Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Grayson blames shutdown on GOP literally drinking on the job
salon.com ^ | Josh Eidelson | October 01, 2013

Posted on 10/01/2013 10:45:26 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe

In a Tuesday interview, Rep. Alan Grayson charged that Republican House members have been literally intoxicated while casting votes on the continuing resolutions that set the stage for today’s government shutdown. Noting “a number of public reports that you can smell alcohol on their breath as they’re voting gleefully to shut down the government and create chaos,” Grayson said that he had personally witnessed GOP colleagues smelling like alcohol. “Many of them seem loaded,” said Grayson. The Florida congressman declined to name names, saying, “it’s the usual suspects,” but that he didn’t “really feel like getting that personal with people.”

A spokesperson for Speaker John Boehner did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Politico reporter Ginger Gibson tweeted Saturday that she could “smell the booze wafting from members as they walk off the floor.”

Grayson said he thinks on-the-job alcohol consumption by GOP House members has “been a problem all year long.”

“It’s a fact we all have to live with,” Grayson told Salon, “and it’s making them violent and abusive towards America.”

Grayson also blamed today’s shutdown on Republicans’ “anarchist ideology” and “blind hatred of government,” saying they’ve become “the Captain Ahabs of 21st century American politics. Grayson had particularly harsh words for Speaker Boehner, who he said refused to allow a vote on a “clean CR” to avert a shutdown because “he enjoys his golf games with the president, and he doesn’t want to lose that perk, and so he’s desperate to maintain his relevance, and that means maintaining his position at all costs – even the kind of costs we’re seeing now for the country.” Grayson predicted that the shutdown, given its impact on veterans benefit applications, National Institutes of Health research, and Federal Drug Administration drug approvals, would lead “over time” to deaths.

The congressman said it seems President Obama “has learned from experience” about how to deal with the GOP, “and that’s what needed to happen.” But he panned the president’s decision to bring JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, whose company is reportedly in negotiations on a legal settlement of up to $11 billion, to the White House Wednesday. “I think it would be more constructive to invite in the pope, or perhaps Putin,” said Grayson.

A source told the Wall Street Journal that Dimon and other bank executives would be discussing their debt ceiling concerns.

“It’s true in general that Wall Street dictates our economic policy,” said Grayson, “but in this case neither Jamie Dimon nor anybody else from Wall Street seems to have been able to get the Republicans to understand the obvious resulting difficulties that would come from the largest debtor in the entire world suddenly defaulting on its debt.” He told Salon that “many Republicans in the House still regard the United States defaulting on its debt as a good thing, despite the fact that they’ve had one presentation after another in their own caucus from Wall Street bigwigs explaining the utter chaos” that would result.

Grayson argued that while “reasonable people can disagree” about the merits of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, Republicans are using it “as an excuse to attack the ACA as a whole.”

“When you talk to them privately,” Grayson told Salon, “what you find is that if they could repeal Medicare they would. If they could repeal Medicaid they would,” along with the requirement that emergency rooms treat patients who can’t pay for care.

“They are literally offended by the idea that people would get the care they need to stay healthy or alive even though they can’t afford it,” charged Grayson. “They regard it as some kind of crime against nature.”


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: alangrayson; florida; healthcare; johnboehner
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-36 last
To: Tailgunner Joe

Grayson is CERTIFIABLE.


21 posted on 10/02/2013 3:02:01 AM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion......the Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tailgunner Joe

I wondered why the Huffingtonpost mentioned the smell of alcohol on everyones breath. I wonder how they can explain these same people being sober in all their interviews and still having the same stance?


22 posted on 10/02/2013 3:22:57 AM PDT by sheikdetailfeather (Yuri Bezmenov (KGB Defector) - "Kick The Communists Out of Your Govt. & Don't Accept Their Goodies.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tailgunner Joe

Fla. got rid of this lunatic once. We need to put forth a very concerted effort to do it again for good.


