s nice.
“The crisis is not with healthcare. It is with the uninsured. How do we deal with the invincibles? Many young people don’t want coverage. We can’t force them.”
No. But we could just give it to them whether they like it or not.
“This bill is a political ploy. It is a chicken in every pot.”
Gee, now that’s some red meat! LOL!
Our good host: “What surprised me was that nobody in the audience brought up cap and trade.”
Yeah, CnT is a steaming pile. But there’s money in ‘dem ‘der bills. Expect it to become yet another superfluous and pointless market.
“Remember, the Federal government has broad powers to punish businesses. They are currently shutting the water off for Central Valley farmers.”
That’s because they’re running out of water. Either they slow the flow or eventually, and not too far off, it will simply stop forever for most of them.
“We also need to fight for nuclear energy as part of any energy policy package.”
LOL! Yeah, that’s a great investment! LOL! Why can’t you brilliant “free market” Republicans figure out why no one builds those expensive boondoggles anymore? I guess Big Government is fine with you guys as long as it does what you want – tort “reform,” nuclear power plants, police state social laws… I don’t think there’s even such a thing as a “free market republican.”
JMJ