Hey, Barbie... show us if you've got some guts.

Your hopefully short-lived tenure has been a disaster to date; your ongoing, cowardly refusal to take a position on anything may be "cute" or "smart" to an empty suit like you... and it may be what your keepers want.

So, here's a way you can repair some small amount of the damage you're causing yourself:

GOP Congressman Walsh Declines Health Insurance

Monday, 27 Dec 2010 03:50 PM

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Rep.-elect Joe Walsh of Illinois has become the third freshman Republican to turn down the gold-plated government-sponsored health insurance plan available to lawmakers. "I don’t think congressmen should get pensions or cushy healthcare plans," he tells the Chicago News Cooperative, The Hill reports.

The other two incoming GOP freshmen shunning their government health insurance are Reps. Bobby Schilling of Illinois and Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania.

Democrats are pressuring Republicans in Congress who oppose Obamacare to drop their own government coverage.

That pressure grew after Rep.-elect Andy Harris, R-Md., reportedly complained in a private November meeting that his government healthcare benefits didn’t start until next year.

But Walsh's wife is reportedly upset with her husband's move. She has a pre-existing medical condition and will have to buy her own insurance, the Chicago News Cooperative reports.

I don't see your name there, Babs. So, here's your chance to man up, and dump that Cadillac package that comes with your job.

After all, you were such a liar during your campaign when you babbled that you weren't "the typical Republican."

Well, now's your chance to show it.

Should we hold our breath?

Cross posted at Clark County Politics.

Ridgefield Barbie's keeper forces a name change, decided before the election.

As yet another sign that Jaime Herrera is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Dr. Frankenstein character who built her from spare parts around the office, an official, post-election (So the hispanic surname wouldn't get buried on the ballot or in the press releases) name change has taken place.

Jaime "Ridgefield Barbie" Herrera is now known as Jaime "The Camas Manikin" Herrera BUETLER (Or, "Butler," to aficionados) because her boss, Cathy McMorris Rogers, wanted it that way.

The press release, which is total fiction, spews this garbage:

“Now that the dust from the campaign has settled, I’ve had the chance to thoughtfully consider and make a permanent choice regarding this personal decision about my family,” she said in her release.

Besides the fact that Herrera hasn't done a "thoughtful" thing in her government careered life, the fact of the matter is this:

The decision to do this was made BEFORE the election. The proof?

Herrera recycled all of her campaign signs starting November 3. She didn't keep any of them.

It had not one damned thing to do with "dust settling," or "thoughtful consideration."

CMR did it this way. CMR told Barbie to do it this way. Barbie hears and obeys. Which will ultimately be the story of her hopefully brief time in office.

Herrera, who's tenure to date has been marked by her cowardly failures to take any positions on ANYTHING, is at least to be congratulated for making a decision about SOMETHING, even as moronic as putting her name familiarity ahead of her familial duty, and convention, of becoming Jamie Beutler.

Course, there's nothing particularly hispanic about that. And being 1/2 hispanic for Herrera is much the same as John Kerry's Vietnam "service," such as it was.

Where people used to say, "Hey... did you know John Kerry served in Vietnam?" They'll now say, "Hey, did you know Jaime Herrera is hispanic?"

Like Herrera, the name thing is a joke. And, it serves as yet another example that when it comes to CMR, Mr. Lincoln didn't really free the slaves, and the 13th Amendment is, in reality, the 13th Suggestion.

By the way... did you know that Jamie Herrera is hispanic?

So, there you have it. Ridgefield Barbie starts her tenure off with yet another lie. But then, isn't that what we've grown to expect from her and her keepers?

Cross posted on Clark County Politics. And as a reminder... Herrera will always be Ridgefield Barbie to me.

Ridgefield Barbie's new name? Ridgefield Gutless.

Babs has got to figure out that the campaign is over, and her empty suit package act will no longer work.

First, her bogus, nonsensical lies concerning her committee assignments.

Her main keeper, Cathy McMorris Rogers (CMR) is number 3 or 4 in House Leadership. There was never a question as to what committees she was going to get. Why she'd lie about that is as mysterious as to why she'd lie about her job with CMR, and the basis for her SEIU support and her decision to help the democrats strip out the last $229 million from the state emergency fund.

The fact is that the decision concerning her committee assignments was made long before the election even took place.

Second, the gutless, campaigning Barbie shines through here:

Herrera declined to state a position on the sweeping tax package negotiated by President Obama and congressional Republicans, which passed the Senate Wednesday on an 81-19 vote and is now headed for the House.

“I don’t get a chance to vote on it or to weigh in,” she said. “During the campaign, I made it clear I’m not going to raise taxes. I’m committed to that.”

Cowardice is hardly an attractive trait in our "leaders." Grow a pair and tell us, Babs. This is, after all, America, and you ARE allowed to have an independent thought in your head, even if you've skipped that part of thinking for the past 5 years or so.

And this:

She said she likely would have voted for the 13-month extension of federal unemployment benefits. “With as many people unemployed in our region as we’ve got, I don’t see that there’s an option. However, I believe it should have been offset” with cuts in other areas, she said.

