Congress, Politics

Excerpt from the Hypocrite Files: Tea Party Rep. Joe Walsh of Illinois, Debt Ceiling Darling & Deadbeat Dad

Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger

Joe Walsh’s Video: President Obama Quit Lying

http://youtu.be/jU3SBeoG9uQ

(I apologize. I’ve tried to embed the video several times without success.)

It appears that Joe Walsh, the Republican Representative from the Eighth District in Illinois, isn’t so fiscally responsible when it comes to his own finances. The same man who says he refuses to place “one more dollar of debt upon the backs of his kids,” actually “owes more than $100,000 in child support to his ex-wife and three children, according to documents his ex-wife filed in their divorce case in December.” He also lost his Evanston condo to foreclosure.

Lawrence O’Donnell was so disgusted with Walsh that he banned him from his MSNBC program The Last Word. Here’s what O’Donnell said on his program last week:

An excerpt from what O’Donnell said:
“In order to teach deadbeat dad Joe Walsh a lesson about family values, yes, the very same family values that so many Republicans try to exploit politically while failing to come close to living up to them in their own lives, deadbeat dad Joe Walsh is hereby banned from this program. He can go tell his lies about his family values and his sense of fiscal responsibility elsewhere.”

Is this the type of man whose advice we should be taking when it comes to the Debt Ceiling? Have the Tea Party politicians and other Republicans brought our country to the brink of financial disaster?  

From Lynn Sweet:

The Tea Party Republicans and other conservatives took the nation to the brink, pushing too close to the Aug. 2 default deadline for a deal that was not all that different than what had been on the table a few days ago.

The agreement — with major spending reductions — gives Republicans much of what they wanted while opening a rift with Democratic progressives for Obama because it puts cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid “entitlement” programs on the table while not at this time closing tax loopholes to generate more revenue.

Will the new Debt Deal agreement really be beneficial to our country? Has the Obama Administration caved once again? Your thoughts?

SOURCES
Lawrence O’Donnell Bans Joe Walsh From His Show Over Child Support Scandal (Huffington Post)

Tea Party Rep. Joe Walsh sued for $100,000 in child support  (Chicago Sun-Times)

Rep. Joe Walsh: Says Sun-Times story on back child support claims a “hit piece” (Chicago Sun-Times)

Debt deal bottom line: Dick Durbin, Nancy Pelosi, Jan Schakowsky, Mark Kirk, Joe Walsh (Chicago Sun-Times)

Lawrence O’Donnell bans ‘deadbeat dad’ Rep. Joe Walsh (Raw Story)

Rep. Joe Walsh sued for child support (The Hill)

Debt-ceiling drama: Tea Party thinks it knows best (Washington Post)

Tea Party Hypocrite Joe Walsh Wants Us to Raise His Child Support Debt Ceiling (CafeMom)

54 thoughts on “Excerpt from the Hypocrite Files: Tea Party Rep. Joe Walsh of Illinois, Debt Ceiling Darling & Deadbeat Dad”

  1. Elaine,
    Great article. I almost wrote about him myself. He is the Congressman in my District and he is certifiable. He also seems to care more about money than his children.

  2. spending reductions depend upon the meaning of reduction. These are not actual real cuts but cuts in the amount of increase.

    What has just happened is that instead of buying a $100,000 Mercedes we have bought a $45,000 Ford. We have not kept our car and used it until it reaches 250,000 miles and saved the money to replace it.

    We are still in deficit spending only to a lesser extent. Both parties in DC are full of shit and should be thrown out.

    We are being scammed by power elite in DC again.

  5. @Elaine

    “I feel Walsh’s own financial problems call into question his expertise on fiscal matters that are of great import to our country. ”

    Aren’t these merely an accusation of financial problems at this point? Could it be that there is an honest dispute here, rather than an indication of financial problems?

    “My primary care doctor gives me good medical advice. She doesn’t fit the description of the doctor above.”

    Even though your GP seems to be the paragon of health, other doctors may not be. Is their medical advice any less valid than your doctor’s?

  6. Walsh beat Melissa Bean, a blue dog. Some think that anyone is better than a blue dog but in this case I don’t think so…….

