Henry Waxman to Rep. Issa: "I will have you physically removed if you don't stop"
By SilentPatriot Monday May 19, 2008 7:30pm
At an EPA hearing today on Capitol Hill about ozone standards, Henry Waxman got into a heated exchange with Administrator Stephen Johnson over his evasive non-answers to simple, straightforward questions about whether or not he had certain discussions with the White House about key environmental issues. It got so tense at one point that a frantically gavel-slamming Waxman threatened to have Rep Darrell Issa "physically removed" from the hearing if he continued to obstruct Waxman's line of inquiry. Classic.
It seems to me you're being awfully evasive and I don't know why you can't tell this committee whether you, in fact, had a discussion about this rule or that rule...either you did or you didn't and I don't know why you can't tell us that information.
"I will have you physically removed if you don't stop."
Why is it that conservatives consistently appoint people to head agencies who have nothing but contempt for the issues those agencies are supposed to oversee? Well, I guess they can't later claim that their self-fulfilling prophecy of "government is the problem" is true. The problem lies not with government, but rather with the stooges who run the government and appoint their incompetent cronies to fix problems they have no intention of fixing.
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Henry is one of my favorite creations. I hope the American people are pleased with some of my output.
I wish he had tossed Issa out on his ass. He is one of the biggest apologists for this administration and I just saw that he has an opponent this fall. Issa is one of the most corrupt members of congress.
Why won't he answer? Because he's doin' a heckuva job!
I Bet Waxman is on the list:
http://www.radaronline.com/from-the-magazine/2008/05/government_surveill...
People are starting to get fed up with the Neocons.
Why did it take so long?!
Is Issa an assa? Waxman sure made him look like one.
We have every right to know what the head of the EPA talks about with the President. Especially when they trample on State's Rights.
They wont impeach and he wont be physically removed.
It's so sad that this is all just a big game to these people. Why not just come out and say, "I'm not going to answer you and there's nothing you can do about it." Because that's all they're going to do and they'll never have to testify to anything under oath. It's even sadder to get excited because Waxman simply swung a gavel because that's about all he can do. Take some action, then I'll be impressed.
Numinous @ 4:
I don't think the question is why did it take so long, as much as, is it too late?
Live Frankly
grs@8: I agree. Waxman's claim to fame is sending "demanding/threatening"
letters to those who fail to give testimony; such as to H. Miers and J. Bolten.
Needs to do same here...and it will have same results..."NONE".
" Why is it that conservatives consistently appoint people to head agencies who have nothing but contempt for the issues those agencies are supposed to oversee? Well, I guess they can’t later claim that their self-fulfilling prophecy of “government is the problem” is true. "
Nope, the whole point is to prove that government is as incompetent, out of touch, inefficient and unfocused as possible.
The more "Heckuva Job" Brownies, Lurita Doans, Alberto Gonzaleses, etc, there are, the more the Neoconservative flawed concept of government is validated - in the eyes of Neocons, at any rate.
That was hot!
He refused to answer the question and he refused to invoke Executive Privilege. He is in Contempt of Congress.
Period.
Good on ya Henry! If only more of your peers followed your example! Oh, and Jesus...good work.
So you all know, yes Darrell Issa company marketed the "Viper Car Alarm" and yes, he led the recall effort against Gray Davis in California.
stop already with the 'incompetent cronies' dodge. this was a deliberate strategy to destroy these regulatory agencies from within; with the added bonus of undermining even further people's opinions and expectations from their government.
THAT..... is the best thing I've seen all day.
thank you.
The problem lies not with government, but rather with the stooges who run the government and appoint their incompetent cronies to fix problems they have no intention of fixing.
Yep. I respect Waxman, he's one of the few swimming upstream in a torrent of corruption. If he had a better ass and legs, was better looking, 24, and a woman, I'd marry her. :-\
Waxman is a true hero. His interview on Bill Moyers Journal is well worth the watch.
Link button isn't on, so here's the link: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/03142008/watch.html
More Please.
gn all, be well.
Issa should be thankful I'm not the Chairman of that committee. I would have had him tasered (several times) and his butt kicked out into the parking lot. As for the witness, contempt of congress and seized by the Sergeant-at-Arms and put in that little jail they have under the Capitol building. After a month on bread and water, I'd ask him the questions again after informing him no answers would equal more time in the basement.
