“Are you Serious?” – “Third Rate Grandstander” turns Out to be a Climate Denier as Well..
March 27, 2020
Kentucky GOP representative Thomas Massie is in the news, but sharp eyed readers of this blog probably remember him from this exchange above with Secretary of State John Kerry, about climate change.
He’s now one of the most hated members of congress, neck and neck with his Kentucky colleague Rand Paul, for using a procedural lever to force members of the House to return to Washington DC for a vote on Corona Virus relief.
Thomas Massie might be the least popular man in Washington.
The Kentucky congressman attempted unsuccessfully on Friday to require House members to take a recorded vote in order to pass a $2 trillion coronavirus relief package. And although Massie’s colleagues were able to foil his parliamentary procedure in a matter of seconds, his efforts nonetheless forced scores of lawmakers to travel to Washington amid a pandemic to stop him.
Led by President Donald Trump, both Republicans and Democrats lined up to whack the GOP lawmaker who tried to derail the bipartisan stimulus bill.
“Looks like a third rate Grandstander named @RepThomasMassie, a Congressman from, unfortunately, a truly GREAT State, Kentucky, wants to vote against the new Save Our Workers Bill in Congress,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
House Republican leadership had been concerned that Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) would move to demand a recorded tally as opposed to a voice vote on the historic measure, throwing a last-minute hurdle in the legislation’s path to the president’s desk.
Two hours after Trump’s initial post, Massie confirmed that he would do just that, tweeting: “I swore an oath to uphold the constitution, and I take that oath seriously. In a few moments I will request a vote on the CARES Act which means members of Congress will vote on it by pushing ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or ‘present.’”
Massie ultimately failed on Friday afternoon when the House approved the package. But his threat compelled dozens, if not hundreds, of lawmakers to return to Capitol Hill from their home districts, navigating across interstates and through airports at a time when public health officials have urged Americans to avoid nonessential travel and gathering in large groups.
“He just wants the publicity. He can’t stop it, only delay, which is both dangerous … & costly,” Trump tweeted of Massie. “Workers & small businesses need money now in order to survive. Virus wasn’t their fault. It is ‘HELL’ dealing with the Dems, had to give up some stupid things in order to get the ‘big picture’ done. 90% GREAT! WIN BACK HOUSE, but throw Massie out of Republican Party!”
UPDATE:
Climate Denial Crock of the Week 
March 27, 2020 at 9:34 pm
Does it make me a bad person to want to smash his fat, smug, pansy face?
Another freaking engineer that doesn’t understand real science or human nature.
March 27, 2020 at 10:40 pm
Dear D.O.G.,
As an engineer who has spent the past 44 years getting solar where it is today and pushing for broad, substantial actions on climate change and environmental issues I ask you DO NOT (PLEASE!!!) DO NOT lump all of us engineers in with that jerk!!! I think this is the first thumb down I have ever given you but I would suggest that his being a total jerk and “dumbass” (to use the technical term) is more related to other flaws he possesses and not to his allegedly being an engineer. By the way, your first sentence does NOT make you a bad person, only a good person who truly expects better.
March 28, 2020 at 12:39 pm
I did not say ALL engineers, just “another” one. I admit to some bias here—I first went to engineering school (Stevens in Hoboken), where I discovered that MOST future engineers at that school were not my kind of people—-I and MANY others who felt the same way left after one semester, a number of us going into science fields, me as a science educator. I had little contact with engineers during 30 years in education except as parents, and they were not very different from other parents.
My bias woke up after the Oregon Petition fiasco—that anti-climate change petition signed by 30,000+ “scientists”—-most of them turned out to have NO climate science knowledge at all, and more than half of them were engineers, who had no business calling themselves scientists. I have had recent bad experiences with a retired nuclear engineer, a retired computer engineer, and a biochemical engineer—all competent and respected in their fields—who, IMO, as officers of a hobby group I belong to have shown a level of malignant narcissism and ignorance that rivals Trump’s.
So, sorry to have given you the impression that I lump ALL engineers in with “that jerk”. BTW, a quick look at that jerk’s CV shows that he was actually a superior engineering student at MIT, won awards, and later was successful in business—-his being an asshole apparently has nothing to do with his competence as an engineer.
PS I’m sorry that you have now joined the group of DOG “down thumbers” that includes that low-IQ hide-in-his-mothers-basement masturbator who down-thumbs every comment I make. It is rather “engineerish” to think that is a proper way to express disagreement—-you did a much better job with the words you spoke here.
March 28, 2020 at 7:59 pm
As an engineer from a family of engineers (“My fawtha’s an engineer, my two brothas are engineers, my sista’s an engineer….”), I’ve been distressed to learn (1) how many engineers are Creationists, and (2) how many engineers (and MDs and dentists) mistaken think of themselves as scientists.
March 28, 2020 at 10:43 pm
Some of my best friends are engineers.
March 28, 2020 at 7:56 pm
Thank you again, German language, for the very useful word backpfeifengesicht.
March 28, 2020 at 9:15 pm
“Face I want to slap’ is easier—fewer letters, only one F, and no “sicht’s”
March 27, 2020 at 10:14 pm
If massie is an engineer he bought the degree.
After all these years, IMO much more public denigration is in order. Kerry is a dude! Would like to see the terms ‘stupid’ and ‘criminal’ being slipped in.
March 28, 2020 at 8:42 am
I realize there is urgent need… and I don’t agree with Massie’s motivations, but I’d have to say I like to have the electeds discussion, concerns, evidence that someone other than a few people in a room put thought into $trillions in corporate giveaways, in their approval of the levels of oversight and conditions, and individual votes on record to hold people accountable.
I fear, deeply fear, we are once again looking at the looting of amercia
March 28, 2020 at 8:04 pm
I haven’t checked whether the Dems were successful at attaching strings to the corporate giveaways, but they were very aware of it. While many talked about requiring that recipients not be allowed to spend it on stock buy-backs, I would have preferred that corporations (including at least one airline) which are struggling after they spent their tax break on buying their own stock, be left out entirely.
Tangent: I also agree with Cory Booker et al’s move to disallow members of Congress from owning individual stocks.