GOP Congressman's Iraq tale stirs election anger

[DogPoundPup]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., told Lincoln County Republicans that he got turned away at the gym in Iraq's Green Zone, the fortified area where he and other members of Congress stayed during a recent visit to the war-torn nation.

McHenry said that after a day of jumping on and off Blackhawk helicopters wearing flack jackets and Kevlar helmets, he had trouble sleeping in the pool house of a former palace of Saddam Hussein. So he tried to get some exercise.

"Sure enough, the guard wouldn't let me in," McHenry told the dinner crowd, according to an audio tape of his March 29 speech given to McClatchy Newspapers by his GOP challenger for the 10th District seat, military attorney Lance Sigmon of Newton.

"He said I didn't have the correct credentials," McHenry continued. "It's 5 o'clock in the morning and I haven't had sleep. I was not very happy with this two-bit security guard."

Sigmon, whose campaign also posted a video of part of the speech on YouTube.com, expressed disgust with the incident, saying in a press release that it showed "obvious contempt for a guard's duties" and "his belief that being a congressman makes him immune to the rules."



Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/32921.html

---

All republicans seem to have this arrogant aura that they and only they make the rules...I wonder where that comes from? HMMMMM

[annabanana]

1. Wait until they find out that he actually endangered the lives of green zone

inhabitants..


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3118337

[Occulus]

52. Holy polka frak, that's bad

See the related Kos diary for more.

Can this guy be prosecuted for revealing that? He should be...

[trthnd4jstc]

2. Daniel Johnson for US House of Representatives, North Carolina

Republicans are thugs, vote Democratic!

[amihol]

31. :)

[krkaufman]

3. ha!! I was sitting here wondering where that picture of Bush came from ...

... just noticing his expression and not paying special attention to the surroundings, and then noticed the mountain of coke.

[Divine Discontent]

10. say hello to my lil friend! lol eom

[WheelWalker]

50. Rove took that with his cell phone. nt

[niyad]

4. dear goddess, the guard was doing his job, and this cretin is bitching?

how safe is his seat? somebody wonderful running against him, I hope.

[FreepFryer]

5. McHenry may have wanted to go to the gym, but NOT to work out... he's a MAJOR closet case/hypocrite

http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2007/08/wholl-be-next-republican-hypocrite-to.html

[muryan]

7. my eyes are failing me

i read that as downwithtranny.blogspot.com for about 10 minutes before i saw it said tyranny. I was thinking, man this guy is really kinky

[Divine Discontent]

9. oh that's right, there is that persistant rumor with him, I knew I recognized his name for something

it involved that multi homicide/suicide in Orlando...

[The Wizard]

46. It's aroma therapy

He likes the smell of male groin sweat.

[wordpix]

6. this part is funny, LOL. "McHenry said he asked to speak to the guard's supervisor...

but 30 minutes later, "after the supervisor wasn't happy with me, they escorted me back to my room."

bwahahahahaha, the bigshot Congressman asshole tries to throw his weight around in the GreenZone and they escort him back to bed.

:rofl:

[Sequoia]

8. And well he should've been.

When I was in the military the very first and important thing they told us in boot camp was never, ever let anyone in the gate who wasn't authorized. Sometimes one of the lifer officer would test us by trying to get in and yelling such things as "Airman, do you know who I AM!?"

"Yes sir, Major Lifer, but you are not autorized to enter this area."

"Who is your commander airman? Bla, bla threat, bla, bla, threat." Yell, yell....then...'Ha, ha I was just testing you and you passed. One brownie point for you."

[HawkerHurricane]

48. Been there, done that.

I don't know how good the security in the "Green Zone" is, but I spent time guarding a room which may or may not have had nuclear weapons in them (I wasn't authorized to know). When the ship's captain attempted to cross my string (indicating "keep out until identified zone"), I started to draw my weapon... he then presented his identification, I verified that yes, that was his picture, and yes, he is on the access list, and allowed him to pass. Crossing my string without my permission was a good way to get shot.

So, the security guards did thier job, and Congresscritter Whinerbaby wants to cry about it. Tough.

[BadgerKid]

53. .

I was wondering, what options are available in reality? Can the guard call for backup, physically detain, shoot to kill, or?

[tkmorris]

24. The really telling part is ......

That after being rebuffed by the posted sentry, AND his "Supervisor", and getting escorted back to his quarters, and then having several days to ruminate on what has happened, the guy still is so clueless that he thinks this would be a good story to tell on the campaign trail. If he'd just kept his mouth shut he could've avoided a lot of embarrassment.

[LiberalFighter]

44. I wonder if the guard will receive a promotion...

[Divine Discontent]

11. WOW PATRICK MCHENRY!

sounds like he flew home all tizzied and upset by the guard telling him to go back to his room, and that there were no guys in the gym at 5am to meet, and 'work out' with... and then went to his lil richy county GOP dinner and was all drama queen with them, they pacified his whiny arse and everything is better in his world now.. LOL

[Bozita]

18. He mighta been looking to take a shower ...

... and get his workout there.

[Divine Discontent]

29. oh yes, indeedy! eom

[murielm99]

12. It's too bad this didn't happen closer to the election.

I hope it can be kept alive so it hurts him.

What an arrogant ass.

