Shenanigans: The Rock 'N' Roll Congressman

McCotter: Still strummin’

Here’s how a conversation with Rep. Thaddeus McCotter starts out:

Us: “Hello, sir, thank you for speaking with me.”

Him: “Why, do people not really talk to you?”

He’s filled with these one-liners.

We’re talking to him about the spoken-word album he just gave out to his peers, called “Freedom Songs: The American Empowerment Agenda,” which is McCotter’s new way of sending out a press kit of sorts, only this one doesn’t have those bulky pages that no one reads. And it’s light as air.

It shouldn’t be surprising that the “rock ’n’ roll congressman,” as W calls him, is making CDs. As it’s known, McCotter plays in the Second Amendments — the bipartisan congressional rock and country band. Oddly, though, he says he likes to read.

“It’s a lot easier to get them to listen than to get them to read it,” he tells us, explaining why he gave his colleagues the CD. But his preference is reading. “I get yelled at all the time, so it’s nice to give the ears a rest.” But he’s just glad the GOP can have some fun again. “We had fun with it. Republicans haven’t had that for awhile. … We used to be hip and fun,” says the Michigan Republican.

Which is what the band’s for? “Yeah, Bush had us to the White House.” Pause. “Once.” Pause. “He learned his lesson!” he says with a laugh. “I blame it on [band member Rep. Collin] Peterson’s singing and his politics.”

But if McCain were to win, you guys could go back there, no? McCotter’s iffy. “Depends. McCain’s traditional Scotch-Irish, and he has a long memory. I probably won’t ever see the inside of the place.”

As for Obama, McCotter’s hopes are still dashed. “You think there’s a liberal media? How can I play guitar and he has a Grammy?”

President Bush Must Skip Communist Olympics

It's all the rage to say, "Our GOP has lost its way." It's quite beyond dispute, for the truth remains the truth.

Yet the stock recitation of selected symptoms -- spending, Iraq, Katrina, etc. -- omits a sinister affliction consuming the heirs of Lincoln and Reagan. The ravenous malady eclipsing our honor is this: Republicans coddle communist China.

No starker episode exhibits our anile need for a moral hospice before we slither into the dust bin of history than the one playing out before Americans' astonished eyes. Legacy building with the urgency of a dying Pharaoh staring at an unfinished Sphinx, George Walker Bush is bent upon being the first U.S. President to attend a foreign nation's Olympics. The nation in question is communist China, the shock troops of which are presently bludgeoning Tibetan Monks as if they were orange bathrobed baby seals. (One shudders at the prospect this Tibetan repression is the Chi-coms' sedulous sally into Olympic demonstration sports.)

Notwithstanding the Global Generation's remaining misanthropes' unsophisticated quibbling (i.e., me and mine), our Compassionate Conservative-in-Chief has eagerly RSVP'ed to the communist dictatorship's dramatic recreation of the Berlin Olympics. Given "The Decider's" resolve, hope dims we might disabuse his whimsy that watching a wobbling discus with the wanton butchers of Tiananmen Square can advance the sacred cause of human freedom. But we are duty-bound to the endeavor, lest as "history with its flickering lamp stumbles along the trail of the past" she finds us fallen from the ranks of honor.

Perhaps we could appeal to our President's historical sensibilities by reminding the Leader of the Free World that attending this evil regime's games will forever stain his legacy by depicting him as calloused to the subjugation of Tibet and sundry other communist abominations. Really, how would this generation of Americans esteem Franklin Roosevelt -- no slouch at setting Presidential precedents -- had he not let the cup of the Berlin Olympics pass from his nicotine stained lips and, instead, pursed them into a smirk with Der Fuerher for Leni Riefenstahl's lens.

