bobbyw24
12-25-2009, 06:29 PM
In just his first term in Congress, Orlando's Alan Grayson has become the toast of the blogosphere and a sought-after interview on cable news channels. He has done it with a series of inflammatory statements and stunts. But he may have jumped the shark last week.
In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, the 8th District Democrat asked that a Lake County woman behind a Web site critical of Grayson be investigated, prosecuted, fined and imprisoned -- for five years.
Mr. Grayson's four-page letter to Mr. Holder reads like a legal brief. It lays out in detail the congressman's allegations that Angie Langley of Clermont has misrepresented herself as his constituent and illegally raised funds against him through a committee and Web site called MyCongressmanIsNuts.com.
It's a sophomorically named parody of a Web site started by Mr. Grayson's campaign, CongressmanWithGuts.com. That site helped his campaign raise more than half a million dollars in a day last month.
The parody site, by contrast, had raised less than $11,000 as of mid-afternoon Tuesday, according to the running total on its home page. Which makes Mr. Grayson's appeal to the nation's top law enforcement official look like going after a gnat with a bazooka.
Being the target of rough criticism is an occupational hazard for public officials, especially those as high-profile as a U.S. congressman. Any politician who pursues legal action against critics, even critics who may not have followed the letter of the law, calls into question his commitment to the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech.
It's an odd and ironic response from Mr. Grayson, one of the most intemperate voices in Washington. This, after all, is the congressman who called a former lobbyist now advising the Federal Reserve "a K Street whore." Who said that former Vice President Dick Cheney should "STFU" -- an acronym for a vulgar phrase used in Internet banter starting with "shut the" and ending with "up." Who declared on the U.S. House floor that the Republican health plan was for Americans to "die quickly" if they get sick.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/os-ed-grayson-critics-jail-122309,0,4326698.story
In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, the 8th District Democrat asked that a Lake County woman behind a Web site critical of Grayson be investigated, prosecuted, fined and imprisoned -- for five years.
Mr. Grayson's four-page letter to Mr. Holder reads like a legal brief. It lays out in detail the congressman's allegations that Angie Langley of Clermont has misrepresented herself as his constituent and illegally raised funds against him through a committee and Web site called MyCongressmanIsNuts.com.
It's a sophomorically named parody of a Web site started by Mr. Grayson's campaign, CongressmanWithGuts.com. That site helped his campaign raise more than half a million dollars in a day last month.
The parody site, by contrast, had raised less than $11,000 as of mid-afternoon Tuesday, according to the running total on its home page. Which makes Mr. Grayson's appeal to the nation's top law enforcement official look like going after a gnat with a bazooka.
Being the target of rough criticism is an occupational hazard for public officials, especially those as high-profile as a U.S. congressman. Any politician who pursues legal action against critics, even critics who may not have followed the letter of the law, calls into question his commitment to the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech.
It's an odd and ironic response from Mr. Grayson, one of the most intemperate voices in Washington. This, after all, is the congressman who called a former lobbyist now advising the Federal Reserve "a K Street whore." Who said that former Vice President Dick Cheney should "STFU" -- an acronym for a vulgar phrase used in Internet banter starting with "shut the" and ending with "up." Who declared on the U.S. House floor that the Republican health plan was for Americans to "die quickly" if they get sick.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/os-ed-grayson-critics-jail-122309,0,4326698.story