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You are here: Home / Another Asshole Heard From

Another Asshole Heard From

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She took it back later, but you can’t unring this bell:

As some North Carolina congressional lawmakers defer pay during the shutdown, GOP Rep. Renee Ellmers is refusing to do so — and her remarks are drawing the attention of an advocacy group.

“The thing of it is, I need my paycheck. That is the bottom line,” Ellmers told WTVD, the Raleigh ABC station, Wednesday.

Reader Interactions

77Comments

  3. 3.

    Zifnab25

    My god, she has a family to feed. You wouldn’t want politics to come in the way of that, would you?

  4. 4.

    beltane

    I’d like to say she works hard for the money, but she does not so I won’t say it.

    Are there no workhouses, Rep. Ellmers? Are there no prisons?

  5. 5.

    ruemara

    of course she does. She might have pay for a lunch instead of sucking off a lobbyist’s credit card. And that might cause her to have one less buck to spend on shoes! But government workers, those are true welfare queens.

  9. 9.

    BGinCHI

    Her husband is a doctor. They are just working class people trying to get along!

    What’s the median home price in her district, 50K?

  11. 11.

    EconWatcher

    You have to sympathize. Her husband is a surgeon, probably thrown into destitution by the cost-cutting restrictions of Obamacare. They have kids to feed. She’s gotta have that paycheck.

  12. 12.

    Elizabelle

    Her husband is a surgeon.

    She is a registered nurse turned congresswanker.

    She led the charge against the Affordable Care Act.

    She must be paid.

  13. 13.

    Kay S

    Gee, congresscritter solidarity with all the furloughed thousands…touching. How many are millionaires in Congress again…?

  14. 14.

    Villago Delenda Est

    As pointed out earlier, her husband is a surgeon.

    She’s not going to starve if she doesn’t get paid.

    Unlike a lot of other people in this country she’s more than willing to allow to starve.

  15. 15.

    Keith G

    I thought I would wait a few days for the dust to clear, but to no avail. Healthcare.gov is not up to the task.

  16. 16.

    beltane

    @Elizabelle: These are just bad people with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. She must be pissy that the ACA will make it harder for her husband to grift off the health care system. These wretched excuses for human beings make me ashamed for my country.

  17. 17.

    Mike in NC

    This dumb 1%er bitch was on TV the other day, defending not only the federal shutdown but the recent NC teabagger legislation to disenfranchise voters.

  18. 18.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @The Dangerman:

    The timeout I’m thinking is some quality time in a gutter contemplating her alleged devotion to Jesus after being kicked to the curb, and stomped on.

  22. 22.

    MikeJ

    What’s funny is she says on her home page that if the gov isn’t open by Nov 1st, she will then introduce legislation to pay all government employees. But not reopen the government.

    Fiscally responsible!

  23. 23.

    Baud

    @Keith G:

    SEIU ‏@SEIU 5h
    #Obamacare demand is so high, engineers are working thru the night to improve https://www.healthcare.gov/ . Call 1-800-318-2596 for enrollment.

    Not saying things shouldn’t be better, but give it a little time. You have till December for coverage starting in January, and they won’t run out of insurance.

  24. 24.

    RevRick

    You know, making fun of these idiots is easy. But this is, first and foremost, a Constitutional crisis. I wrote a letter to the editor of my local paper saying how I appalled I was by the nullificationist position taken by the GOP. I stole the analogy of the arsonist threatening to burn down your house to make my point. If the GOP gets its way, we might as well shred the Constitution, forget about elections and just hand power over to this tyrannical miniority.
    Go and do likewise!
    We need to put the heat on the Republicans and fortify the spine of Democrats in this fight.

  25. 25.

    ? Martin

    “This isn’t some damn game!” House Speaker John Boehner said at a news conference where he ratcheted up pressure on President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats to negotiate changes to Obamacare as part of any deal to end the shutdown.

    It’s never fun being stuck between the worlds largest rock and the world’s hardest place.

  26. 26.

    srv

    People make great sacrifices to be leaders. This woman could be making much more money with her experience, but chooses to serve her constituency. Unlike some politicians who pursue the path to become millionaires, she doesn’t have cooks, guards, drivers, live in a gov’t provided mansion or have a 747 to fly around on.

  27. 27.

    Seanly

    It’s sad that some many folks in my generation (I was Gen X when they first proposed it) are major right wing douchenozzles.

  28. 28.

    Elizabelle

    For f*ck’s sake: front page on the Raleigh News and Observer website now:

    Ellmers reverses course, will decline her paycheck amid shutdown

    the second-term congresswoman sought to empathize with the furloughed workers, saying she’s in their camp — even though she is getting paid. “I feel for those who have been furloughed — I’m there with them,” she said.

    She’s not into full disclosure, either.

    In 2010, Ellmers, a nurse, rated [as] one of the poorest members of Congress with a personal net worth of negative $91,497. Her most recent financial disclosure form provided by her office shows she’s still in the red, with a negative net worth of $403,000. The debt reflects a mortgage, a home equity line and a loan for property at Topsail Beach. The form does not include her Congressional salary or the salary of her husband, a doctor.

    Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/10/04/3253101/republican-renee-ellmers-reverses.html#storylink=cpy

  30. 30.

    Ash Can

    We’re hearing from assholes constantly at this point, it seems. Right now there’s a Newsmax headline in the margin that reads, “Norquist Blasts Cruz: Where’s His Strategy?” His strategy, Grover, you disingenuous schmuck, is the one you’ve been espousing, very publicly, for many years: Make government small enough to drown in a bathtub. After cutting it down through the sequester, Cruz is now working on the drowning part. You own this, and trying to back away from it now just makes you look like even more of a dysfunctional sphincter than you already are.

  31. 31.

    PurpleGirl

    @Zifnab25: I know you’re snarking but yes, I would like it if she didn’t have the money to feed her family. Maybe her husband could a real job (I don’t if she is or isn’t married, if he’s a deadbeat or not) and stop living off her salary….

  32. 32.

    Elizabelle

    @? Martin:

    I know.

    The Republicans think they’re starring in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”, but turn out to be in a “Ransom of Red Chief” situation.

  33. 33.

    RAM

    She needed the money yesterday but not today. So who, do you suppose, is paying her bills? And will she claim the income on her tax form? Inquiring minds would like to know…

  37. 37.

    Roger Moore

    @The Dangerman:

    Sounds like someone needs a Golden Rule refresher

    Oh! Oh! I know that one! He who has the gold makes the rules! That’s why the Republicans listen so carefully to the MOTU rather than to peons like you and me.

  38. 38.

    Citizen_X

    As bad as her cluelessness is, I think this asshole is even worse: Rep. Lee Terry of Nebraska. Referring to other Congresspeople who were forgoing their paychecks, he said,

    Whatever gets them good press. That’s all that it’s going to be. God bless them. But you know what? I’ve got a nice house and a kid in college, and I’ll tell you we cannot handle it. Giving our paycheck away when you still worked and earned it? That’s just not going to fly.

    Same principle does not apply to other Federal employees, of course.

  39. 39.

    ? Martin

    @RevRick:

    But this is, first and foremost, a Constitutional crisis.

    Yep. The founders set up this system of government so that some asshole couldn’t go off half-cocked – there’d always be some check against that. The Tea Party wants their own little totalitarian state, and has found a loophole by which to do it. They can’t pass the legislation they want, but they can blow the place up if they don’t get it.

  40. 40.

    Ash Can

    @? Martin:

    “…where he ratcheted up pressure on President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats to negotiate changes to Obamacare…”

    If pressure is applied to people and they don’t actually feel it, is it still pressure?

  41. 41.

    Roger Moore

    @? Martin:

    It’s never fun being stuck between the worlds largest rock and the world’s hardest place.

    Listen to me play the world’s saddest song on the world’s tiniest violin.

  44. 44.

    Patricia Kayden

    So I hope Ellmers votes to retroactively pay the 800,000 federal employees who are impacted by her party’s shutdown since just like her, we need our money.

  46. 46.

    burnspbesq

    You would expect someone who is (apparently) living from paycheck to paycheck to have more empathy toward people who are living from paycheck to paycheck.

  47. 47.

    catclub

    @Elizabelle: “The form does not include her Congressional salary or the salary of her husband, a doctor.”

    Usually assets are hidden in the wife’s name. Turnabout this time, perhaps?

  49. 49.

    ? Martin

    @burnspbesq:

    You would expect someone who is (apparently) living from paycheck to paycheck to have more empathy toward people who are living from paycheck to paycheck.

    So long as she has a sparrow and a curtain rod and they don’t…

  52. 52.

    Roger Moore

    @burnspbesq:

    She isn’t living paycheck to paycheck. She just doesn’t want to give up the money and is too afraid of the bad publicity if she doesn’t have a plausible-sounding excuse for why she shouldn’t have to. Unfortunately for her, the excuse she found doesn’t sound very plausible to anyone outside the 27%.

  53. 53.

    PurpleGirl

    @srv: Maybe you’re snarking or maybe not, but please she has at least a housekeeper/child care worker. You can’t tell me she does her own vacuming, cleaning, and cooking. She needs someone to help with the kids, you don’t expect that she times her office hours to the kids hours, do you. Does the family live in D.C. or in her district or does she keep a pied-a-terre in D.C. They have a vacation home… sorry, I don’t feel sorry about the mortgage problem — should have thought about that before buying it. A lot of people lost their first (and only) homes with the economic downturn that her party has helped to make worse.

  56. 56.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Elizabelle:

    As Brendan noted, “Ruthless People”.

    This was Bill Pullman’s first film, and he’s brilliantly stupid throughout it.

  58. 58.

