Did He Really Go There?

I'm not sure what exactly I would do without Ted Nesi's Twitter feed. Today, he had a link to a Huffington Post OpEd from Congressman David Cicilline titled "They Just Don't Get It" where he bashes the budget passed by the House yesterday.

Did he really state "they just don't get it" and referred to budgeting in the same article? Really? Wouldn't that be akin to Newt Gingrich or John Edwards giving marriage fidelity advice? David Cicilline is seriously criticizing someone over budgeting and anything financial? Just three days after Providence had its bond rating cut yet again in part due to Cicilline's own budgeting issues?

A couple of the head-scratchers from the article include:

I have spoken with families across our state who are tired of the same old political games that got our country into this mess to begin with.

They know that Washington should put politics aside and work on policies that will create jobs, support our middle class, and put the economy back on the right track.

And yet he goes on to attack the Republicans for this budget. How exactly is that putting "politics aside"?

There's also the rehashing of a 2010 election trick:

This Republican budget proposal would also replace the current health care system for our seniors with a voucher program that could allow Medicare to wither on the vine and shift costs to seniors.

I guess on the bright side, he stopped blaming Brendan Doherty for the Congressional budget.

Finally, I have to wonder about the consistency of message in the Cicilline campaign. In this article, he leads off with

Yesterday, less than a year after a similar proposal was defeated, the House Republican leadership held a vote on a budget proposal that would extend tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans

But just two days ago, I got an email from the Cicilline campaign stating:

David is facing a conservative Republican in this upcoming election who is so out-of-touch, he actually supports repealing the Bush tax cuts

I'm confused here. On one hand, Cicilline blasts the Republicans for wanting to extend the tax cuts and on the other, his campaign is blasting Brendan Doherty for wanting to end the tax cuts. If he's against extending them and he's against ending them, is there anything that Cicilline is for?