Billy Long voted correctly today. He voted to shut down the federal government, but considering his lackadaisical approach to cutting government spending, like continuing using federal money to sponsor NASCAR teams, I haven't decided if Congressman Long did it for the right reasons or if he did it because he felt he would get some time off to head to the casinos near the DC area.
In a rare vote, Billy Long broke away from those rascally career politicians known as the establishment, which he once claimed he was fed up with but embraced within minutes after winning the Republican primary as the "fed up" candidate. You have to give credit to Long for this one considering his constant ogling of John Boehner through Long's Boehner retweets day after day. After all, it was Boehner's lame idea to prevent the government shut down while bragging he could save us $4 billion as the national debt continues to climb towards $15 trillion.
Billy Long, of Springfield, Missouri, was among more than 50 conservative Republicans who joined Democrats in voting no to the extension. No St. Louis-area Democrat voted in favor of the stop-gap fix.
"As Senate Democrats take to the floor to defend even minor frivolous spending, such as subsidies for cowboy poetry, it is clear they lack the conviction or courage to address the nation's dire fiscal problems," Long said in a statement.
What, Billy Long, member of the cowboy hat caucus doesn't enjoy cowboy poetry? Not even a poem about a cowboy auctioneer who is out of his league painted in tradition melancholy that poetry often delivers? At least we know Billy Long is still getting all his information from Fox News.
He never misses the chance for a sound bite does he; although it's not clear if he really understands the seriousness of the issue. For a rare moment, Long is right, and while Long will never admit it, I give him credit when he deserves credit. It's a rare thing, but it's not the first time.
I guess the real question here is, as Long attacks cowboy poetry, does he understand cowboy poetry is a very small portion of the problem, and as co-sponsors bills that increase the size of the federal government, like the "If You See Something Say Something Act of 2011" any savings gained from cutting out cowboy poetry from the federal budget is soon lost with another ridiculous, inefficient federal government program. As well, until military, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, federal education budgets, federal energy budgets, and other inefficient government is cut, nothing is going to change.
