Amodei: Not So Mr. Moderate?

Now this is some turn-around!  On April 28, in the year of our Lord 2014, Representative Mark Amodei (R-NV2) was “chiding” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) for his position on the Bundy Brigands:

The Republican says he disagrees with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s branding of them as “domestic terrorists” and doesn’t think Heller’s labeling of them as “patriots” helps to resolve the dispute over Bundy’s cattle.  Amodei says the issue is the “culture” of U.S. Bureau of Land Management law-enforcement operations in the West. [KOLO]

But wait! On the same day Representative Amodei was heaping praise on the BLM decision to stand down and refuse to offer the ersatz ‘patriots’ a chance to turn the situation in Bunkerville into their own Ruby Ridge, Waco, whatever other fantasy-land re-enactment they’d imagined for themselves.  Those inclined to accept Representative Amodei’s quick-whip-around talking points as evidence of moderation, should look to his recent voting record.

Exhibit One:  The House GOP budget proposal which leaves Pentagon spending unscathed but slashes funding for the Indian Health Service by 18%.  Also under the GOP meat axe, funding for fire fighting on federal lands, again cut by 18%. [HuffPo]  Not only does Rep. Amodei’s district contain a lengthy list of Reservations, but it’s also been known as the site of several recent, and truly large, wild land fires.  Rep. Amodei is fond of referring to his concern for ranchers in the 2nd District, but is apparently not quite so alarmed at the prospect of range fires destroying their grazing lands.

Nor should we miss the fact that the latest incarnation of the House GOP budget included the “Coupon Care” proposal which would eliminate Medicare as we know it, and substitute a voucher plan in its stead. [CBPP]

In case there are any consumers in the 2nd Congressional District, it should be noted that the Ryan Plan would eliminate the provisions of the Dodd Frank Act which requires that Big Banks have a plan in place to wind down operations, and that the FDIC can require the bankers to establish the plans to PREVENT future bailouts.  The ‘plan’ would also put the future of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau under the guillotine of future Congressional budget cuts. [Hill]

When H.Con. Res. 96 (Ryan Budget) came to a vote on the House floor on April 10, 2014 — Representative Amodei supported it. [Roll Call 177]

Exhibit Two:  Once upon a time there was a mid-level IRS employee in a regional office who was accused of targeting conservative groups by not allowing political organizations to pass themselves off as social welfare institutions.  Truth be told, Lois Lerner acceded to a plan to look for key terms, like “political,” or “party,” on a watch list of sorts to cull the political from the social.  The ultra-right when ballistic.  “Conservatives were Targets of the IRS!”  Not. So. Fast.  Also on the list were terms like “Blue” and “Green Energy” and “occupied territory” organizations. [Wire]

However, this didn’t stop Government Affairs Committee Chr. Issa from claiming that the IRS ultimately “intended” to target more conservative groups, even as it was actually looking for ACORN successor organizations.

Failing to find any solid evidence of IRS targeting, or even of IRS ‘intent’ to increase scrutiny of conservative applicants, the Republican lead House voted anyway to recommend that Lerner be held in ‘contempt of Congress’ for citing her 5th Amendment rights.

This sort of thing happened on Capitol Hill before during the McCarthy Witch Hunt Era.  Lerner joins 10 Hollywood writers, producers, and directors who were voted “in contempt of Congress” for not cooperating with the infamous HUAC.  [Hist]  Rep. Issa may be missing the point that short term theatrical political gains can easily become long term memories of political infamy.

Who joined in the vote to find Lerner in contempt of Congress? None other than Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV2), and Rep. Joe Heck (R-NV3).  [Roll Call 203]

Aligning oneself with the likes of Hamilton Fish III, Martin Dies, Jr., is not the way to convince most people that you are a proponent of moderation.