Yes, this assumes Mr. Bush worries he may one day be regarded by posterity in the manner William Manchester recalled a discredited generation of sophisticated British "statesmen", save one:

"And as (Churchill's) debts mounted and his gloom deepened, England's indebtedness to Stanley Baldwin rose.in his final deed for the homeland, he joined Chamberlain in telling Tory MPs that if they felt they must deplore totalitarianism and aggression, they must not name names. It was important, he said, to avoid `the danger of referring directly to Germany at a time when we are trying to get on terms with that country.' Fleet Street cheered. So did Britain. These were men of peace."

In fairness, they were also the jackasses who paved a second road to Hell.

If such an appeal to history's verdict proves fruitless, we could remind our Commander-in-Chief communist China is:

Arming our enemies;
Engaging in espionage against us, including the use of cyber warfare;
Subjugating Tibet;
Abetting genocide in the Sudan;
Compelling a "One Child Policy" and forcing abortions amongst its people;
Committing predatory trade practices against us;
Denying their people's God-given human rights;
Subverting sovereign democracies;
Supporting their fellow dictatorships; and, generally,
Being an unsporting bastion of tyranny.

Could this partial recounting of the rogue regime's transgressions against our nation and others prove to the President that attending the communist Chinese Olympics will subvert the moral authority of his position as the Leader of the Free World -- a Free World which, along with the world's oppressed, will be watching and weighing his participation?

Could this enumeration of grievances against the Chi-coms help the Chief Executive glean that the President of the United States cannot attend these games as a passive spectator? (This is, after all, why the Chi-coms invited him.)

Could such a factual exposition convince Mr. Bush that attending their Olympics will reinforce our foreign policy "experts'" suicidal communist China "exception" and, in the event, make President Bush's political statement thus: "The United States is devoted to the self-evident truth every human being is endowed by their creator with the unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness -- except in communist China"?

Given these right reasons, would the President reconsider, for the sake of our free republic's sovereign citizens; and for the sake all the world's enslaved and oppressed who, yearning to breathe free, believe our nation remains their beacon of liberty and bastion of hope?

Thus ends our lesson in rhetorical questions.

Ever the political masochist, I once circulated a "Dear Colleague" letter to President Bush positing much of the above and requesting he not attend communist China's Olympics. Only a handful of brave souls signed my entreaty; undaunted, in September 2007 the missive flew. Certain I had affixed the correct address of Mr. Bush's taxpayer-subsidized housing, I am saddened to report he has not replied to this Congressional correspondence with the alacrity he did the Chi-coms' Olympic invite.

As the Year of the Rat scurries toward the opening ceremonies, however, I and my anti-communist ilk have not been idle. On April 1, I introduced H.R. 5668, which would bar any United States government official from attending the Beijing games' ceremonies. (Importantly, this legislation does not impact our athletes.) Oh, I know H.R. 5668 requires the President's signature or a Congressional over-ride of his veto to become law. Still, while it may not persuade the President to be "unavoidably otherwise occupied elsewhere in the world" during the communist Chinese Olympics, it will meet our moral imperative to our posterity, our country, and the cruel muse of History:

For when, once again, history's flickering lamp illumes our aged cheeks and strews her lengthening shadows across our fleeting existence, she will avow how the supporters of H.R. 5668 did "march always in the ranks of honor."

Pray she finds Republicans amongst them.

Papal Welcome Resolution by Rep. McCotter Passes Congress

WASHINGTON D.C. – Today Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), Republican House Policy Chairman, noted the passage of House Resolution 838 honoring His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on his first visit to the United States of America. The resolution, sponsored by Rep. McCotter, was unanimously passed this morning by the U.S. House of Representatives.

"Pope Benedict XVI's apostolic visit to the United States is a uniquely historical moment. It has been twenty nine years since the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and Vatican Head of State has visited the White House, and it is the first visit by Pope Benedict to the United States. All Americans should eagerly look forward to his message of hope and renewal."

Congressman McCotter will meet with His Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI on April 16 during a White House visit. Washington D.C. is the Pope’s first stop during his inaugural visit to the United State of America.

NOTE: The full text of the H. Res. 838 is below


House Resolution 838

Welcoming His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on his first apostolic visit to the United States.


IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

DECEMBER 4, 2007


Mr. MCCOTTER submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs


RESOLUTION


Welcoming His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on his first apostolic visit to the United States.

Whereas Joseph Alois Ratzinger ascended to the Papacy and chose the name Benedict XVI on April 19, 2005, becoming the 265th reigning Pope in the history of the Roman Catholic Church;

Whereas he was born and baptized on April 16, 1927, in Marktl am Inn, Germany;

Whereas he was required to leave seminary at the age of 16 and forced into military service for Nazi Germany;

Whereas he risked grave danger by defecting from the Nazi anti-aircraft corps in 1945 and subsequently spent time in an Allied prisoner of war camp;

Whereas he was ordained to the priesthood on June 29, 1951;

Whereas he is a highly regarded theologian and scholar, having served in various university posts from 1959 until 1977;

Whereas he has written 25 books and given thousands of hours of lectures, making him one of the most prolific theologians in modern times

Whereas he participated as a theological advisor to the Second Vatican Council from 1962 until 1965;

Whereas he was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising in Germany on March 24, 1977, and ordained a bishop on May 28, 1977;

Whereas he was elevated to cardinal on June 27, 1977;

Whereas he was appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission on November 25, 1981;

Whereas he was elected Dean of the College of Cardinals on November 27, 2002;

Whereas Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was installed as Bishop of Rome on April 24, 2005; Whereas Pope Benedict XVI has made repeated calls for peaceful resolutions to international conflicts;

Whereas Pope Benedict XVI has made reconciliation and peace an important goal of his Papacy on an ecumenical level reaching out to both Orthodox and Protestant Churches and in an inter-religious manner with Judaism and Islam;

Whereas Pope Benedict XVI has affirmed the dignity of the human person with respect to refugees, exiles, evacuees, and other migrant persons;

Whereas Pope Benedict XVI has decried the imminent dangers posed by terrorism and extremism; and

Whereas Pope Benedict XVI has identified the failed revolutions and violent ideologies of the 20th century as being the result of the ‘‘Dictatorship of Relativism’’:

Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the United States House of Representatives welcomes His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on his first apostolic visit to the United States.

H.RES.838: Welcoming His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on his first apostolic visit to the United States.

Mr. McCOTTER. Mr. Speaker, first I would like to thank Chairman Berman, Ranking Member Ros-Lehtinen, and all of the members of the Foreign Affairs Committee for bringing this resolution to the floor.

You know, I remember back when I was growing up there was a movie, and the movie was called ``A Hard Day's Night.'' This was at the height of Beatlemania, and the Beatles had obviously been wildly popular and well-received when they first hit our shores. And yet in the movie there is a scene where a reporter, seemingly unaware of this, asked John Lennon a question. And the question was this: ``How did you find America?''

And Lennon said, ``I turned left at Greenland.''

The point I bring this up for is quite simple. Today we hear many inane questions about how His Holiness will be received by the American people. How will America find the Pope? How will the Pope find America? Well, I think these questions are inane for a very simple reason: The United States understands the Holy Father because he advocates that we use faith and reason to find our way through these trying times and on to a transcendent Creator.

The United States, our revolutionary experiment in human freedom, was founded upon faith and reason. The Founders had the faith that they were playing a role in divine provenance, that they had rights that were endowed to them and inalienable by a Creator. And yet it was not passion alone that allowed for the founding of our free republic; they also used their reason to find their way to express how those rights could be guaranteed against government, and how individual citizens could live together
with their rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

This is no different than the message that the Holy Father brings today. The Holy Father has said that faith and reason are concomitant blessings from God which allow us to find him not only in ourselves but in each other.

So as Americans await the Pope's first visit, I am not saying that there will be teenyboppers dropping in the streets as the popemobile passes, but I do say His Holiness will receive a warm reception from people who have understood and who continue to understand that faith and reason are gifts from God we squander at our own peril.