One of the first things I learned in Olympia was that the voting machine doesn't count a "reluctant yes" any differently than a regular "yes." Voting the way the democrats want is a well-established pattern by our local empty suit. Add tens of billions to the deficit?

Noooo problem. There IS an "option." It's to understand that by extending unemployment checks, you're extending unemployment. But then, you've never been the brightest bulb on the tree.

Herrera also declined to take a position on whether she would support an increase in the federal gas tax if that becomes necessary to help pay the federal share of a new Columbia River Crossing. During her campaign, she said she was opposed to burdensome tolls on commuters who use the bridge and believed the federal government should pay “the lion’s share” of the cost. The total cost of the project is estimated at $3.6 billion.

“I’m on board with making sure the federal government understands this is something that needs to be taken care of,” she said. “I’m operating under imperfect information.”

Since when has that ever stopped you? We don't pay your empty-suited behind to "decline to take positions." We need to know what's rattling around that empty head so we know what to "Stuart" you over.

I'm reminded of a 19th century Officer Evaluation Report I read once. I believe the characteristics were something like this:

"poor fellow... unfit to carry the hod."

Your continuing cowardice and lack of understanding will make me think of that unnamed lieutenant every time I read about you, Babs.

Cross posted at Clark County Politics.

Special Session on Saturday: Will Ridgefield Barbie blow it off?

Special Session is on for Saturday. Now that the Camas Manikin has hit the bigs, will she once again blow session off?

After all, she blew a lot of it off earlier this year so she could fund raise, while her seatmate, Rep. Kevin Parker (R-Spokane) pressed the buttons so it would show she had "voted," even when she wasn't around.

So, is Her Royal Highness going to make it into Olympia?

Or will she, as I suspect, send her regrets?

Stay tuned.

Cross posted on Clark County Politics and 18th District View.

Ridgefield Barbie: The Lies Continue.

So imagine my surprise when I discovered that Brian Baird had resigned early... and that the Camas Manikin had already been sworn in!
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For the aficionado, Herrera is NOT "U.S. Rep." Herrera, God help us, is "U.S. Rep - ELECT" . There is a difference.

Words, of course, have meaning. The use of a title she has not yet attained is reminiscent of Herrera's exaggerations about her claims concerning her employment with her chief keeper, Cathy McMorris Rogers.
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Her bogus labeling as a "Senior Legislative Assistant" was part and parcel of the many reasons I opposed her election.... and her appointment to the state House... because the truth and Herrera are frequently strangers in a wide variety of minor... and major... ways.
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Lying (Or even exaggerating) about something as relatively unimportant as a title... like she did for the 11 months of her congressional campaign and like she's lying now go directly to the question of her integrity.
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If she will lie and/or exaggerate about her title... what else will she lie or exaggerate about?

The sky's the limit... as we, no doubt, will come to find out.
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Which brings us to this self-flagellating article written by someone else, reassuring us that Ridgefield Barbie, in fact, has a clue.
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As one of her constituents in the state house for the past 3 years, I looked for that. I eagerly awaited the spark... the proof that she wasn't lying when she told the already-in-the-bag commissioners that

“Every step I have taken since high school has been preparing me for this. There is not a job in the world I would rather have.”

Clearly, her election to Congress 60 seconds later put the lie to that.

Ultimately, I was disappointed. She got a grand total of one bill passed, the "Baby Bill" that all new reps are given to teach them the process, an agreed bill that allows them to shepard something through both houses... sort of a bill with training wheels. That bill was buried under the sewage of her SEIU sell out and her decision to help the democrats strip out the last dime of the state emergency fund.

Like her other lies, her failure to disclose that she was parachuted in here after an 11 year absence entirely for the purpose of running for Congress goes to the heart of the matter.

Herrera' performance during the appointment process was pathetic. Additional lies and exaggerations concerning her "accomplishments" during her multiple internships; the fact that she relied so heavily on her catch phrase "I wouldn't pretend to presume to know," her complete lack of private sector experience; never having a private sector job, never owning a home... her only ties to this area for the decade before her appointment being a voter registration card... these are the reason I have opposed her in the past.

Garbage like that whoever is shilling for her dropped in the newspaper today is why I will continue to oppose her in the future.

The meaningless drivel in this letter to the editor... the same empty, non-specific promises... the very idea that as a back-bencher freshman member of congress she can do ANYTHING to effect policy, fix the economy, put people back to work, straighten out our foreign policy... these things are, well, all complete nonsense.

She had the opportunity here to tell the truth. And once again, she took a pass.

Clearly, while she claims her office will be a "no arrogance zone," she needs to review the tape of her disastrous appearance at the Tea Party function down here where I was characterized as "one of the few people in the district to oppose her candidacy."

Here's a clue, Babs. In the primary... 76% of the people voted for someone else.

And in the election, 47% of the people did not vote for you. In short, I was one of the tens of thousands who did not want you to darken the congressional doorway. "Arrogance" is your middle name, because like many spoiled brats who didn't have to work for what they've been given, you take all of this for granted.

Unfortunately for us, while your OFFICE may be a "no arrogance zone," it will also be a "no veracity zone." And YOUR arrogance will continue abated. Just ask Bunny.

Cross posted to Clark County Politics.