Bloomberg: Newly Elected Pols Can't Read

FoxNews.com ^ | 11/8/10 | Staff

[throwback]

I’m more interested in their math skills anyway. So when NY requests it’s next bailout, the illiterates can just say “I don’t know what New York is, but their bailout from this Congress is $0.”

[coloradan]

But, it’s you, Mike, who can’t read. You can’t tell what “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” means. It’s not even that many words - but it’s apparently too many for you.

[Anti-Bubba182]

Bloomberg is an arrogant prick!

[jmaroneps37]

A sour grapes scumbag.

[grey_whiskers]

FUMB!!!

Here's why:

Here is a full transcript of the CNSNews.com interview with Sen. Tom Carper (D.-Del.):

Nicholas Ballasy, CNSNews.com: I wanted to ask you if you plan, if you’re going, to read the entire actual text of the health care bill before the committee votes on it.

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.): I don’t expect to actually read the legislative language because reading the legislative language is among the more confusing things I’ve ever read in my life. We, we write in this committee and legislate with plain English and I think most of us can understand most of that. When you get into the legislative language, Senator Conrad actually read some of it, several pages of it, the other day and I don’t think anybody had a clue--including people who have served on this committee for decades--what he was talking about.

Source:

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/54930

Rep. John Conyers Jr., Michigan Democrat, disparaged lawmakers for even pretending to read the laws they pass. "I love these members, they get up and say, 'Read the bill,' " he said last week at the National Press Club. "What good is reading the bill if it's a thousand pages and you don't have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you've read the bill?"

Source:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/29/read-the-bill-congressmen/

Speaking at a forum in his home state, Baucus and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius were asked by an audience member if they had read the whole bill and "if not, that is the most despicable, irresponsible thing.”

“I don’t think you want me to waste my time to read every page of the healthcare bill," Baucus said, according to the Flathead Beacon. "You know why? It’s statutory language ... We hire experts."

Source:

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/115749-sen-baucus-suggests-he-did-not-read-entire-health-bill

This is what happens when Senate and House pass bills without reading them. The brand new Finance Reform bill has "overtly broad Freedom of Information Act exemption" to put it gently. See below the press release....yes, this is disgraceful and shows what happens when they won't even bother to read and study what they pass.

PS This "no reading" is an epidemic with BOTH parties...not just Dems but Repubs, too! They can't read all the bills but they sure can read the important ones and, with rare exception, no one does.

-----

Comment Of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.),

Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee,

On FOIA Exemptions For The Securities And Exchange

Commission

August 2, 2010

“The Freedom of Information Act is our nation’s premier open government law, and a powerful guardian of the public’s right to know. The Wall Street reform bill that has now become law makes great strides toward enhancing transparency in our financial system. However, I am concerned that an overly broad Freedom of Information Act exemption, originally drafted in the House of Representatives and which was included in the final law, is contrary to the very important goals of the Wall Street Reform bill - restoring accountability and transparency to our financial markets. The SEC should immediately issue guidance narrowly interpreting this FOIA exemption in a manner that is both consistent with the President’s policy of government transparency and with Congressional intent. I will work with the Obama administration and others in Congress to ensure that the SEC remains subject to FOIA and accountable to the American people.”

And even Connie Schultz, the wife of a Dem, who writes for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, jumps into the act...

UPDATE at 11:18 a.m.: The headline on my column, which I did not write, was unfortunate in that it suggested I was instructing all Americans to read the proposed health reform bill. I don't think it's incumbent upon every citizen to read the bill. My concern, as stated in this column, is about misinformation regarding proposed coverage for end-of-life care. Some readers, here in the comments and in e-mails sent to me this morning at The Plain Dealer, have asked for an online version of the bill so that they can read it. There are four similar versions right now; this version is in the Senate.

Source:

http://www.cleveland.com/schultz/index.ssf/2009/08/elderly_americans_should_read.html

Bite me, Bloomberg.