Speculating About the Mixed Stories About Billy Long and Peter King's Islam Hearings

Peter King's hearings on radical Islam produced some interesting political theater to speculate about for Southwest Missouri. When the hearings were announced Billy Long, a man who was given the rare honor of being a "vice chair" on the Homeland Security committee was the only member of the committee who stated he was not attending. Billy Long's cousin (sarcasm), Blake Farenthold, said he would attend but would be in and out all day.

The Politico reported:

Only one Republican, Missouri Rep. Billy Long, is not scheduled to attend. His office says he has a constituent meeting planned. Another, Texas Rep. Blake Farenthold, will run back and forth between the hearing and another for the Oversight and Government Reform committee.

If it wasn't strange enough, the Vice Chair of a Homeland Security subcommittee, who was given that position because of his supposed leadership and knowledge, decided it wasn't important enough for him to be there and tried to use the excuse of an all-day long meeting with a "constituent" as his excuse. All day Billy?

There appears there could be more here than meets the eyes. After all, it was with great bewildering that makes me wonder how Long got that position in the first place, let alone a position on the Homeland Security committee in the first place. I have wondered if Senator Blunt pulled some strings to maintain his influence on national security issues in the House while he serves in the Senate. After all, it's more apparent after a recent Springfield News-Leader article that Billy Long is nothing more than a puppet.

From the Springfield News-Leader article about HAM Radio and the emergency Internet broadband frequency bill Long is co-sponsoring.

But when asked about the provision in the bill that would sell off the frequency used by amateur radio operators, Long said that was news to him. He said he co-sponsored the bill because King, the homeland security chairman, asked him to and because the bill is supported by many organizations that are committed to public safety, something he values.

Did you catch that? Long was clueless about a bill he co-sponsored and only co-sponsored it because King asked him to without any consideration about what the bill actually does.

So getting back to the original thought, it appears Long made a lame excuse about why he wasn't going to attend the hearings on radical Islam last week. However, Long apparently did attend as once commenter noted.

Billy Long is out of his league. His appearance at the Muslim hearings back this up, he sat there looking very uncomfortable, like I used to sit in grade school when I didn't do my homework and prayed the teacher wouldn't call on me.

We already know Billy Long isn't doing any homework on the job--like reading bills he co-sponsors. Let's ask the question here. Why is Long a vice chair on a Homeland Security sub-committee? Remember this is a man who at one of the debates plead ignorance to foreign policy matters and said he would refer to two other republican candidates, Michael Wardell and Jeff Wisdom, for advice.

I have two theories. Peter King promoted Billy Long to this imaginary position to ensure co-sponsorship of his bills, which seems less likely. Or our former US representative now serving in the US Senate still wants influence in the House and is using Long as his puppet. However, because of Billy Long's ignorance and the controversy surrounding these meetings, they couldn't afford Long to speak in the meeting, so they told him to go find something to do with his time other than attend these hearings? I mean why else wouldn't a vice chair make this a priority?

Then you have Senator Blunt controlling the other side of Long's puppet strings, who apparently pulled some strings to get Long placed on an important national security committee. While Long was told to get lost by one puppeteer, the other puppeteer wanted inside information about what was taking place, so Long eventually showed up. It's really interesting to contemplate what may have really taken place and the stories that are being told.