23 posted on 10/02/2013 3:48:10 AM PDT by sheikdetailfeather (Yuri Bezmenov (KGB Defector) - "Kick The Communists Out of Your Govt. & Don't Accept Their Goodies.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tailgunner Joe

Ha ha. With Boehner as Speaker, what do you expect?

Anything that helps the GOP stiffen its spine and find its Inner Churchill is okay with me.


24 posted on 10/02/2013 3:50:12 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...

Thanks Tailgunner Joe.
In a Tuesday interview, Rep. Alan Grayson charged that Republican House members have been literally intoxicated while casting votes on the continuing resolutions... Noting "a number of public reports that you can smell alcohol on their breath as they’re voting gleefully to shut down the government and create chaos," Grayson said that he had personally witnessed GOP colleagues smelling like alcohol... The Florida congressman declined to name names... Politico reporter Ginger Gibson tweeted Saturday that she could "smell the booze wafting from members as they walk off the floor." ... "It’s a fact we all have to live with," Grayson told Salon, "and it’s making them violent and abusive towards America." Grayson also blamed today's shutdown on Republicans' "anarchist ideology" and "blind hatred of government,"
Partisan Media Shills / Incompetent Demagogue ping.


25 posted on 10/02/2013 3:58:40 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's no coincidence that some "conservatives" echo the hard left.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Tailgunner Joe

:: In a Tuesday interview, Rep. Alan Grayson charged ::

Wait...what? Al’s back in Congress?


26 posted on 10/02/2013 4:52:39 AM PDT by Cletus.D.Yokel (Catastrophic Anthropogenic Climate Alterations - The acronym explains the science.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tailgunner Joe

Grayson is a flake, pure and simple. Why anyone listens to anything he says is beyond me. He needs help. There’s a psychiatrist out there just waiting for the chance.


27 posted on 10/02/2013 4:52:46 AM PDT by From The Deer Stand
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tailgunner Joe; alarm rider; stump56; bcsco; PJ-Comix; kimmie7; MissDairyGoodnessVT; ...
No mention of bourbon...yet! But, I'm thinking Senator Cruz is a Rebecca Creek kind of guy:


28 posted on 10/02/2013 4:57:24 AM PDT by Cletus.D.Yokel (Catastrophic Anthropogenic Climate Alterations - The acronym explains the science.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 1035rep

“I wonder if he received any reports about their breath.”

Yes, it’s called “penis breath.”


29 posted on 10/02/2013 5:18:16 AM PDT by jimmyo57
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Tailgunner Joe
There was a time when a congressman who spoke that way about another would have been challenged to a duel, or beaten with a cane.

It's getting close to that time again.

30 posted on 10/02/2013 5:21:34 AM PDT by andy58-in-nh (Cogito, ergo armatum sum.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tailgunner Joe

Literally? What other kind of drinking is there?


31 posted on 10/02/2013 5:46:58 AM PDT by Henry Hnyellar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tailgunner Joe
"Grayson said that he had personally witnessed GOP colleagues smelling like alcohol."

Smelling like alcohol!

That's one reason why Obma and other democrats prefer pot and maybe a little blow - when they can afford it.


32 posted on 10/02/2013 6:24:22 AM PDT by Iron Munro (When a killer screams 'Allahu Akbar' you don't need to be mystified about a motive.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Iron Munro

Went to UCF this past w/e.

Saw a sticker on a student’s car: Grayson Truth


33 posted on 10/02/2013 8:26:24 AM PDT by bicyclerepair (Idiocracy is non-fiction.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Tailgunner Joe

Urban Diktiobnary -

Grayson
definition: self-serving low-life scumbag


34 posted on 10/02/2013 9:44:48 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tailgunner Joe

They probably broke into Pelosi’s Capitol wine cellar.


35 posted on 10/02/2013 9:45:45 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tailgunner Joe

Grayson just moved up a few places on my “Bat-to-the-Head” list.


36 posted on 10/02/2013 9:46:46 AM PDT by 3boysdad (The very elect.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-36 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson