Once again, Andrew Breitbart has dispatched his henchman, Jason Mattera, to annoy a member of congress. This time it’s Sen. Al Franken and, just as happened when he ambushed Rep. Alan Grayson with a false assertion that the health care bill provided funds for child molesters, Mattera is made to look the fool.
In this episode of Mattera’s Morons, Jason stalks Sen. Franken to ask about an alleged provision in the health care bill that allocates $7 billion for jungle gyms. The only problem for Mattera is that nothing of the sort is in the bill. Franken is acutely aware of this and engages Mattera in this exchange:
Franken: You came up to me and said “You know the part of the bill where they give $7 billion dollars to fund the jungle gyms?” And I said “Show me that.” It doesn’t say that in the bill.
Mattera: Oh, it says infrastructure for healthy living in playgrounds for schools. What is that an army of monkey bars?
Sorry Jason. The bill doesn’t say anything about playgrounds or jungle gyms or monkey bars. And when you approach someone who is much more knowledgeable than yourself about legislation, you ought not try to lie about what’s in the bill. What the bill says is that funds in this section can be used for…
(i) creating healthier school environments, including increasing healthy food options, physical activity opportunities, promotion of healthy lifestyle, emotional wellness, and prevention curricula, and activities to prevent chronic diseases;
(ii) creating the infrastructure to support active living and access to nutritious foods in a safe environment;
So now we see that Breitbart and his ward are just as opposed to safe schools and nutritious foods as they are to preventing child abuse. But I have to admire his tenacity. After making an ass of himself over the non-existent jungle gyms, Mattera plowed ahead with a complaint about language in the bill that provides new mothers with reasonable breaks for breast feeding. I thought Republicans were supposed to be the “family values” party. Not that they ever actually supported family values, but they have long sought to pretend that they did. But here the truth is revealed as Mattera berates Franken for supporting a bill that permits new mothers to care for their infant children.
I wonder… Would Mattera prefer it if the woman had an abortion so that she wouldn’t have to miss any work time? Should she quit her job and reduce her income and her family’s ability to provide for themselves? Maybe she should just leave the kid at home and let it fend for itself in a Randian adventure of survival. Mattera’s idiocy is illustrative of something we’ve known all along: Conservatives care very deeply about fetuses but once you leave the womb they don’t give a flying frak.
This hysterical video was, once again, featured on Breitbart’s BigGovernment web site as well as the Fox Nation. And it still amazes me that Mattera thinks he comes off looking good in it. He clearly has a perverse sense of pride. Also Jason, it only makes you look like more of an immature jerk when call Franken “Senator Smalley.” It just drives home how obvious it is that you are NOT good enough, NOT smart enough, and, doggone it, no one likes you.
[Update, 3/31/2010:] Had this been announced a day later, I would have been certain that it was an April fools joke, but no…..Jason Mattera has actually been named editor-in-chief of the uber-conservative Human Events Magazine. Human Events sees some potential in this 26 year old moron whose chief quality appears to be making himself look like an idiot. Now he will oversee the magazine as well as their Internet properties like RedState, home of the new CNN contributor, Erick Erickson.
more foolish than the questions themselves is the fact that Mattera (and Breitbart who devised this ambush) believed there was a chance in hell they’d make Franken look foolish. as for the rightwing response to a nursing mother, it would be either not to work or not to have kids. and yes, they’d smirk as if this were clever.
Jason Mattera, Racist – Quite Infamous amongst Generation Chicken Hawk, the Young Conservatives who are convinced America is involved in World War IV yet have no intention of risking their pasty flabby asses. Operation Yellow Elephant has deatiled posts concerning Mattera’s legendary cowardice and despicable behavior. Mattera is quiet a loathsome man and a typical conservative a coward who has railed for years that Radical Islam is the biggest threat to America and this generation’s struggle but has spent the last 7 years on College Campuses “fighting” liberal professors and struggling to sculpt his eyebrows just right. Chicken Hawks one and all. Conservatives are a fucking disgrace.
Thanks for the links. I remember that speech from CPAC but forgot that was Mattera.
Two choices: time off for expressing milk or time off for changing blouses when the breasts start expressing themselves. That Mattera is too ignorant about health issues to know that keeping school children healthy is, by itself, presents a saving in time and money later is bad enough. But he has to go further and show his ignorance of breast feeding. A woman on a regular feeding schedule will begin to express milk spontaneously, but even that not before a great deal of pain from full breasts.
Of course, his question is how is this the government’s business. More to the point, how is it HIS business? I take it he no longer frequents schools and he will never breast feed. Further, a comprehensive health bill would be incomplete if it did NOT address these issues. My take is he has no problems with these specific points, his beef is with the entire bill. And also, he’s a moron.
This is typical of conservative “journalism”. They spit out lies and nonsense and refuse to allow responses to their idiotic assertions. They don’t even realize how despicable they look. Mattera just looks like a child who thinks he’s Chris Wallace on 60 minutes.