Because the currently dominant Republican philosophy of governance has no respect for government. The American public elects people who have contempt for the job they're elected to hold, and we're somehow surprised when they suck at it?
It's like hiring Ron Jeremy to run a teen chastity program.
Just say no.
Dr.Know@18: That's funny.
But, look at Waxman's record since he has been appt.'d Committee Chairperson.
ZERO results; just like so many of our wonderful Congress officials. He, however,
plays the political game of "posturing and pandering" to the voters better than
most. Results is what we are looking for, so he should stop playing political gamemanship.
Infuriating! Waxman should have gotten down and banged that gavel on Johnson's fucking head a few times. These assholes have no interest in performing the duties they've been elected or appointed to perform - rather they're interested in protecting their bosses and fellow thugs. This is democracy? Where's the next Dinosaur-Killer when we really need it?
MsJoanne @ 9:
I strongly suspect that Bush and the man he works for; Mr. Cheney, will cook up a plan with their paymasters to have a nasty event occur. I strongly suspect some kind of disaster will be allowed, or encouraged to happen.
The question is: Will people see what is really happening?
Frankly, when their pocketbook's are threatened, I wouldn't consider anything beneath them.
Waxman = Paper Tiger
Where's the gavel for telecom immunity, torture, voter disenfranchisement, war profiteering, etc, etc.
Maybe he WILL send them a NASTY letter. Oooo, I bet they're REALLY scared over at 1600 Pennsylvania.
The Republican credo is that government exists only to scam those who are in need of its services.
"Why is it that conservatives consistently appoint people to head agencies who have nothing but contempt for the issues those agencies are supposed to oversee?"
Why don't you ask Grover Norquist, the traitor-in-chief, if he is still advising the neo-thugs weekly about how to destroy our government. While I applaud Waxman and Conyers and Feinberg and others, they are continuing to hit their heads against the wall of those determined to destroy the USA. If they would just come out and say that, clearly, slowly, and explain who is involved, maybe people would understand what we are really fighting here.
everyone of these f#cking assh@les bush has
running the govt. should be marched straight to gitmo
now if not at the end of the bush fiasco administration.
this is the worst bunch of incompetent crooks running
the govt. the govt is only as good as the people in charge.
this is why when the democrats are in charge, we have
balanced budgets, morals and a honorable position in the world.
Big woop. It means nothing if there are no consequences. This standard procedure, and why should they stop? I wouldn't, nobody seems to give a crap. A lot of fury signifying nothing.
Because they can.
Issa: Physically removed?
Issa: oooo by a uniformed man?
Issa: Will he touch me inappropriately?
Issa: Throw me out Wax buddy!!!!
I agree with Numinus at "24" 100%.
Cheny:
"Elections?" "We don't need no stinking elections!!!!"
” Why is it that conservatives consistently appoint people to head agencies who have nothing but contempt for the issues those agencies are supposed to oversee?”
Because if you are an incompetent and in a position of power, the natural course of action is to appoint people even more incompetent than yourself in order to make you look like you actually know what you are doing. Bush rule of government #1.
Diarrhea of the mind- on CSPAN
Jesus Hussein Christ @ 1:
I applaud your Waxman....but please explain that pimple on our ass D Issa?
Sounds like this is good preparation for the war crime trials we are going to have to hold in the near future. The impeachment trials. And the treason trials.
Unfortunately this is just one of those all-around win-win situations for conservatives and the Bush gang.
Buttmunch Johnson is an appointed stoolie for BushCo. As long as he does their bidding and keeps their secrets, he'll be protected from any congressional sanction by GOP in every branch. He's not accountable to voters, and can't be tied to any candidate who's ever going to have to answer for his behavior.
With him as the frontman, they're basically free to rape and pillage the environment and lick their fingers clean for the next 245 days, and don't feel any shame about doing so.
The only possible good that could come out of this is if it provides impetus for the next Congress to push through legislation to make it easier to remove or at least suspend political flunkies from their offices for blatant obstruction of investigations.
Alberto Gonzales couldn't have said it any better: answering questions is a sign of weakness. And whoever said it upthread is correct (imho): it's not "government" that is the problem, for our government as laid out in the Constitution of the United States is where the rights of men (and eventually women...sigh) are enshrined, not buried. Is it not anti-patriotic to demean and mock the Constitution and our government? Do we support the troops by cutting off the legs of the founding documents that constitute our republic, our democracy?
