More evidence that Tea Party Rep. Tom Cotton (R. AR) is just awful:
http://www.arktimes.com/...
Republican Rep. Tom Cotton, speaking today before the conservative Federalist Society in Washington, used the occasion to brand President Obama as a scofflaw somewhere, by implication, almost traitorous. Tone deaf on Cotton's part? The president has been on the ground in tornado-ravaged Arkansas and, by accounts so far, has enjoyed an outpouring of warmth from residents happy to receive presidential attention and federal aid as they dig out of a disaster that took 16 lives.
Cotton, in sometimes sneering and saracastic prepared remarks delivered choppily, called the president anti-Constitution and anti-Declaration of Independence, an opponent of "absolute truth."
Cotton said Obama rejects, by implication of past statements, the "absolute truth that all men are created equal." He said he denies the "moral foundation of our governing charter." He rejects the "premise of the Declaration of Independence." Examples in Cotton's view: Opposition to the Defense of Marriage Act, Dodd-Frank, Obamacare, big government in general (more on that in a bit).
Cotton drank the Jesus juice, as Mike Huckabee once said of his most devoted opponents. It blinds extremists like Cotton to nuance, the possibility that others might view things differently — even simple humanity. Even people who didn't vote for Obama welcomed him in Arkansas today. Even people like Jason Rapert, who's called for Obama's impeachment, moderated his tone on Twitter today to thank the president for his interest in his county.
Cotton, you have to credit, is true to his antipathy to big government, even when it's bad for people in Arkansas, whether in providing health care, Social Security or storm relief.
Tom Cotton is the same man who's voted not once, but many times, against FEMA funding and federal disaster aid. It's a part of his unwavering belief that government is too big and that it tries to do too much for people who need to get off their food stamp-cosseted butts and out of their Cadillace SUVs and do more for themselves. Happy to say for Arkansas this week, his view on federal disaster funding failed in even the Republican-controlled House. It's coming here despite his votes. More people in Arkansas will see reports like this than hear Cotton's speech, lucky for Cotton. - Arkansas Times, 5/7/14
Seriously, he's such a fucking asshole. And he will also spend big to make his legal troubles go away:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
The Senate campaign of Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) labeled as frivolous an ethics complaint against him that was based on a Huffington Post article, but his latest campaign finance filing seems to show he took it quite seriously.
The complaint, since tossed by the Office of Congressional Ethics, alleged that Cotton broke rules by appealing for campaign donations from a House office. It was based on a HuffPost article that noted Cotton made the money pitch in a radio interview in which host Hugh Hewitt said repeatedly that Cotton was on House grounds. The congressman's campaign said Hewitt was mistaken about Cotton's location, and ethics investigators apparently found no proof to the contrary.
Nevertheless, Cotton's latest filing with the Federal Election Commission shows he paid nearly $70,000 to the law firm Patton Boggs after the complaint was filed. Patton Boggs is one of Washington's top firms handling ethics complaints, and has been retained by Reps. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) and Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), both of whom face more serious complaints.
It's not entirely clear from Cotton's filing what the "legal consulting" was for, but the timing coincides with the complaint filed by the Democratic Party of Arkansas. The ethics office declared Dec. 4, 2013, that it was looking into the matter. - Huffington Post, 5/1/14
Seriously, it's no wonder Cotton negatives have jumped up in the polls. Even though Arkansas doesn't like Obama, they're still grateful to have him aid them in their time of need. And Senator Mark Pryor (D. AR) is meeting up with Obama to asses the damage:
http://www.commercialappeal.com/...
Obama's aerial tour was to include the city of Mayflower, damage surrounding Interstate 40 and rural Faulkner County, along with Vilonia, a small city about 30 miles north of Little Rock that suffered the most extensive damage from the storms.
In Vilonia, Obama was to take a walking tour of Parkwood Meadows, where just six of its 56 homes have any part still standing. He also was to meet at City Hall with families, first responders and recovery workers.
Obama was accompanied by Gov. Mike Beebe, Sen. Mark Pryor and Rep. Tim Griffin.
Pryor is running for a third term against Republican Rep. Tom Cotton in one of the most expensive and closely watched Senate races in the country. Neither faces an opponent in the May 20 primary.
Pryor's willingness to appear with Obama contrasts with other Democrats in difficult races who have chosen to keep their distance from the president. Obama lost Arkansas in the 2008 and 2012 elections, and polls show he remains deeply unpopular in the state.
Republicans have made major gains in Arkansas over the past two elections by tying Democrats to Obama and his policies, particularly the federal health care law. The GOP controls both chambers of the state Legislature and holds all but one of its House and Senate seats in Washington.
Former President Bill Clinton and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson visited the storm-damaged communities of Mayflower and Vilonia on Sunday, and Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate visited the day after the storm hit. - AP, 5/7/14
In fact it was Pryor himself who called on President Obama to asses the damage:
http://blogs.rollcall.com/...=
And yet it was at Pryor’s urging that Obama on Wednesday made his first trip to the state as president — a 150-minute foray that in reality was largely about midterm campaign politics, even though it was officially all about getting the first-responder-in-chief to put his own eyes on the South’s severe natural disasters.
“The federal government’s going to be right here until we get these communities rebuilt,” the president said after touring the tornado-ravaged suburb of Vilonia, 30 miles north of Little Rock. “I know you can count on your senator” and other local officials to deliver what will be required, Obama said, facing the cameras in shirt sleeves with a checkered-shirt-clad Pryor standing near his right shoulder.
Because of some unusual circumstances, the visit did not countermand the conventional wisdom that standing with the president is the most dangerous thing a vulnerable congressional Democrat could do between now and November.
Instead, the event provided Pryor with an extraordinary opportunity to burnish his own political brand.
“Putting Arkansas first, regardless of political consequences, is his trademark,” the senator’s campaign website home page boasts. It’s a theme Pryor returns to most often when he’s explaining his reasons for opposing Obama or the majority of his fellow Senate Democrats, which he did as often as any other member of his party last year. But in this case, Pryor can say bringing the president to view the damage, and personally lobbying for the most generous possible federal response, was the most appropriate way to help his constituents — despite any risks to his own electoral fortunes.
Had the senator asked the White House to steer the president clear of the damage, Pryor would have subjected himself to charges of hypocrisy, that he was putting his own campaign optics ahead of what’s best for the state. - Roll Call, 5/7/14
And Cotton is going to get hit with some more negative ads soon:
http://sunlightfoundation.com/...
Sen. Mark Pryor needs all the help he can get. The Arkansas Democrat is trying to widen the razor thin margin he currently enjoys in the polls over his Republican challenger Tom Cotton in a race that has attracted millions of dollars from national political groups from both sides of the political spectrum. The Senate Majority PAC — a Democratic super PAC run by former aides of Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., — revealed Wednesday it has fired off another six figure ad expenditure ($464,000) opposing Cotton, the sitting congressman for the state's Fourth District.
The filing coincides with President Obama's trip to the state, where he surveyed storm damage and briefly met with Pryor and others Wednesday, before flying to Los Angeles, Calif. to attend a series of fundraisers for the Democratic National Committee. - Sunlight Foundation, 5/7/14
Pryor is doing his job and looking out for his constituents in time of need. Cotton's up in D.C. voting against disaster aid and trashing Obama. Again, this proves that Cotton is the biggest asshole running for U.S. Senate. If you would like to donate and get involved with Pryor's re-election bid, you can do so here:
http://pryorforsenate.com/