Wonkette
A poor gal named Marianne Stringer, from Florida, lost her husband to Agent Orange-related cancer he picked up in Vietnam, THANK YOU ROBERT MCNAMARA, and has since written hundreds of congressmen about increasing benefits for military families, because come on. One such letter went to the office of Texas Rep. Mac Thornberry, a member of the Armed Services Committee, and said, “Please, help us to understand your reluctance in supporting [her effort]… If you do not understand the clear intent of this bill, we will be happy to furnish you with any information you may be seeking.” Unfortunately for everyone, the Thornberry aide who responded to Stringer happened to be an Evil Dick from Hell.
Michael Clauser, national security legislative assistant to Thornberry, wrote that Stringer — a savvy longtime advocate on the issue — was a “resident of Palm Bay, Florida. Your Congressman is Rep. Bill Posey.”
He then instructed Stringer to “discontinue emailing me” and warned “I will interpret any further communications with me from you or non-constituent members of your organization as harassment and report your name and address to the Capitol Police.”
Posey, a Republican shot back: “It’s unconscionable… My staff knows that one of the ways to submit their resignation is to say we can’t help if you’re in someone else’s district.”
Thornberry’s chief of staff issued a statement saying Clauser’s psychotic anger-babble is “in no way reflective of the culture of this office or the way Congressman Thornberry expects his staff to conduct themselves. Especially toward members of America’s military family.”
What’s the over/under on the Evil Dick’s firing… 3:30 this afternoon?
Thornberry aide threatens to call cops on war widow [Glenn Thrush]
Deploy him.
“Agent Orange-related cancer”?
Damn you, Boehner!
“aide who .. happened to be an Evil Dick.”
That is not happenstance. Evil Dicktitude is a bullet-point on any staffer’s job description. S/He who gives a shit about an insignificant constituent’s life NEED NOT APPLY.
…and don’t call me “Liz”
First Zach Wamp, now Mac Thornberry. They’re making this shit up, right?
Current Status: Waiting eagerly for Mr. Clauser to send an email to our Wonkettes demanding that they refer to him as “Mike”.
Jeebus, was it the teabaggers that turned our congressional staffers into such anger bears?
That’s “Evil Richard!” Who told you, you could call me “Evil Dick?”
If you think this woman pissed him off, just try calling him “Liz.’
Awright, this dude seriously has to meet LizBec. How should we hook them up, though? Can someone hack into Clauser’s server and send Becton an email entitled, “Liz, I love you, and I just leaked it to the Times”? It should spawn one of those old-fashioned you’re-the-most-contemptible-man-I-ever-met-kinda love stories.
This guy has just got to be related to Lizzie Becton!
I got a dickish response like that from Bob Barr’s office once when I asked him for his official position on an issue I was writing about for a college class. Must be common to shit on good causes.
Michael Clauser’s love is not strong enough.
Fuck! I’m not unique!
That being said, congresspersons ALL THE TIME say they can’t help someone who is not in their district. I worked for a Dem. member of Congress, and we had a form letter that said that very thing. We sent it out all the time, mostly because when you live in a dense urban area, lots of people aren’t sure who their congressperson is, and simply mail their letter to whoever’s name they see on the news most frequently. (The reason we did this, btw, is that other congresspersons get SUPER PISSED OFF if you help one of their constituents, because then their constit is grateful to you, not to his/her actual rep.)
This guy was still a huge dick, though. She clearly was not trying to get constituent help, she was trying to persuade him to vote a certain way on an issue.
Satan haz a sad that you misappropriated his likeness to represent said “dick from hell.”
Motherfucker needs an Agent Orange injection right in the urethra.
Sorry, but Tim Curry isn’t near evil enough for this article.
He’s got to be relatively new… http://www.legistorm.com/search/search.html?textsearch=clauser
What a quick career in Congress!
Was Michael Clauser driving a white Mercedes yesterday at around 4:00?
Didn’t Tim Curry have neck problems after that movie?
