...according to Representative Aaron Schock, a man who has served in the House of Representatives for a little over a year, whose 18th Congressional District of Illinois has a population of 653,647 (2000), as stated on Meet The Press, Sunday, February 14, 2010.
(All bolding is mine)
REP. AARON SCHOCK (R-IL): Well, look, all I can tell you is what my constituents are telling me and where I think most of Americans are, which is they see an American citizen who attacks their soldiers at a, at a base in Fort Hood, Texas, tried in a military tribunal. And they see a foreigner who comes to our soil for the sole purpose of attacking our country and our American citizens and he's read his Miranda rights. The majority of Americans, the polls indicate, do not support the president and this administration's plan to try these people in civilian court. And I think it's rightfully so why the administration is now backpedaling on their decision to hold these trials in downtown New York.
REP. SCHOCK: Absolutely not. And I think it's insult to most Americans to suggest that their elected representatives who are carrying their views and the message of, of the majority of Americans to Washington and to this debate are somehow helping al-Qaeda. Mind you, these are the--many of these Democrats, including Mr. Brennan who served in the last administration, faced many of these same attacks under then-President Bush from, from the left. So the idea that we can't challenge the administration and their view on the fight on terrorism is completely bogus.
REP. SCHOCK: But at the end of the day, we're representing mainstream America and the majority of views. And, and whether it's closing Guantanamo Bay and moving it to the heartland of America, whether it's the, the--trying these folks in downtown New York, whether it's Mirandizing terrorists who come to this country to attack us, the majority of Americans have not bought, do not believe that Obama and his administration is right on these policies.
REP. SCHOCK: Absolutely. From day one back in April, I joined with over a hundred Republican colleagues of mine on a letter with John Boehner and Eric Cantor to the president, who said, "Mr. President, we want to work with you on healthcare reform. We have ideas. We want to meet with you." And for the good part of that year, the president spent his, his, his time only working with Democratic members. And it wasn't until the losses in New Jersey and Virginia and, subsequently, the Scott Brown election in Massachusetts that have forced them to the table to talk about truly wanting to work with us. Unfortunately, yesterday we learned that, that Speaker Pelosi and Harry Reid are now trying to develop a new bill before the February 25th summit. If that's the case, I think it's unfortunate. We need to start from scratch, which is where the American people are on this issue. They have overwhelmingly rejected both the House and the Senate versions. And if the president was--is willing to start from scratch, is truly willing to be a negotiator, meet us halfway, where the American people are, we will support it.
REP. SCHOCK: Well, I think his, his agenda is clearly out of touch with mainstream America. It's why we had a rock star president a year ago with over 80 percent favorabilities and now he's below 50 percent. It's because cap and trade, the stimulus, healthcare bills are out of touch with where America wants us to be. And the Republican Party has been where we--the American people have been, which is talking about jobs, talking about the economy, talking about tax cuts to get our economy going again. That's what America wants us focused on. And despite the president continuing to talk about jobs, their stimulus packages and bills continue to just spend.
Quotes taken from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
It's frustrating and demoralizing to time and time again see/hear politicians, most notably Republicans, although the Democrats do it, too, emphatically state what Americans want and how Americans think without journalists, anchors and whomever questioning them on their erroneous assertions.
Rachel Maddow was at her very best today on the Panel. She conclusively proved that she should be the person hosting Meet the Press. She has this silly little idiosyncrasy of educating herself and gathering facts, thus being knowledgeable to talk about an issue and question anyone's erroneous statements.
The Meet the Press Roundtable video can be found here, starting with
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
Instead of politicians telling us what we want, they should show us what they can do, and then WE'LL decide if that's what we want.