Show Me: MO-7 Constituents Wonder What Universe Their Mutant Congressman Lives In

“The people that I’ve talked to seem to be doing well. In fact, when I got out in restaurants here in town, people come up to me. They want to see more sequestration, not less.”

—Rep. Billy Long (R-MO)

There is nothing new under the sun about the idea that a politician, in seeking to justify himself, will simply make something up about what his constituents want. And while the internet age has certainly exposed potential pitfalls, lying about one’s constituency has generally been something of a safe bet.

Perhaps that is changing.

Jennifer Bendery of Huffington Post reported yesterday on Missouri’s 7th District Congressman:

Nobody is particularly happy about the arbitrary, across-the-board spending cuts taking effect as a result of sequestration. That is, except for maybe Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.), who said Tuesday that his constituents want even more cuts to kick in.

“The people that I’ve talked to seem to be doing well,” Long told local news affiliate KOLR10 News. “In fact, when I got out in restaurants here in town, people come up to me. They want to see more sequestration, not less.”

Long said people in other parts of the country may be feeling pain as a result of the $85 billion in cuts. But not his community.

“We haven’t seen any measurable effect here at all,” he said.

It is, of course, easy enough to make such a claim, especially if he just ignores anyone who might take issue with his assessment.

Some Things Really Are That Obvious

One of the curious things about the American political discourse is that two roads running in fairly opposite directions are somehow expected to meet up again after some mysterious number of miles have passed.

Consider it in other terms. A job interview? Why would you hire the candidate who says the job he’s applying for is useless and can do no good?

A product salesman? Would you really buy the product if the salesman insisted that it didn’t work and wasn’t worth the money?

I think of Homer Simpson: “I kicked a giant mouse in the butt! Do I have to draw you a diagram?” That is to say, it shouldn’t require a cartoon to help people figure this out. Some things really are that obvious.