No, it's not government that's at fault, though all governments be imperfect. It is the men and women of the current administration, and many in congress who have turned it into their own corporate playground--they who have sullied this country, who have let down the brave men and women in our military, who would poison the earth for a few dollars more, who speak of the sanctity of children while robbing their futures. The Company must and shall be brought down and made to fucking heel before they destroy every last shred of decency and honesty that is left in this country!
++++
Once again the Administration pokes its middle finger directly in the eye of Congress and gets away with it. I guess what we all learned in school about three equal branches of government was just BS.
I like Waxman.
But he didn't get an answer to his question. No one went to jail. And no one was held in contempt.
I believe that's business as usual.
Bring contempt charges against the asshole and wipe that smugness from his face.
Gretchen @ 33:
for the billionth time.
they are not incompetent.
they are doing exactly what they were put there for.
on their agenda - which is 180 degrees opposite of yours and mine - they are accomplishing what they set out to do.
think with a different paradigm. because they are.
"I refuse to answer the question because..."
There are NEVER consequences.
"And I will show you no respect because..."
There are NEVER consequences.
" And I will continue doing what I'm doing because...
I keep getting what I'm getting and...
There are NEVER EVER ANY consequences EVER.
All these useless Bushies are using the Gonzo approach. Sneer and repeat your non-answer, literally daring Congress to try to take it a step further.
Rebel Patriot @ 42:
Yep. Their agenda is to destroy that federal agency. Or at least shrink its utility to the point where they can drown the agency in a bathtub.
Issa has ALWAYS been a dumbass. Growing up in Cali, hearing about his crap every week, he's a waste of a Representative in my opinion. Good to see a REAL rep. like Waxman put him in his place.
Harry is probably sick and tired of the same old dancing with the morons on the repigs side.
Also given his friend Ted Kennedy is ill perhahs hes thinking nuff with being nice!
Its pay back time in ten folds. Good for Reid and lets hope other congress CONTROLLED DEMS do the same!! Demand some §$%&/()= Already and end this for tit and tat. Had that been a real court of law,, You or I would have been found in contempt, and then it went to jury, and where as a jury of your peers would have found you either or of guilt.
to bad it cannot work like that anymore on the hill or the whitehouse scums.
I agree on some level with most everyone here. I'm a big fan of Waxman, but I'm frustrated by no action being taken. I'm not sure exactly what Waxman can do, and I've grown inured to expecting no one not caught in sex scandal will pay any price at all.
That's why I'm not at all excited about the Rove/Siegelman affair
Rebel Patriot @ 42:
I have a hard time believing Bush is is not incompetent. The "they" you speak of must be the people behind the shrub?
Xoites @ 14,
You get the charoot. It's not Issa that should have been taken out. It was Johnson. He should have been arrested on the spot and taken to the capitol jail and charged with contempt. This was just theater.
This may not be viewed as enough in the eyes of some, but nevertheless it is about damn time. I, for one, am tired of Democrats rolling over and playing dead. Any action is better than non-action. And Waxman, in this case, deserves a gold star for his treatment of Issa.
I agree that Issa is a horrible man and an incompetent Congressman. But then again, what does that say about the constituents who elected the idiot?
Pretty soon it will anyone and everyone who disagrees.
Call me a troll- call me tin-foil hatter- in fact, call me whatever you want- but don't throw away your guns anytime soon!
Ya think those military rocket carrying helicopters flying over the Los Angeles noon skies are just doing drills?
I think they are getting ready to speed up the plan cause American's are asking too many questions- and they aint gonna stop anytime soon!
Shameless. That is the only way to describe the contempt that the Republicans treat the American People with. Do not we have the right to know what our bureaucratic servants are doing?! The Republican SOBs work for us and yet the arrogance and disregard for public's right to know what the f--ck they are doing is infuriating. That man from the EPA should be thrown out on his ASS. Just like so many other Republican cronies.
Issa succeeded as did Johnson (you could tell by the smug way Johnson adjusted his jacket).
Issa did a lawyer's trick -- by making this objection, he rattled Waxman. You can see- Henry got the same answer again, but instead of ripping this guy a new one, he went on to the next questioner. Had Issa refrained, Johnson would have been creamed by the Chair for his obfuscation.
Another plus in the Administration's column. They'll never get these people in a lineup --- never -- because the Dems are not in fighting shape.
Oh, well. Clinton impeached for saying he didn't have sex. Bush, Cheney & Rove slide through.
