Jack Kingston: Before Bachman, Worse than Saxby

Michelle Bachmann's got nothing on Jack Kingston. The whole country knows Kingston as the hypocrite who accused Barack Obama of being unpatriotic for not wearing a flag pin while not wearing one himself. And harping on Obama's middle name Hussein and claiming Obama wouldn't say the pledge of allegiance and trying to peg Michelle Obama as unpatriotic; Dan Abrams tells Kingston not to come back unless he's wearing one himself. Kingston calls this just a little banter back and forth. OK, so he doesn't know the difference between debate on the issues and impugning a candidate's patriotism.

We could all shrug and say that's just Jack being goofy. What can you expect from somebody who wants Congress to commend Rush Limbaugh? But this foolish persona hides deeper problems.

Jack claims to be a champion of the middle class, but actually gets an F from the middleclass.org year after year, most recently with 23%, worse than Saxby Chambliss, who got 52%.

Yet Kingston get a C from Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA): worse than Saxby Chambliss, who gets a B.

Jack's been out front on keeping the war going in Iraq. When he compared more years in Iraq to Germany and South Korea Chris Matthews slammed that as lazy and untrue propaganda.

Jack hasn't stopped with promoting the wrong war at the wrong time; a war that's draining our economy. He's also against new bridges, paper ballots, local fruits and vegetables, preserving nature, health care for children, equal pay for equal work for women, unemployment compensation, and an Office of Congressional Ethics.

And that's before even mentioning Abramoff.

Let's replace Jack Kingston with someone who will work to end the war, bring jobs and renewable energy to south Georgia, and improve healthcare, education, and the environment: Bill Gillespie.

Jack's been a paragon of contradiction from the beginning. He signed Newt Gingrich's Contract with America, which included

The Citizen Legislature Act: A first-ever vote on term limits to replace career politicians with citizen legislators.

Yet Kingston has been in Congress for 16 years! That alone convinces a lot of people to vote against him.

Jack has gotten exposure through Stephen Colbert's show. On the very first Better Know a District, Jack says he's African-American because he once lived in Ethiopia. Colbert lampooned Kingston for complaining about a five day work week for Congress. Colbert probably thinks he's put one over on Kingston. And another. And another. But Kingston is using Colbert to promote his goofy clueless persona, which hides a darker side. As the DNC noted:

...if he thinks he's African-American, why has he supported so many policies that are harmful to the African-American community?" asked Amaya Smith, a spokesperson for the DNC. "Look at his record. He's anti-affirmative action ... and he's been an adamant supporter of Bush's plan to privatize Social Security, which would harm African-Americans that have benefited from Social Security."

Jack brags about supporting agriculture in his district. yet:

...he voted against providing fresh fruits and vegetables for public schools, using local food whenever possible, as part of the ‘Buy American” statutes (HR 2419). Wouldn’t that promote local farmers and get our children healthy food?

More Jack backwardness:

Jack voted against HR 3999, the National Highway Bridge Reconstruction and Inspection Act. He voted no to state and local grants to make backup paper ballots available for this years election (HR 2642). Check out how easy the voting machines can be wrong and manipulated.

...

Jack voted against equal pay for equal work for women (HR 1338) and against the establishment of the Office of Congressional Ethics (HR 1031). I think they need a whole building on ethics, not just an office. He voted against an emergency bill to extend unemployment compensation (HR 5749).

Jack not only voted against SCHIP (health care for children), he published against it in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Jack voted against the Anti-Predatory Lending Act (HR 3915), but he was and is for financial deregulation; in 2006 he said:

Despite the critics, it is clear that our economy is rocking and rolling like never before!

On the military front,

Jack voted against an amendment to HR 2642 that provides education funding for eligible members of the Armed Forces. He voted against mandatory rest time for our troops in between deployments (HR 3159).

Kingston, sitting in a Congressional committee, accused Robert Greenwald of being a war profiteer because Greewald made a documentary about war profiteers; nevermind Greenwald didn't take a dime. Watch this one: Kingston's goofy persona almost hides what he's saying, which is basically he's for war profiteering and anybody who isn't is against profits, anti-capitalist, and probably anti-American.

Jack is the king of pork for Georgia, and it's amazing how many military contractors donate to his campaign and coincidentally get earmarks!

Oh, yeah: Jack is also for building roads in nature reserves.

Finally, Kingston's curious closeness with Jack Abramoff has never been investigated; more on that in another post.

Bill Gillespie will work for the people of Georgia's First District. When people hear about Bill, they want to vote for him. Listen to the applause when he speaks.

Term limit Jack Kingston and elect Bill Gillespie!