    ? Martin

    @srv: They have a negative $400K net worth, but they almost certainly have a large positive cash flow and savings, so they’re fine. They likely have debt amounting to two year’s discretionary income, so they could discharge all of that before her term is up, a job she cannot lose.

    We should all be so lucky. Do not feel bad for her in any way.

  59. 59.

    Logan Brown

    I worked in her district for 15 years, and she’s a perfect representative for them. While many of the individuals have a heart of gold, they can be blindingly stupid on anything that isn’t from that part of the state. She’s an embarrassment, only outdone by Foxx in Charlotte.

  60. 60.

    Tokyokie

    I’m a nursing student, and one of the primary things pounded into our heads is that nursing is a caring profession, and, frankly, Ellmers (Fudd) is demonstrating that she’s a crappy nurse. Sure, it’s more likely to be the case at a community college like I attend rather than a private college, but I’d be hard-pressed to find anybody among my classmates or professors who’s sympathetic to the GOP. My guess is that she’s one of those who got into the field not to help others, but to find a physician husband.

  61. 61.

    Patrick

    @srv:

    This woman could be making much more money with her experience, but chooses to serve her constituency.

    Assuming this is not snark…

    How the hell is she serving her constituency by shutting down their very own government???

    And just because you are a politician doesn’t mean you are serving anybody.

  62. 62.

    srv

    @Patrick: Like Logan above says, she is a perfect mirror of her constituency.

    Why is she supposed to vote differently? Because they elected her to be an elitist RINO?

  63. 63.

    Brendan in Charlotte

    @Logan Brown: you do mean Virginia Foxx, right? She’s actually just north of Charlotte. Ex-Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx is anything but an embarrassment

  64. 64.

    siciliandish

    and in Tea Crazy World 800K furloughed federal employees aren’t really hard working Americans with mortgages, kids in college, car payments, utility bills, day care…honestly they should just go out and find a real job.

  65. 65.

    Patrick

    @srv:

    Why is she supposed to vote differently?

    Do you think a Congressperson should vote whatever their own district wants? What if her own district is in favor killing babies on live TV? You think she should be in favor? These people are in DC because they are supposed to lead us and making tough decisions. She certainly didn’t do that.

    How about doing what is best for our country?

  66. 66.

    boatboy_srq

    @Elizabelle:

    In 2010, Ellmers, a nurse, rated [as] one of the poorest members of Congress with a personal net worth of negative $91,497. Her most recent financial disclosure form provided by her office shows she’s still in the red, with a negative net worth of $403,000. The debt reflects a mortgage, a home equity line and a loan for property at Topsail Beach. The form does not include her Congressional salary or the salary of her husband, a doctor.

    Sounds like just another “taker” who bought more house(s) than she could afford. Oh, wait – she’s white a REAL Ahmurrcan, so that can’t be it.

    She is a registered nurse turned congresswanker.

    Doesn’t say much for her talents in her prior profession, does it? Miss Rached springs to mind.

    /snark

    And since when did a mortgage count as “negative net worth”? Or Is it that the house(s) is(are) so devalued there’s no net worth?

  68. 68.

    Patrick

    @srv:

    You don’t even know me, yet you judge me. You never answered my question; are you in favor of guns on airplanes. Or are you one of those liberals who don’t believe in the 2nd amendment?

  70. 70.

    Patrick

    @srv:

    Funny stuff, especially coming from you and your know it all regarding the 2nd amendment. Still no answer from you regarding guns on airplanes. How revealing!

    Have a good weekend!

  71. 71.

    Keith G

    @Villago Delenda Est: Dear One, I wasn’t calling for trumbles or proclaiming the need for physical harm as you are want to do. If I am not allowed to make a factual observation without impinging on your delicate sensibilities, I do not know what to say.

    I am sure the process will be wonderful at some point, hopefully real soon. Right now it is not. That’s too bad. It seems the Department of Health and Human Services could have done better for Obama and the rest of us.

  72. 72.

    Mnemosyne

    As I was arguing yesterday, this is why we ask the question about why Congress is getting paid while everyone else has to work for free. Not so people on the left can say, But but but the Constitution! but so the congresscritters are forced to defend their actions and explain why they deserve a paycheck but no one else in the federal government does.

    Let them make their own arguments about why they’re better than all of those other federal employees and deserve to get paid, unlike park rangers or CDC employees who don’t actually do anything useful.

  74. 74.

    GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)

    @srv:

    I hope you’re fucking kidding with this. My congressman is a school teacher, and sole wage earner for a family of four.

    He is also the highest ranking enlisted veteran in congress.

    He is donating his paycheck to a fucking food bank.

    Again, I hope you are kidding. If not, a hearty “fuck you” to you.

  75. 75.

    GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)

    @Keith G:
    Wont, asshole. It’s working just fine. If your computer skills are up to par with your vocabulary, I would suspect user error.

  76. 76.

    Chris T.

    Mike Lee (R sen from Utah) likewise had to reverse course on “hey, I’m working, I’m keeping my entire paycheck, I’m no lazy bum like Those People!”.

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