SEND OUR ATHLETES TO THE BEIJING OLYMPICS BUT NOT OUR POLITICIANS

Mr. McCOTTER. Mr. Speaker, as the Olympic torch goes through San Francisco today, I would just like to bring attention to the fact that I, as well as others on each side of the aisle, will be introducing legislation to ensure that we send our athletes to the games but not our politicians.

In the past, America has sent their athletes to the Olympics to show what free people can achieve, most notably in 1936 when Jesse Owens won gold and disabused the world of the Fuhrer's propaganda that there was an inferior race amongst us. FDR did not go to the Olympics.

I would encourage American politicians, including the President of the United States, not to politicize the games by their attendance, but rather stay home and attend to the pressing issues which face us as a people. This would be the proper way for the United States to both honor the spirit of the Olympics and the spirit of our free people.

McCotter Rocks the Hill With New Policy CD

April 7, 2008
By Emily Heil and Anna Palmer, Roll Call Staff

It Has a Good Beat. A CD of House Members speechifying in earnest tones might not be headed for the top of the Billboard charts, but Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (Mich.) is doing his rockin’ best to jazz up the Republican Policy Committee’s message.

On Friday, McCotter was distributing a bootleg version of a CD of the committee’s members giving speeches on not-so-sexy topics like health care, taxes and terrorism —all dressed up to look like a rock ’n’ roll album.

He tells HOH that the CD was an alternative to an “eight-foot stack of policy papers.”

“Hopefully, it’s much more conducive to thought and discussion,” he says. The CDs distributed last week were a preliminary version, he says, and he’ll present the final version to House Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio) this week. “You don’t give Murray the K the session tapes,” he tells us. (He’s referring to Murray Kaufman, the rock impresario who influenced bands including the Beatles, natch).

In the liner notes, McCotter credits each of the speakers with “vocals” on the album’s tracks. The liner notes for “Freedom Songs: The American Empowerment Agenda” also include old black-and-white photographs of people listening to the radio, with a superimposed logo featuring McCotter playing guitar, rock-god-style, behind the back. Elsewhere in the notes, the zany McCotter thanks the American people: “You are the blessed children of liberty and the hope of humanity,” as well as “staffs of hard-working roadies.”

Instead of trying to make too much sense of the album, HOH figures it’s best to simply take McCotter’s own advice and just, as he implores listeners, “dig it.”

CALLING ON THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA TO END ITS CRACKDOWN IN TIBET

Mr. McCOTTER. Madam Speaker, we stand at a historic moment. In the stream of history, it is oftentimes overlooked as we circumnavigate around time, fate and circumstance the momentous era and the momentous deeds which must be undertaken. This is one of them.

I thank the Speaker for bringing this resolution. I thank her for bringing with it the moral weight of her opposition to Communist China's abysmal human rights record throughout her career in this Congress, and for uniting Republicans and Democrats behind it.

But at this moment, I am also reminded of someone who is no longer with us, someone from whom I learned very much. That man is the late Chairman Tom Lantos, a man who embodied the human spirit in its ability to triumph over evil. How many people in this Congress understood the moment when the tanks rolled into Budapest and the Soviets went into Hungary, that that was a seminal moment in the Cold War, that the desire to breathe free, of the Hungarian people, could not be quelled by tanks and could
only be quenched by freedom? And throughout the history of the Cold War, their example was emulated by others, including the Czechs in 1968, and of course the Poles, and that eventually brought down the Soviet Union.

Today, what may appear a resolution of the moment for a specific incident is not that. It is our generation's Budapest. It is this generation of Americans who get to witness the Tibetans trying to breathe free from beneath the Communist yoke of the Chinese regime. And as we Republicans and Democrats stand together today, we stand with them, and we send a clarion message to the Communist Chinese Government. They will be free. And as the Olympic torch goes from town to town and you see people gathering
together of all political persuasions and all walks of life to protest the abominable suppression of the Tibetans, let us remember that we here have come together to make sure that the torch of Lady Liberty still shines bright as a beacon of hope for all the world.