According to a report by Talking Points Memo, freshman GOP Representative and Tea Party caucus member Sean Duffy of Wisconsin said at a townhall in response to a questioner that he's struggling to get by on his $174,000 salary. Specifically, he said:
"I can guarantee you, or most of you, I guarantee that I have more debt than all of you. With 6 kids, I still pay off my student loans. I still pay my mortgage. I drive a used minivan. If you think I'm living high on the hog, I've got one paycheck. So I struggle to meet my bills right now. Would it be easier for me if I get more paychecks? Maybe, but at this point I'm not living high on the hog."
Being Mr. Personal Responsibility and all, Duffy is blaming Democrats for this, and the Youtube video of the townhall has been removed. Fortunately TPM has clips of the exchange.
I guess I might have a bit more sympathy for him were it not for the fact that 1) he is one of these Teabaggers calling for huge cuts to federal funding and services for poor and working folks who make far less than $174,000 a year; 2) Teabaggers of his ilk have spent the last few years self-righteously and hypocritically chastising poor and working folks about personal responsibility and living within their means (how many times have you heard Teabaggers say that poor people shouldn't have more children than they can afford?); and 3) Duffy strongly supports Governor Walker's efforts to cut the salaries and eliminate the collective bargaining rights of Wisconsin's public service employees, most of whom are struggling on much, much less than he.
To be fair, Duffy does say that he supports the idea of "public employees across the board" taking a pay cut, in addition to saying, "Let's all join hands together and say 'I'll take a pay decrease, absolutely."
But what this highlights is just how out of touch these Republican Teabaggers are with the Real World. Duffy seems to feel that we should feel sorry for the fact that he makes only $174,000 a year, yet his Teabagger friends seem to think we should not care about, if not have outright contempt for the struggles of working people who also have student loan debts, mortgages, have several kids, and who might have to work for several paychecks that still don't amount to anywhere near $174,000, even with both parents working (apparently Duffy's wife chooses to be a stay-at-home mom, which is fine and possible while living on $174,000 a year, but is something most families in the Real World don't have the luxury of doing).
Anyhow, hopefully next year voters of Wisconsin's 7th District will be laying off this particular public sector employee so he can be free to pull himself up by his own bootstraps out there in the Real World.