We're seeing the hypocrisy daily:
The TX GOP Congressman berating a Federal Park ranger for the closure of a WWII memorial to visiting WWII veterans - a closure necessitated by his vote and those of his fellow Tea Baggers
The standing ovation in Congress for the Capitol Police force in the wake of their actions yesterday when a motorist tried to ram her way through a security barricade, even as that same Congress with its shutdown, results in those security personnel continuing to work but getting no paychecks.
Bureau of Labor Statistics....no jobs report. Major portions of our nation's food industry essentially uninspected for food health and safety, National Guard troops unable to help Colorado communities recover from massive flooding and road closures as winter approaches.
But that didn't deter Fox News Business host Stuart Varney from letting everyone know his views about federal workers.
The details below the graphic picture of Varney's entrails:
Via Media Matters:
On the October 2 edition of AM 560's The Big John & Amy Show, co-hosts John Howell and Amy Jacobson interviewed Fox Business' Stuart Varney and asked him about the government shutdown and its effect on workers and the economy. Varney stated, incorrectly, that the shutdown was not having an impact on financial markets or the greater economy before launching into a tirade against federal employees.
HOWELL: Do you think that federal workers, when this ends, are deserving of their back pay or not?
VARNEY: That is a loaded question isn't it? You want my opinion? This is President Obama's shutdown. He is responsible for shutting this thing down; he's taken an entirely political decision here. No, I don't think they should get their back pay, frankly, I really don't. I'm sick and tired of a massive, bloated federal bureaucracy living on our backs, and taking money out of us, a lot more money than most of us earn in the private sector, then getting a furlough, and then getting their money back at the end of it. Sorry, I'm not for that. I want to punish these people. Sorry to say that, but that's what I want to do.
JACOBSON: But it's not their fault. It's not the federal employees' fault. I mean, that's what I'm sick of, I hate and it makes me anxious, to see people who are victimized because of a political fight.
VARNEY: I take your point Amy, it is not directly their fault, but I'm looking at the big picture here. I'm getting screwed. Here I am, a private citizen, paying an inordinate amount of money in tax. I've got a slow economy because it's all government, all the time. And these people are living on our backs, regulating us, telling us what to do, taxing us, taking our money, and living large. This is my chance to say "hey, I'm fed up with this and I don't miss you when you're on furlough." Sorry if that's a harsh tone, but that's the way I feel.
I am frankly at a loss for words. Not since Rick Santelli launched his famous diatribe at the government bailout program on CNBC has a right-wing nutjob been so publicly and completely clueless, insensitive and ignorant as Mr. Varney.
Born in England in 1949, he came to the US in 1974. He has worked for Fox, CNN and CNBC and lives in Franklin Lakes, NJ which, according to Wikipedia, has the 18th highest income of the state's 566 municipalities and 146th in Forbes listing of "America's Most Expensive ZIP Codes", with a median home price of $1,306,546
I am sure we can all understand the incredible pain and suffering Mr. Varney has had to endure living in these kinds of conditions and how much better off he would be if all federal and state workers simply quit their jobs to make his life happier.
There must be a special place in the Callousness Hall of Fame for Mr. Varney. Perhaps Kossacks can suggest some fitting consequences for his brutal and totally uninformed diatribe.