Archived Opinion

Meadows is leader of obstruction, shutdown

To the Editor:

The “Meadows stands for national security” letter written by Ted Carr clearly linked the word “resist” with Democrats. So, I want to refresh Mr. Carr’s memory about Republican resistance/obstructionism which was, at times, “unprecedented” during Obama’s presidency.

Remember these words in 2010 by then Speaker of the House John Boehner regarding Obama’s agenda: “We’re going to do everything … to kill it, stop it, slow it down, whatever we can.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell then followed up with his plan of action by saying, “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.” 

As for Rep. Mark Meadows … I view him as the face of resistance in the U.S. House. He’s widely recognized as the architect of the 2013 government shutdown and he recently advised Donald Trump “now is the time to fight” for his  border wall funding, which ultimately led to a historic 35 day shutdown. 

To add insult to injury, Meadows told furloughed federal workers that a shutdown comes with the territory — “it’s part of what they signed up for in a public service job,” he said.

On Jan. 30 Meadows led the floor debate to defeat a bill that would prevent future shutdowns. In a recent Washington Post column, the reporter suggests that Meadows’ power role in the new Congress will be “outside agitator” (to Trump), just like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh.

While Mr. Carr urged Meadows and Trump to work to achieve bipartisan solution to the shutdown, Meadows’ doesn’t appear to be headed in that direction. He indicated to the Washington Post reporter that over the past few months he’s been developing a new playbook and his final words regarding his tactics were: “Best done stealthily.”

Stealthily is defined as operating “in a cautious and surreptitious manner, so as not to be seen or heard.” Sorry, Mr. Carr, but it doesn’t sound as though Meadows is going to take your advice. It sounds more like “resistance” to me! 

Myrna Campbell

Waynesville

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