| Fired Up Missouri has a general policy on not criticizing Democrats. There have been many Democratic missteps, failures, and members of the legislature occasionally siding on bad issues with the Republican majority in the 4 years of Fired Up Missouri's existence, but I've always known them to be silent, always aiming their fire at Republicans.
Which is why I found it strange to see them mock State Senator Jeff Smith (D-MO) today for standing up to Republicans on behalf of his district, the city, and citizens all across the state. In the post in question, not only do they accuse him of being infected with the "Conficker" computer virus for "inexplicably" filibustering an economic bill, they also mock him for his lisp. I don't know if they're trying to call him gay or someone with a disability, but considering his girlfriends and the fact that he can talk circles around most of the political figures in this state, you could hardly say either accusation is true.
And even if he were gay or had a disability? There's nothing wrong with either one, and neither disqualifies him from holding a filibuster on behalf of one of the biggest job creation devices in his (and my) district. Let's examine that for a second.
Far from holding up a "job creation plan", Smith is trying to keep the Senate from slashing the State Historic Tax Credit (as he points out in his post below.) He's fighting Republicans to do so, a cause I thought Fired Up would be happy about. And the cause is worthy - the tax credit in question is a national model for spurring redevelopment and preserving our state's heritage, especially by smaller developers, and has invested over $1 billion in Missouri's economy, and in turn boosted local and state revenues. An attack on the credit is an attack on Missouri's economy, so I certainly don't blame Smith for going to the mat over it. If anyone's holding up the bill, it's Republicans like Sen. Brad Lager (R-Maryville) who insist on putting this provision capping the tax credit in the bill in the first place.
All of this is left out of the Fired Up post. Instead some Democrat with a lisp is inexplicably tying up Nixon's job plan that for the good of the state must be passed today, or something. It's an embarrassing post for anyone in the blogosphere, much less in the progressive blogosphere.
UPDATE: Looks like they edited the post and at least removed the part about the lisp. |
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