  7. Charles,

    “I am confused. Does the fact that he does not practice what he preaches – for whatever reason make what he states any less valid?

    “If your doctor is obese, chain smokes, and drinks 4 six-packs a day does that make his medical advice any less valid?”

    *****

    I feel Walsh’s own financial problems call into question his expertise on fiscal matters that are of great import to our country. Some may feel his opinion on the Debt Ceiling is on the money.” Others of us may not.

    My primary care doctor gives me good medical advice. She doesn’t fit the description of the doctor above.

  8. Curt Sjostrand
    1, August 1, 2011 at 2:16 pm
    My biggest concern with Joe Walsh is how wrong he is on the issues.
    ———————–
    That’s an obvious concern, and, theoretically, one could be an idiot on policy issues, but have a reasonable personal/financial life. Conversely, one could theoretically be a great legislator but be totally screwed up personally and financially.

    In the case of Rep. Wash, the two sets of problems seem to go together. My wife pulled up the Ex-Wife’s filing (from last December, I think) and read through it. Who knows if, as a plaintiff’s filing in a civil case, everything is accurate, but (if I recall correctly) it claimed:
    – In the divorce, Mr. Walsh had some wage garnishment, but had to add supplemental payments each month and pay for things like education and health insurance costs on top of everything. According to the filing, he had never payed anything beyond the wage garnishment (or whatever it’s called in this case).
    – There were mentions of multiple residential properties owned by Mr. Walsh being foreclosed upon. (Who wants to bet that there’s footage of the schmuck blaming irresponsible homeowners for borrowing more than they could afford.)
    – Obviously, in such a divorce/child support situation, Mr. Walsh was required to provide tax returns and other financial information. The filing claims that he hasn’t done so in years (if ever?)
    – Despite Mr. Walsh claiming that he can’t afford the child support, he has supposedly taken his girlfriend on some international vacations over the last couple of years.
    – The ex-wife’s attorneys have been trying to track down what Mr. Walsh was doing for a living – it sounds like a weird mish-mash of “consulting”, some for some odd sounding “foundations.” (coughcough .. rightwingpoliticsisamoneymakingscam … newtgingrich .. coughcough)
    – When running for office, Mr. Walsh had portrayed himself as a successful business man, The filing cites his own campaign literature as being at odds with his claimed income when it comes to child support.
    – At the same time that he was claiming to be broke (and having various homes foreclosed upon) he managed to lend his own campaign tens of thousands of dollars…
    – The filing points out the urgency of getting the fine gentleman to pay his child support debt promptly because HE OWES LOTS OF PEOPLE LOTS OF MONEY (like his former campaign manager who had to sue him for back pay) and they’re afraid that what ever he has will be siphoned off before it can benefit the kids.

    Charming fellow. Good thing he has such an influence over the fate of the US/World economy.

    If I understand correctly, Mr. Walsh’s best (only?) chance at re-election is if he moves around a bit under the state’s upcoming re-districting.

    (St. A’s in Evanston is my wife’s former parish – we can’t imagine a schmuck like Walsh operating in that community!)

  10. I am confused. Does the fact that he does not practice what he preaches – for whatever reason make what he states any less valid?

    If your doctor is obese, chain smokes, and drinks 4 six-packs a day does that make his medical advice any less valid?

  14. Elaine,

    You can’t embed the video because it uses the “youtu.be” url. Get the non-shortened url that contains “youtube.com” and try that.

  15. My biggest concern with Joe Walsh is how wrong he is on the issues. I
    could care less about his personal life although that probably does damage
    his credibility somewhat. Another thing about Walsh is that at times he
    comes off as something of a prima donna and Lawrence O’Donnell is
    a master at bringing out the truth.

  16. Heard about him from my sister a few years back. He went to her church, St. A’s. He ran twice in Evanston and lost. He move west to another district and rode the tea party wave.

  18. anon nurse,

    Thanks. I was just going to post the video in the comments myself. I can’t figure out why I can’t embed the video. It did embed when I first saved the post–and then it disappeared.

  19. I’ll give it a whirl Elaine but,if you haven’t been able to get it to post, this probably won’t work either… (Great article.)

Comments are closed.