Thomas Massie didn't draw a challenger and so, as in most cases where the incumbent feels safe, he is making it pretty clear that he is free to speak his mind, no longer fettered by the need to gather votes. So where is his mind? Take a look.
UPDATED: He didn't draw a REPUBLICAN challenger, but he does have a democrat to deal with, and look what that guy is saying. CLICK HERE
Massie has apparently thrown in the towel over making the I-75-I-71 Brent Spence Bridge the largest bottleneck in American commerce. He admits he can't deliver the funding and is on board with tolls.
“People shouldn’t expect Washington D.C. in the next two years is gonna come in with a check of $3 billion to fund the Brent Spence Bridge. I just don’t see that happening,” Massie said. “Since I don’t have the check to bring from Washington, D.C., it’s not my place to say you can’t toll this, you can’t do this funding mechanism.” [Cincinnati.com]
Massie roils over claims that Edward Snowden committed a criminal act by stealing and then revealing huge amounts of top secret data by giving it to a foreign press officer and then promptly hiding out in Russia. According to Massie, the problem shouldn't be discussed in terms of whether Snowden broke the law, according to Massie the problem is is that the chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, Mike Rogers, is complicit with president Obama in "withholding quite a bit of information from members of Congress". [reason.com]
And when it comes to arguing that the hemp legislation is just one more step closer to legalizing marijuana for recreational or even medicinal purposes, Massie just smiles real big and dodges the question because "people are listening".
Oh, and for my conservative friends who continue to think any criticism of Massie is misplaced or born out of some hidden agenda, let me make a point I've repeated many times. He is not as conservative as you might think. In fact he has many ideas which are very out of step with most conservatives. According to the National Journal score of how they voted, Massie ranked 223, in the more liberal half of the Congress than the most conservative half of the 435 members.
WASHINGTON – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was not among the top most conservative members of the Senate in 2013, a National Journal vote analysis shows.
But McConnell’s positions on economic, social and foreign policy issues still generally ranked him more conservative than roughly three quarters of the Senate and placed him as the 100-member body’s 25th most conservative lawmaker, the analysis found.
In the House, Rep. John Yarmuth, D-3rd District, ranked as the 49th most liberal of 435 members.
Rep. Andy Barr, R-6th District, ranked as 74th most conservative; Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-2nd District, was 90th most conservative; Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-1st District, was 164th most conservative; Rep. Hal Rogers, R-5th District, was 173rd most conservative; and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-4th District, was 223rd most conservative. [Courier Journal]
Oh, and for those of you who think that a total repeal of Obamacare is what we need, well, Massie isn't with you either.
"He said at this point, total and immediate recall of the program is not practical, but instead Republicans should be looking for an incremental way to roll it back." [Daily Independent]
I know, I know, he's got a really big smile and his mannerisms seem so innocent. But you see, I live a different world where sizing up people requires more study than falling for a personality.
It used to be that a bad guy wore a mask and carried a gun. More often these days they wear a smile and carry a briefcase. The error repeats.
Marcus:
Everyone on the Hill, and I mean everyone, is laughing at the National Journal's conservative/liberal rankings. You might want to look at where they ranked Bernie Sanders, an avowed socialist.
Posted by: Dennis Rogers | February 10, 2014 at 02:23 PM