But really, what do you expect when you hire a guy named Evil Dick? If Thornberry had wanted a constituent friendly employee, he should have gone with Renaldo the Kind and Friendly Elf.
BobLoblawLawBlog: indeed, imagine how awesome the hate-fucking would be. Maybe they would make a porno if there was enough money in it.
Clauser will be leaving government service to explore opportunities in the private sector kicking puppies and breaking up penguin gay marriages.
Toonces: Or already fired!!!
Usually our reps are just idiots.
I’m sorry to know that we still have some evil compounding native Texan stupidity. I wonder if we combined this level of shit-heeledness with Joe Barton’s insipid smugness if we’d be able to clone Dick Cheney?
Dave J.: There’s a big gap between “I’m sorry we can’t be of assistance. Please contact Rep. X’s office at 555-555-5555″ and “If you ever contact me again using any media including those that haven’t been invented yet, I will have you arrested and extraordinally rendered to Kazahkstan.”
Actually, Michael Clauser is Thorndick’s “Military Legislative Advisor”. Widows aren’t considered military, just social parasites.
http://chamber.capwiz.com/bio/id/566
He should be fired for saying “discontinue” instead of “stop.”
kth: Entitled: “Say My Name, Bitch - And Don’t You Fucking Dare Abbreviate”
He should just have a form letter saying, “Shut up, peon — His Excellency Mac Thornberry is busy with the people’s business.”
It will be interesting to see Karl Rove and Dick Cheney fight over possession of this evil dick for themselves.
Seriously, though, Tim Curry and this guy should never be mentioned in the same html. Tim Curry doesn’t kick the puppies of dead soldiers.
Perhaps Ms. Stringer’s lobbying efforts would be more successful if she found herself a new agent. It sounds like that Orange guy totally sucks.
“Lousy war widows…” - Homer J. Simpson
Crazybroad: Liz Liz Liz Liz infinity…
I got yelled at personally by a congressman whom I will not name (Frank LoBiondo) when I got him on the phone the night before the Clinton impeachment vote and said it was a partisan witchhunt and a perjury trap and did not rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors, and he started screaming at me about the rule of law. Very Glenn Beck-ish.
The key to Clauser going all GlennBecky on war widow Marianne Stringer lies in the sentence of the following paragraph:
“Stringer’s a member of Gold Star Wives of America. It’s an organization of widows and widowers whose loved ones died on active duty or from a condition induced by military service. The group helps family members navigate the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs to obtain federal benefits. They also lobby Congress. Eleanor Roosevelt helped incorporate Gold Star Wives at the end of World War II.”
This is from Fox’s congress.blogs. Fox usually puts the modifiers “muff-diver” and “well-known Marxist agitator” before Eleanor’s name, so I have assume that Fox was a wee bit rushed when it wrote this. Sloppy, Fox, sloppy.
But seriously, how is a Congressional aide supposed to say, nicely, “Can’t help you. Stop wasting everyone’s time.”
Humpback: That’s where the ol’ email comes in handy. Forward it on, and don’t say a word.
$10 says Evil Dick wears boat shoes and only works this job for the coke connections.
Oh Man. Wonkette HAS to keep tabs on this guy. CrowdStalky style. Hey Evil Dick, when you become the assistant night manager of porta-job #7 on Skid row, Ima come knock that bitch over.
problemwithcaring: After 36 years here in the DC area- I am so unimpressed by everyone-except Barack, Michelle, Rahm and Al Franken- AND SONIA. Every elected politician, their staffs, lobbyists and lawyers can suck it big time.
Since I’ve never known how to pronounce “boehner” I’ll just call him “Agent Orange Related Cancer.”
And his relation, David Brooks, I’ll call “Inside Thigh”
1ofUS: Agent O.R.C.?
The vast majority of congressional offices never answer out of district mail unless it’s on letterhead or otherwise from an organization/business/trade association that might reverberate in the district (not even if the subject matter is related to the member’s committee work).
That doesn’t excuse rudeness.
