Congressman says he created Homeland Security
This one ranks right up there with, oh, I don’t know…George W. Bush claiming that he served his country in the National Guard?? It’s difficult to imagine that the good Congressman didn’t stop to think that his claims would cause immediate skepticism. Then, again, that is why Rep. Burns is out latest DUMB@$$ AWARD wiener.
Burns spokesman John Stone denied that any deception was intended, but the campaign manager for John Barrow said Burns is ‘‘dishonest.’’
‘‘He says anything he thinks will be beneficial,’’ Barrow manager Roman Levit told The Savannah Morning News. ‘‘But this time he did it at taxpayers’ expense. I don’t think taxpayers like being lied to on their own dime.’’
Burns is a first-term Republican from Sylvania who represents Georgia’s 12th Congressional District, which stretches through east Georgia all the way from Savannah to Athens, Barrow’s home.
‘‘It obviously was a horrible typo,’’ Stone told the newspaper. ‘‘Obviously, Max Burns didn’t create the Department of Homeland Security.’’
Stone speculated that the person who wrote the mailing meant to say Burns ‘‘helped create’’ the department. Reminded that Congress approved creation of the department in November 2002 — before Burns took office — Stone acknowledged that could not be the case.
‘‘Certainly he has supported the department and voted to increase its funding,’’ Stone said, ‘‘but the wording that was in the mailing shouldn’t be there at all. How that part got in there is just a screw-up.’’
It’s interesting that Republicans are willing to ridicule Al Gore for “claiming that he created the Internet” (Which, by the way, he NEVER claimed. He was, however, instrumental in helping to fund the conversion of Arpanet into the Internet we now know.). Burns would have likely quite happily have ridden this horse had his opponent not exposed the fact that the horse wasn’t his.
Then again, as with too many Republicans, lies in the service of a larger cause (their obtaining or retaining political power)) is hardly a crime. That hardly means that Burns doesn’t deserve his DUMB@$$ AWARD, though. If you’re going to lie, at least be artful about it. Show some creativity and initiative. This episode is just plain stupid, which, I suppose, is about all we could reasonably expect from this DUMB@$$.