Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., accused his Republican colleagues of plotting “legislative terrorism” insofar as they demand spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.
“it’s a device for them to extract concessions they would never otherwise be able to accomplish,” Grayson told MSNBC’s Al Sharpton last night. “That’s why it’s legislative terrorism. They’re using the debt ceiling as a means to cut Social Security benefits, cut Medicare benefits, cut unemployment insurance — cut anything of any use to any ordinary human being in this country simply because they want more money for tax cuts for the rich.”
Grayson likes comparing his political opponents to terrorists, even though it has hurt him before. In 2010, he described his opponent, Daniel Webster, as “Taliban Dan” in a campaign ad that dubbed Webster a “religious fanatic” because of his views about marriage. The problem: the position Grayson ascribed to Webster was the opposite of what he said.
“Grayson manipulates a video clip to make it appear Webster was commanding wives to submit to their husbands, quoting a passage in the Bible,” the nonpartisan the Annenberg Public Policy Center explained at the time. “Four times, the ad shows Webster saying wives should submit to their husbands . . . In fact, Webster was cautioning husbands to avoid taking that passage as their own. The unedited quote is: ‘Don’t pick the ones [Bible verses] that say, ‘She should submit to me.’”
Politico pointed out at the time that “the ad has created an opening for Webster’s campaign, which significantly trails Grayson’s in fundraising.” Grayson ended up losing that election, though he returned to Congress by winning in 2012.
