House Appropriations Chair David Obey (Dem., Wisc.) ran into woman in the hallway in Washington recently and ended up yelling at her and her friends, accusing them of "smoking something that's not legal" if they disagreed with him, and denouncing "idiot liberals."

The woman, Tina Richards, introduced herself to Obey as the mother of a Marine about to depart for his third tour of Iraq, and as someone who has tried to communicate with Obey but received no response. Then she…

Well, watch the video yourself. It may be depressing, but it's certainly entertaining (just like network television): http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/19392

Obey claims in this video that the only way to end the war is to fund it, because

1.- They don't have the votes to stop funding it. (Of course, they would if they voted like "idiot liberals".)

2.- Funding a withdrawal would somehow mysteriously harm "our troops." (Will Obey say that to Richards' son?)

3.- Requiring an end to the war (which Obey's bill does NOT do) is as good as defunding it. (But if that were true, why would you have the votes for it and not the other?

I think it's important to watch idiot Congress Members in off-the-cuff videos like this in order to understand something: they're neither idiots nor completely cynical. They actually believe some of their own sound bytes. This understanding has to shape our task of educating and pressuring them to change.

ENDS