Now George W will set his PR company (a/k/a his Library's think-tank) loose to rewrite history.
Boo-yah.
Gretchen @ 51:
Incompetence?
Come on. Get real and look at the truth.
What Bush and The competent Neocons have accomplished...
Iraq War 2 (and probably Gulf War 1)
The deaths of almost 1 million Iraqis and displacement of 4 million refugees
$130/bbl oil bringing obscene record profits to oil industry
Taken Iraqi oil off the market
Kept Iraq from opening non-US dollar bourse
Stacked the Supreme Court with Neocons with a cake-walk confirmation
Escaping justice for numerous domestic and International War crimes
Escaping impeachment with collusion of key Democrats (fellow CFR members)
Enriched the war machine & Military Industrial Complex
Installed 2 Attorney Generals who would block investigations and supeaonas and ignore whistle-blowers
Gutted Habeas Corpus
Rationalized torture
Conveniently misplaced trillions (Sept 10th, 2001) and later billions of dollars
Reestablished record breaking opium production in Afghanistan
Implemented extraordinary rendition and secret torture camps
Manipulated - Stole 2000 and 2004 elections
Used hoaxed Niger Yellow-cake "evidence" with no political repercussions.
Lied about Iraqi WMD's - with cartoons and drawings.
Lied about Jessica Lynch-Pat Tillman
Working on reigniting Russian-American Cold War (Russian bomber flights, etc)
Gutted independent officer corps
Christianization of the military
Moving towards Full Spectrum Dominance paradigm and capability for military
Massive expenditures for Chem-Bio, Space Weapons, Internet cybercorps
Intimidation (or willful cooperation) of Media & Business
Permanent military bases in Iraq and gigantic US embassy
Passed Patriot Act after convenient Anthrax and Manchurian-style Sniper attacks
Passed Military Commissions Act
Unprecedented use of signing statements to usurp Congress
Hide Continuity of Government plans from Congress
Massive debt to break government (and public)
Electronic surveillance and massive databases
Illegal warrantless wiretaps
First-rate mercenary forces enriched and empowered - and trained
Broke Posse Comitatus precedent with Blackwater and US military domestic deployment
Blinding of America to Iranian nuclear program by collapsing US intelligence efforts
Decimated New Orleans post-Katrina (dry-run for martial law)
Coopted Justice Department
Turned over key regulatory agencies to the foxes of industry (ex. Mining, Forestry)
Freed Scooter Libby with no political cost
Bankruptcy "reform" that made it harder to restart in the event of disaster
Two-Hundred billion dollar bailouts of financial industry
No Child Left Behind and other Orwellian named govt initiatives
Garnered cooperation of fellow CFR and Trilateral Democrats to enable agenda
Unending blank checks from Congress
Bailed out the Crooked mortgage industry from subprime housing collapse
Convenient benefiting from a "New Pearl Harbor"
Pulled a sham Investigation on 9-11 over on the public for a paltry $15 million
But the piece de resistance - Conning the American public that they are incompetent.
And you honestly believe that sacrificing 3000 civilians on 9/11 and an ongoing body count currently at 4010+ troops to achieve their goals is beyond them both ethically and logistically? Wake up.
What more do you want to qualify them as a success? Most people think they are incompetent because they are operating according to a different game-plan, or paradigm, than the normal person. Normal people wouldn't operate at this level of corruption and genuine evil. These people are expert Machiavellian psychopaths (with a strong dose of Straussian Noble Lie telling) and to attempt to associate normal behaviors to them is an exercise in futility. You absolutely CANNOT continue to believe that the administration is incompetent - they are completely competent and shocking us into accepting a fascist version of America (just like Prescott Bush and his cohorts in the financial elite and industrialists tried in the 1930s)
Regarding the comment about why nothing seems to get done by Waxman besides gavel bashing: It's the same reason Rove, et al weren't implicated in the Valerie Plame case and the same reason Rove will never testify in any congressional investigation...the Republicans block everything and grind progress to a standstill with piles of BS on top of piles of BS whether it's wasting time on points of order or claiming "executive privilege". (I for one believe that executive privilege should be abolished in a democracy/republic where elected officials are answerable to the people. Executive privilege completely undermines the whole point of open government).
Regarding the comment about why the American public elects people who have contempt for the job they’re elected to hold: Anytime anyone votes Republican they are voting against their own interests. This is an ancient problem that doesn't seem to have any indication of going away.
