Janet Adamy, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, has a story in the online edition about all the folks in DC who are carrying pocket sized copies of the US Constitution in their pockets.
Guess who ran to her?
Standing outside the House speaker's lobby, Rep. Billy Long (R., Mo.) reached into his back pocket and pulled out a worn-looking maroon edition with folded corners. "Like a horse, it's rode hard and put away wet," quipped Mr. Long, a freshman who boasts of never having previously held elected office.Mr. Long, for all his affection for cowboy costumes, apparently missed the nuance of his quip.
At a Sarah Palin book signing in Springfield during the campaign, a man approached Mr. Long and asked whether he carried a copy. Mr. Long walked back to his truck and produced one. "I needed his vote," he said.
Real cowboys use the phrase "Rode hard and put away wet" to describe someone who doesn't take care of his horse.
Long's quip suggests the same thing about the constitution.
But wait, there's more, Daniel Newhauser, a reporter for Rollcall, the newspaper of Capital Hill since 1955 ledes off with this in his post, Outsiders choose Hill professionals:
A flashy Southern auctioneer with as much a penchant for cowboy hats as for telling voters that he’s “fed up,” Rep. Billy Long struck electoral gold with his campaign as a bona fide Capitol Hill outsider.
“I may not look the part,” the Missouri Republican said in a campaign ad, cracking a sly smile. “But if you’re fed up with politicians in Washington and their cronies, I would truly appreciate your vote.”
After the election was sealed, Long’s rhetoric didn’t cease. When he came to the Capitol in November for orientation, he announced in a press release, “Mr. Outsider Meets the Insiders.”
But Long not only met the insiders, he hired one of them as his chief of staff. Joe Lillis has been legislative director to Rep. Lynn Westmoreland since 2005, and before that, he worked for the Georgia Republican’s predecessor, Rep. Mac Collins (R), and former Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.).
Long declined to comment for this report, but Westmoreland recently recounted giving the inexperienced legislator the advice to hire someone who can guide him through Washington.
“I said, ‘Billy, you’re not a detail person are you?’ He said, ‘Nope,’” Westmoreland told Roll Call. “I said, ‘If you’re not detail-oriented, you better hire somebody who is detail-oriented.’ The ropes are going to be hard enough for a new Member of Congress to learn. If he has eight people or seven people there who are learning the ropes together, that’s going to be a long ride.”
In other news, Billy Long was sworn in as the people's representative from MO 7 And Boehner wept.
Read more about Billy Long and his desire to privatize the Postal Service.