“My staff knows that one of the ways to submit their resignation is [to do/say X] . . . .”
This Posey guy made be, and probably is, another GOP Wanker.
But THAT was an elegant sentence. Credit where credit is due, etc.
…seems to me contacting our elected representatives is at the heart of our Democratic process. While Ms. Stringer is not a constituent of Rep. Thornberry, he is a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee which has jurisdiction over this legislation. How could he not be an appropriate person to contact? As a former hill staffer myself I can certainly appreciate the at times overwhelming amount of mail that congressional offices receive. Advances in technology have only made it easier for constituents and non constituents alike to contact Congress. I can even understand an office policy of not responding to non constituent mail. The staffer apologized for his mistake, and it was a mistake, but how unfortunate that those who have already suffered such a great loss receive this kind of response. We continue to seek support for HR 775 in the House and S. 535 in the Senate which will finally restore the earned retired pay to the surviving spouses of those who have fought and died for our country. Currently - Senator Ben Nelson of Florida will be offering Senate Amendment 1515 to the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2010) which the Senate is working on. Should it pass (where it has in the past each time it has been offered) the bill will then go to a Conference Committee. Asking Members and Senators to support this important legislation would be most appreciated …although as Ms. Stringer learned… not always so by staff.
Fuckstick Clauser’s LinkedIn profile…FIVE AND A HALF CAPITOL POLICE DOUGHNUT MUNCHERS, ALAN!
Future “Industry”? Lavatory Administration.
There’s one of these in Specter’s office, too. His name is (no shit) “Mr. Bear.”
My father in law is dying of Agent Orange related cancer now. He’s 64 and went there for three tours of duty.
The guy who said that bullshit should be strung up by his tiny penis and covered in honey, then thrown to bears.
Asshole.
Whoa! Liz Becton had a sex-change and is now known as “Michael Clauser”?
“Especially toward members of America’s military family.”
So basically the rest of us are, you know, screwed.
Even Fox is heaping the scorn on;
http://congress.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/07/16/constituent-service/
Buh-bye now.
I had the opportunity to read Marianne’s original email from Mr Clauser and was not only shocked but disappointed. Our inequities as survivors are so unique and complicated that most large veteran service organizations (VSO’s) do not provide a “form” letter for members to send to their elected official that discusses and explains our complicated inequities. Therefore it takes a widow to educate the staffers of congress so they can better understand why we are asking for concurrent receipt. Hopefully, because of staffer’s knowledge of our issues, this will help influence their “Boss” congressman or senator to co-sponsor our bills (HR 775 & SA 1515).
June 10, 2009 Rep Thornberry signed a letter written by Representatives Joe Wilson; Ranking Member, Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel and Steve Buyer ; Ranking Member, Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, addressed to Rep. John Spratt, Chairman U.S. House Committee on the Budget to utilize “Reserve Funds” to help pay for military benefits (including survivor benefits). If he signed this letter of support, then why would he not cosponsor the bill that would allow us to receive our benefits without an offset?
It is unfortunate that it takes widows to educate congress…but if we do not stand up and call the baby ugly then we are stuck with an ugly baby. It is time for congress to step up to the plate and remove the SBP-DIC offset especially during the time of war. They may get tired of us calling but if they really understood our issues, then they would be co-sponsors. Until then, we will press on with our passion to remove our inequities and have congress remove the SBP-DIC offset. It is unfortunate that one of my fellow Gold Star Wives’ had to endure this rejection.
give him a break. I’m sure he’s not against widows, just widowhood. similar to his feelings about gays: http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2002/04/04-15-02tdc/04-15-02dops-letter-05.asp
I knew Michael when he was at Exeter (2004). He hasn’t changed much in 6 years - he’s still a first class ****. ‘Psychotic anger babble’ is exactly how many would describe his incoherent rants in class. He simply found it difficult to disguise his hard on for neo conservatives, especially those who served Dubya.
Clearly his wince inducing comments has alienated many people on The Hill. “wherever you go there you are” eh clauser?