Regarding the comment about preparation for the war crime trials we are going to have to hold in the near future, the impeachment trials and the treason trials: They will never happen because the Democrats are still afraid that they'll be accused of destroying the country if anyone in government pays the consequences. With the combination of the power of the right-wing noise machine and the uninformed apathy of the average American citizen, the Democrats will be perceived as exactly that: ruining the country.
People...this has been going on for over 50 years. Whenever governments (or corporations) investigate themselves the findings are ALWAYS that nobody was at fault. In case anyone didn't know the Democrats are the same party as the Republicans...just not as far to the right (read: fascist). It'll never change until Americans actually participate in their democracy (meaning actually paying attention to what's going on instead of watching Lost/reality television). The people in power will never spend a single second in jail or actually pay for their crimes. The ONLY thing that will fix this problem is to reinstate the draft and have a country-wide revolution, because the corruption is not just on the Republican side...it's a fact of government. Sending letters to your congressman is pretty much worthless unless you're a lobbyist with a yacht full of hookers to offer them.
The people who post here and on other blogs are obviously paying attention...but you are less than 0.000001% of your population and until something drastic happens nothing will change. When I'm 100 years old the same old games will be happening within the US government.
Wow I see another Medal of Freedom coming here, what an evasive prick, and maybe Waxman can beat Darrell Issa over the head with the rules of the house. Now that the neo-con "don't care what the law or rules are" have had their asses handed to them do they NOW care about the rules.
Awesome. Pound that gavel on Issa's head!
And so what? What was accomplished here? What would be accomplished if Rove showed up? He'd play the same bullshit word jumble that they all play. Nothing would happen. Somebody bangs a gavel. Somebody's five minutes are up. So what?
The neocons laugh at the constitution, the rule of law. They laugh at Waxman. They laugh at all of you. Nothing will happen to any of them.
Wow, that EPA guy gives assholes a bad name. He should have his email and blackberry confiscated, post haste.
Issa is just another pig-f*cker, and as for the scum sucker that was being questioned.....typical criminal administration cog.
What a diplorable state the nation is in...thanks to the repug party idiots.
you forgot or else I didn't find:
Ignored warnings from outgoing Clinton people about an imminent terrorist attack on American soil involving airplanes, even when Clark flew to Tx to pleas with Bush to do something.
And
Cut the Army Corps of engineers' budget three times to offset the tax breaks he gave his rich friends. These cuts reduced the levee rebuilding funds to one fifth of what was needed, thereby stopping all work in progress, including work on the levees that failed. Bush ignored warnings from all sides and musltiple sources about how badly the levees needed repairs & upgrades.
Notice the common denominator?
Maybe you missed lawsuits in Ward 9 That had stopped the corps for many years. Every Democrat in Ward 9 was in on the suit. It indeed stopped the Corps from improving the levees. The lies and lack of knowledge expressed here are mind boggling.
you forgot or else I didn't find:
Ignored warnings from outgoing Clinton people about an imminent terrorist attack on American soil involving airplanes, even when Clark flew to Tx to pleas with Bush to do something.
Maybe you could link to these facts?
As a Libertarian, I find Democrats level of critical thinking skills sub-par and positively on the lower quarter of the bell curve.
[This thread dropped in May, 2008. I doubt you'll be seeing any other traffic on it-Sitemonitor]
The biggest crook I ever knew personally once told me this: "NEVER admit guilt to the authorities." Car insurance companies instruct their customers to do the same. Our examples in government do the same....which has 'trickled' down to the people who follow their examples. If 9/11 was 'anyone's' fault, it is the corruption and immorality of our government and peoples. We are quickly approaching the level of corruption that Mexico has always known. Wait; when push comes to shove, there will be violence and uprisings. If you don't have law and order, the result is chaos...This man should have been held in contempt. It is a serious violation of law to obstruct justice and/or with-hold information under oath, to Congress. Are they holding something over their heads? Threatened their lives? Or are they getting paid off for cooperation in the subversion of our government? Someone should find out....and quickly. Don't tell me it's just politics...this has gone too far south for that.
Waxman should hold have the House hold this bozo in inherent contempt and have him start filling the basement of the capitol until he answers every question truthfully that was posed to him.
Loyal little Nazis aren't they ?
A start, but Waxman can start using those teeth he bares so fabulously.
Wow, could you be any more smug?
These Republican Party creeps just don't know when to quit.
