Meet Patrick McHenry, the rudest, most shameless College Republican in Congress

[littlemissmartypants]

Cross post from General Discussion

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218327278#post8

Hat Tip



to dweller.

Meet Patrick McHenry, the rudest, most shameless College Republican in Congress

https://www.salon.com/2011/05/25/patrick_mchenry/

McHenry has been one of the most completely shameless of House Republicans since his arrival in Congress, in 2005, when he immediately and publicly endorsed Tom DeLay's brilliant plan to exempt himself from ethics rules as his connections to Jack Abramoff began to end his career. But he was born to be cheerfully corrupt: He's a product of the College Republicans, an organization that trains little Lee Atwaters, Karl Roves and Grover Norquists in the arts of scorched-earth campaigning and wholly irresponsible "governing" on behalf of the monied interests that bought you your job. The ethos is win by any means necessary, legal or quasi-legal (or worse, as long as you never get caught), and McHenry was very good at that, according to Benjamin Wallace-Wells' memorable profile of the then-freshman in the Washington Monthly.

After the College Republicans, and a failed state legislature race, McHenry moved on to truly insidious conservative astroturfing/push-polling/communications firm DCI, then worked for Rove, then took a political appointment in the Bush administration, then moved to the district he now represents, where he started a real estate company that did not actually buy or sell any real estate, so that he could run for Congress as "a small businessman."

It's only natural that Elizabeth Warren, whose mission is to protect consumers from unethical and predatory practices by these institutions, is Patrick McHenry's enemy. You can complain on his Facebook wall all you like, but the Republican from North Carolina is incapable of feeling embarrassment.

Another of McHenry's first acts in Congress, Wallace-Wells writes, was to champion a bill that was specifically written to rip off a large portion of his constituents, by making it "much harder for government to regulate or block the conversion of credit unions into banks ..." He is a close ally of major consumer financial institutions with a plum assignment to the Committee on Financial Services, which is great for raising money.

...more at the link.

[leftieNanner]

1. And today

He told Madam Pelosi to vacate her office in the Capital by tomorrow. And she's in San Francisco attending Senator Feinstein's funeral.

[LiberaBlueDem]

2. He won't last long

He won't be able to take the heat coming his way

[NewHendoLib]

3. he is particularly vomit-worthy for sure

[CanonRay]

4. All they have are assholes, what did you expect?

Any decent Republican has been driven out.

[EarnestPutz]

5. Did you see how the little asshole banged the gavel after his first cosplay as a grownup.....

.....on the dais ? Smacked thing down with a vengeance. Dickless twit.

[littlemissmartypants]

6. I sure did! Made me jump reflexively.I'm glad you saw it, too!

I found this excellent article about him and his ambitions...
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2005/10/01/getting-ahead-in-the-gop/
Getting Ahead in the GOP

Rep. Patrick McHenry and the art of defending the indefensible.

by Benjamin Wallace-Wells
October 1, 2005

...snip
McHenry’s first full-time job in Washington was with the conservative communications group DCI. It was quite a choice. If there is a center to Washington conservative dark arts, DCI is pretty much it. They were paid consultants, for instance, to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth last year, although they are most known for attacking fellow Republicans. DCI’s founder is Thomas Synhorst; his expertise lies in “astroturfing”–developing fake grassroots groups to front for conservative and corporate causes–and “push-polling,” a subtle technique that can impart damaging information about a rival candidate in the guise of a hypothetical question for a poll. Synhorst conducted, for instance, push-polls for Bob Dole’s presidential campaign in 1996, in which Iowans were asked if they would be more or less likely to vote for Steve Forbes if they knew that the candidate had a “promiscuously homosexual father.”

This was McHenry’s political finishing school. The recent graduate started work at DCI’s New Media division in the fall of 1999; his main project was running a Web site, NotHillary.com, which peddled rumors that Hillary Clinton would run for president in 2000 in order to drum up conservative campaign contributions. Meanwhile, DCI was working for Karl Rove; Synhorst’s group helped defeat Sen. John McCain in South Carolina that year with a series of notorious push-polls that, among other things, called McCain “a liar, a cheat, and a fraud.” By June, with McCain no longer a factor and Bush breezing towards the nomination, McHenry used his connections to get an interview with Rove, who hired him to be the National Coalition Director for the Bush-Cheney campaign.

After the election, McHenry looked around for his next step. When a new administration sweeps into power, young partisans start looking for plum jobs–flipping through a book that is literally plum-colored to search for political appointee slots. The most coveted are jobs as “special assistants.” Such positions require no substantive experience but put a young person in the room with an agency’s principal decision-makers. They are also assignments that cannot be won without highly-placed contacts. So, when McHenry soon turned up as special assistant to the new Secretary of Labor, Elaine Chao, the wife of influential Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), it caught the attention of some powerful conservatives. “He had a reputation that preceded him,” Norquist told me. “I was hearing from friends that Patrick was a rising star long before I met him.”

There is a streak of impatience, urgency, get-aheadness that runs throughout McHenry’s young career; he habitually stays at jobs for six or eight months, long enough to add a line to his rsum, make the necessary contacts, and then move on. McHenry stayed with Chao for less than six months; his credential in hand, he returned to North Carolina and began scoping out a second run for the Statehouse. He used the same tactic–claiming he was the most conservative candidate in the race–and with a weak field of candidates, he won. He spent the first half of 2003 attacking the moderates who ran the Statehouse when, almost as if on schedule, the local congressional seat opened up. The incumbent Ballenger had been making increasingly odd public statements (among other things, he attributed the breakup of his 50-year marriage to the presence of an American-Islamic relations association next door to his house) and soon was coaxed into retirement. Congressional seats don’t come open too often in the one-party precincts of the South. Six months after he had taken his seat in Raleigh, McHenry announced that he was running for Congress.

Snip...
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2005/10/01/getting-ahead-in-the-gop/

[EarnestPutz]

9. Jeez, he's worse than I imagined. McCarthy himself put this idiot at the top of a list....

.....of candidates for interim Speaker. This article would have me believe that old Kevin was trying to undermine the House. Or maybe just undermining this lightweight’s future prospects.

[littlemissmartypants]

10. Or just dropping a poop 💩 on his way out of the door...

Parting gift for the American People he claims to work for.

[Jamastiene]

13. I thought I was the only one that noticed that.

He has some serious issues. I feel bad for anyone who has to be around him and his obvious rage.

[young_at_heart]

7. He was my congressman after gerrymandering

In Jan. 2013 Patrick McHenry opened an office in Buncombe County after the Republicans gerrymandered the formerly 11th district to put Asheville (in the mountains and very Democratic) into his 10th district (solidly Republican). I didn't really know much about him then, but over the years I learned he was not very nice! I gave up writing letters to him about policy and legislation. Karl Rove must be so proud of his protegee!!

[littlemissmartypants]

8. Oh, dear...

So sorry young_at_heart. ❤️

[The Unmitigated Gall]

11. The weasel is strong with this one.

[IronLionZion]

12. He's such a weasel

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_McHenry