Neal Boortz: It’s time you met a calm tea partyer
The scene is a town hall meeting for Congressman Frank LoBiondo in New Jersey. Constituents are asking questions. A young man named Christopher Weber stands up to one side of the audience. He has a few days growth of dark beard and is wearing a black bandanna on his head.
Surely some people must have thought, “Uh-oh. Here we go. This is going to be one of those crazed tea party goons we’ve been reading about. Where’s security?”
Then the most amazing thing happened. A concerned citizen calmly and methodically backs a congressman to the wall:
Weber: As our representative, you took an oath to uphold, protect and defend against all enemies foreign and domestic, yes?
LoBiondo: Yes.
Weber: If you would be so kind as to explain to everyone in this room Article I, Section I of the Constitution.
LoBiondo: Article I, Section I is the, uhhh, right to free speech.
Weber: No, that is the First Amendment. Article I, Section I and ... for a man that took an oath to uphold, protect and defend it, you really need to understand it ... all legislative power shall be vested in the House of Representatives and the United States Senate. The legislative power, the laws, come from these two houses. There should be no more activist judges. No more. It is specifically spelled out in the Constitution that all legislative power should be vested in these two houses.
Weber: My second point is the First Amendment — you mentioned free speech. The First Amendment guarantees all of us five rights. Would you be so kind as to tell us those five rights?
LoBiondo: I can't articulate that.
Weber: You can't articulate that. Those are the right to religion. To exercise it or not to exercise it.
Weber then proceeds, without notes, to recite the First Amendment verbatim, finishing with: Every politician needs to know that Constitution inside and out. It is a must. It is your job because we have elected you to be our representatives. We are your boss. You must know the Constitution. It is my civil duty as a citizen to know the Constitution; it is your job to know it, sir. ... It was founded upon the backs of the greatest men who have ever walked this planet (in my humble opinion). You have joined the likes of Madison, the likes of Jefferson, Washington, Hancock, Lee, Franklin — the great men of our society. And I beg of you [unintelligible] the Constitution in all your efforts. Please.
At this point, if the people at that meeting felt at all as I felt watching this, they were ready to stand and cheer.
Not so for a LoBiondo staffer. He realized that it was time to step in and protect his charge against this vicious tea party onslaught.
Staffer: Excuse me, sir. You've had your moment, you've made your speech. What we are looking for here are questions.
My review of the transcript shows that Weber was, in fact, asking questions. LoBiondo couldn’t answer them.
Weber: The question is, why don't you know the Constitution?
Staffer: You're out of order. OK, so maybe we needed a monitor here.
Right. A constituent is getting the better of the congressman without shouting or yelling insults. Time for a monitor; or, in other words, “Where’s security?”
There may be several reasons you haven’t heard this story or seen the video on the news. The reason might be that Congressman LoBiondo is a Republican.
The ObamaMedia wants to portray tea partyers as crazed maniacs assaulting Democrats, not reasoned and informed individuals questioning Republican officeholders. The Weber-LoBiondo confrontation doesn’t fit the current media tea party narrative. Wait until someone screams at a Democrat ... then it will make the news.
Neal Boortz's column appears every Saturday. For more Boortz, go to boortz.com
