James Clyburn: Gabby Giffords Was Shot, So I Deserve Special Treatment At The Airport

This has to qualify as one of the dumbest comments so far about the shootings in Arizona:

A top House Democrat said the attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) should change how members of Congress are screened at airports.

“I really believe that that is the place where we feel the most ill at ease, is going through airports,” Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), who serves as assistant minority leader in the House, said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Clyburn called for the Transportation Security Administration, which administers airport security checkpoints, to interact “a little better” with the Capitol Hill Police.

“We’ve had some incidents where TSA authorities think that congresspeople should be treated like everybody else,” he said. “Well, the fact of the matter is, we are held to a higher standard in so many other areas, and I think we need to take a hard look at exactly how the TSA interact with members of Congress.”

I can’t even begin to understand the leaps of logic that Clyburn made her to get from a story about a Congresswoman being shot outside a Safeway in Tuscon, Arizona to the idea that he shouldn’t have to stand in line with the proletariat at the airport.

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Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. MarkedMan says:

    OK. That definitely ranks up there for stupidity

  2. Tano says:

    I think he sounds rather frightened. I imagine he has plenty of reasons to be so. Yeah, this snippet doesn’t make much sense, but it sure seem like what interests you is simply the opportunity to call him stupid.
    This crap gets so tiring…

  3. Linda says:

    No, can’t have the Democrat elected elite treated in the same manner as we, the great unwashed masses. *rolls eyes*

    I, like you, Doug, am trying to figure out the logic (or rather, lack there of) in somehow connecting Rep. Giffords shooting to airport security checkpoints.

  4. Ronin says:

    Clyburn comes off as either a moron or shameless here.

    Don’t look for the logic because there isn’t any.

    Arizona incident and airports/congressmen/TSA cannot be linked.

    Someone should slam Clyburn for this.

  5. JKB says:

    What are these high standards Congress is supposedly held to? Certainly not fidelity, sexual relations with employees, paying taxes, check bouncing, ….