Billy Long featured in story in San Jose Mercury,,,, and not in a good way

Earlier the bus stopped at the Forbes magazine piece on Billy Long and The St. Louis Examiner piece by Tom Appelbaum on Long.

The Forbes piece it’s easy to be an ideologue when you can’t see the faces or don’t know the names of the people you are hurting and that's enough to make Billy a one term congressman.

Another national voice has opined on the congressman from MO 7. Byron Williams, a writer for the San Jose Mercury:

When we need government and when we don't:Between the opposing polarities that too often dominate our discourse, lies the reality that dislike for government ultimately is a luxury. It is a luxury because it assumes that one has no reason to need government in that moment.

Rep. Billy Long, whose congressional district includes Joplin, spoke in April at a tea party rally lamenting about government spending. He boasted that he voted to defund Planned Parenthood.

Long told the enthusiastic crowd, "Your tax dollars should not be going to kill innocent babies." Never mind that this ruse has been categorically debunked.

But Long, whose brief congressional career is based on what's wrong with government, sang a different tune in the aftermath of the tornado that devastated Joplin. He recently praised the initial response by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

"On a scale of one to 10, they are a 12," he said. "I think they are doing an excellent job."

earlier, on May 26, 2011, in a ribbon cutting cermemony, Congressman Billy Long, R-Springfield, praised the work of federal officials, and said his job was to make sure the town could move forward “in a timely fashion.”

If anyone has a photo of Billy Long in Joplin where he DOESN'T have his hands in his pockets, please share it with us.