They don't know when to quit lying. They don't know when to quit beating around the Bush. They don't know when to quit office and let someone more patriotic, trustworthy and honest take their place. They don't when to quit stealing from the American people. They don't know when to quit talking out of both sides of their mouth, flicking their forked tongue in and out. They just don't know when to quit.
Your righteous indignation is noted. Rep. Waxman. However, that does not and never will replace affirmative action. Like Kevin Conrad of Papua New Guinea told the UN Climate Change Conference: "If for some reason you are not willing to lead leave it to the rest of us. Please, get out of the way."
Equal branches of government people! Congress has only so much they are entitled to request from the Executive branch.
Democrats must be circumspect in their posturing and posturing is all it is, because eventually Republicans will be back in charge. Remember payback is a b***h. Co-equal branches of government, remember?
I'm guessing most of you get your information from the main stream press?
{ Why is it that you don't address some one on an active thread?
It doesn't take any courage to talk to yourself on an inactive thread.
SiteMonitor}
Perhaps the only time we'll ever see a demo angry without writing a stern letter.
Bravo.
Issa has a networth of $516M.
Oh for cry freaking out loud EVERYTHING with these guys is EP .... even if the president picks his nose or eats his eggs sunny side up or over easy is EP
I don't know why some people consider these hearing boring. They make for great theater and illustrate the idiots in this administration. And Darrell Issa is one of the biggest.
he did not assert EP at this time ... but it was implied
"The problem lies not with government, but rather with the stooges who run the government and appoint their incompetent cronies to fix problems they have no intention of fixing. "
No, the problem lies with the masses who'd rather vote for the guy they'd share a beer with and currently can't bring themselves to vote for a brown person, even if they're losing their homes and can't keep up with the gas, food, and medical bills.
Remember, people get the government they deserve.
harley @ 73:
So? Paris Hilton probably has a 9-figure net worth, too. Doesn't make either of them any less of an idiot.
That IS ONE chairman (Rep Waxman) that is NOT going to take any BS from anyone. Rep. Waxman should have physically ordered ISSA's removal. Or beat him over the head with his gavel (figuratively speaking) by expelling him for the rest of the hearing. This nation is already faced with serious challenges trying to get to the truth and Rep. Waxman is working hard to get to the bottom of the truth and he doesn't need anymore disruptions from the other-side.
This is another example of stonewalling by the Bush Administration. The republicans at Capitol Hill must need to be removed. They have become more liability and trouble to our nation than an asset.
don't throw his butt out, throw his butt in JAIL, along with the rest of his PNAC backing neocon war criminal traitorous cohorts!
Crimes against humanity, Treason, War Crimes, election fraud, coverups and intelligence manipulation.
Eight years of these crooks is far too many!!! IMPEACH!
harley @ 73:
Yep. Money he used to bankroll the recall of ex-California Governor Gray Davis. He put "unemployed" Californians to work collecting signatures to recall Davis. Issa is living proof of Republican politics at work. Horrible man.
I,for once ,think that 'executive privilege' should be taken up a river and drown or taken behind a woodshed and shot ,because I'am sick and tired of those criminals going before Congress and hide behind junior bush's Executive Privilege skirt instead of answering simple questions.
Issa is a perfect example of why the Repubs have become the party of CEOs. How many people out of a million who get asthma, suffer needlessly from allergies or die of pollution related disease is okay, Rep Issa? How much poison in the air should we expose the developing lungs of our children to? Do you really think any mother or father is willing to vote for someone who cares so little about the health of our children? There is a wealth of material out of these hearings that should be shown to the public-at-large during this year's elections. It shows the true nature of the bulk of the Repubs. It's not pretty. What amazes me is that no matter how wealthy or privileged people are, we all breathe the same air. Why do the Repubs care so little for their own children?
Very simple answer to that question (why Repugs appoint people who don't give a damn and will do nothing but fight it, every step of the way)....
GOP Mantra: "Government doesn't work, government is bad, corporations are great, government is bad, government doesn't work."
GOP 'in-action': Elect us and we'll show you it doesn't work....because after public service we're going right back to the corporations that elected us after we've passed leglislation allowing them to screw you and make more money...
See....not so hard.
As for the Republican War on Science...
That's what happens when the party of Lincoln, Teddy R., & Eisenhower goes the way of the Nixon, Reagan, Bushevik 'free market'/profit trumps all else and marries itself to big business & the religious right pimps....
Science & Reality don't enter into the equation...