Announcing 21 Reasons to Retire Jim Moran! With just 21 days to go before Election Day, and to commemorate Jim Moran’s 21 years in Congress, each day we’ll focus on a specific Moranic issue and why it’s one of countless reasons to retire Jim Moran, culminating the day before Election Day. This series of reasons is by no means exhaustive! Check back every day!
After 21 years as a mostly unchecked hyper-partisan lawmaker, Jim Moran has clearly built his own fantasy world in which the economy is fine and dandy, Jews cause wars, and anyone who votes Republican is a racist.
Moran’s fantasy world:
“This is still a wealthy country, we’re not broke.” — Moran on MSNBC, July 2012
“We are not in a recession.” — Moran’s chief of staff Austin Durrer, September 2012
“The economy has recovered.” — Moran on MSNBC, June 2010
The real world:
Unemployment continues to hover around 8%, gas is pushing $4.00/gallon, prices are rising, growth is slow, the national debt is $16,000,000,000,000, and the federal budget deficit is another trillion dollars.
Moran’s fantasy world:
Congressman Allen West is not authentically black because he’s a Republican, and Jim Moran is the arbiter of black-ness.
The real world:
Race has nothing to do with political beliefs (or at least it shouldn’t).
Moran’s fantasy world:
“[Republican successes in the 2010 elections] happened for the same reason the Civil War happened in the United States. It happened because the Southern states, the slaveholding states, didn’t want to see a president who was opposed to slavery. In this case, I believe, a lot of people in the United States don’t want to be governed by an African-American, particularly one who is liberal, who wants to spend money and who wants to reach out to include everyone in our society.” — Moran, January 2011
The real world:
The tens of millions of Americans who voted for Republicans in 2010 are racists who can’t stand having a black president. Not.
Moran’s fantasy world:
Military service is not public service.
The real world:
No explanation needed.
Moran’s fantasy world:
Cutting $33 billion from the federal budget will devastate Americans!
The real world:
The budget deficit is over $1 trillion. Cuts must be made to ensure the future is prosperous for our children and grandchildren.
Moran’s fantasy world:
American troops engaged in ethnic cleansing in Baghdad.
The real world:
What a disgusting statement.
Moran’s fantasy world:
“We’d all be better off if they took the Virginia and Maryland suburbs and made them part of [D.C.]” — Moran, January 2012
The real world:
The Constitution prohibits D.C. from being any larger than 10 square miles.
“At first blush, it’s hard to fathom why anyone, Republican, Democrat, Independent or space alien, would want to trade Virginia’s great leadership, budget surpluses and low unemployment for…Washington, D.C. The city politicians who control our nation’s capital aren’t exactly a beacon of efficiency, honesty or character.” — Patrick Murray
Moran’s fantasy world:
Patrick Murray takes a conservative stance on immigration – that clearly means he wants to shoot illegal immigrants!
The real world:
Moran is delusional.
Moran’s fantasy world:
The Republicans in the House conspired with the (evil!!!) Koch brothers to mandate that their products be used in the House cafeterias.
The real world:
“Moran must have been wearing a tin foil hat on the day he came up with this one. Pants on Fire!” — PolitiFact
(Also, who cares about the cups in the House cafeteria?)
Moran’s fantasy world:
“If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this.” — Moran, March 2003
“The American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is “the most powerful lobby and has pushed this war from the beginning. I don’t think they represent the mainstream of American Jewish thinking at all, but because they are so well organized, and their members are extraordinarily powerful — most of them quite wealthy — they have been able to exert power.” — Moran, Tikkun, September 2007
The real world:
“Besides being patently untrue and foolish, your poisonous remarks are reminiscent of age-old vicious canards that have been hurled against Jews for generations.” — Jewish Community Council of Washington, March 2003
“Your assertions are irresponsible and have absolutely no basis in fact. The idea that the war in Iraq began because of the influence of Jewish Americans is factually incorrect and unfortunately fits the anti-Semitic stereotypes some have used historically against Jews.” — Joint letter to Moran from 16 Jewish members of Congress, September 2007
Moran’s fantasy world:
The Democrats hold no responsibility for the 2008 financial crisis and the resulting recession.
The real world:
Both parties are responsible. Anyone with half a brain to see past their biases knows that.