[Supersedeas]

58. Lincoln County can be so proud

[CubicleGuy]

13. Banned from political office for life

I hereby propose that any human being who ever utters the phrase "Don't you know who I am?" in an attempt to bully their way past rules that have been established to make things fair for everyone should be banned, for life, from ever attempting to be elected to any public office, dogcatcher included.

[hobbit709]

15. My response to that question has always been the same

"Yeah, and I don't care" Gets these self-important asses every time.

[LeftishBrit]

25. It may be an urban legend...

but I heard a story of a pompous bloke who was told that he'd have to wait his turn in the queue at the airport, and roared, "Do you know who I AM???" The airline official then spoke into the loudspeaker: "There is a man here who does not know who he is! Could someone please come and assist?"

[pink-o]

32. Oh, that story is legend in the airline industry

This is how I heard it:

The female airline representative is trying to work a busy flight, and said bloke rushes to the front of the line, demanding service. When he's told to get back in line, he utters the famous: "Do you know who I am?"

The airline rep gets on the microphone and announces to the boarding area: "Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention? We have a man here who is asking if I know who he is. If there is anyone who can tell this man who he is, please come forward and let us know. Thank you very much."

At this point, the arrogant bloke says: "Fuck you!"

The airline rep barely looks at him and answers deadpan: "Sir, you're going to need to wait in line for that as well."

OT, but a great story!

[LeftishBrit]

33. Bwaha, I love that ending to it!

[LiberalFighter]

45. If someone has to ask someone... "Do you know who I am"...

it also means that person knows that within that particular universe he is not that well known. It also means that the person has not done a very good or bad job as the case may be of doing their job.

[Sequoia]

55. That's a good one!

[YDogg]

19. amen

[dansolo]

27. Does that include Cynthia McKinney?

[Sequoia]

56. We had an incident last year in San Francisco

Where Midgen (sp) was flying down the 101 in a very eratic way and people were calling the CHP about the dangerous driver. When she rear-ended a car and everyone got out she says to the driver of the car she just plowed into "Do you know who I am!!!" as if she wasn't at fault. Then she blames everything on her medication.

[Doctor_J]

14. Every time a Repuke opens his/her mouth, another Dem campaign ad comes out

Keep them coming, boys and girls!

[Divine Discontent]

28. exactly... and you know these types, who think they're above everyone else

because they were hired by the people to do a job, and he apparently thinks he's above rules, and they spout off about not being treated with the respect he's been given (in his mind) with his title of congressman, are the types to be sitting in his quiet and comfy home, far away from the fighting now, and reading comments about him on websites, getting himself in a bigger tizzy. Hey Patrick, what's wrong, you gonna cry? They didn't let you "work out" in the gym at 5am, aww.... guess you gotta look elsewhere for lonely guys to troll upon.

[Catherine Vincent]

16. "two-bit security guard"

If he was talking about a KBR employee, that would be different. But I hope this wasn't a soldier.

[Hulk]

17. Hope he's up for re-election soon. That's enough to sink his ship, in my humble opinion.

[nichomachus]

20. Granted that the guy is a major league asshole, but . . .

Can anyone tell me the point of telling this story at all. You're in a war zone. You can't get to the gym. Boo-freaking-hoo. So it happened. Suck it up. Why would you even come home and tell this story. I can't understand that. Is that all he has to say about his trip to a place where he and his president have killed upwards of a million people?

Then, to turn in into the soldier's fault. . . The soldier should get a promotion.

[NedSchneebly]

22. I'm with you ... I didn't see the point

[Divine Discontent]

26. Drama Queen McHenry wanted attention - that's the point of him telling it 'don't you know who I AM'

he's such a sniveling whiner. I'd LOVE to hear him tell the troops his story... LOVE LOVE LOVE!

[barbtries]

36. i actually watched a video of this speech

that wasn't the end of it. seems that later the same morning the green zone was bombed, and the gym was hit. even though i would never defend a prick like this, it seems the moral of the story was that the guard probably saved his sorry ass.

[nichomachus]

38. Then why did he call the soldier two-bit?

That seems like a hell of a way to treat someone who saved your cowardly ass.

[MilesColtrane]

21. He could have always strolled outside the Green Zone for a little jog.

I'll bet there would have been plenty of Iraqis offering to help motivate his running.

[TheCowsCameHome]

23. NC Rep., eh? Turn this arrogant little bastard loose in LeJeune

and see how they deal with his brand of cockiness...........

[The Backlash Cometh]

30. Not a humble bone in them. Let me tell you.

[Skittles]

34. that "two-bit security guard" makes an honest living

that's more than can be said of McHenry :puke:

[annabanana]

35. Snarky remark may be the LEAST of McHenry's problems!

Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC) gave away intelligence information last week that could have aided Shi'ite militias and/or other terrorist organizations in targeting the Green Zone. Only two days after McHenry promoted a video of himself in the Green Zone describing in detail the effectiveness of the rocket attacks on Easter Sunday, the area was hit with a barrage that killed two U.S. soldiers and wounded 17 others. It was the deadliest attack on the Green Zone so far this year.

The information McHenry divulged in a video on his official Congressional website on Friday was critical for a number of reasons. Here it is (at link), along with the transcript below:

McHENRY: Good morning. You see, right over my back here (points), there was a rocket attack this morning. According to our folks here, there were eleven rockets, uh, one hit just over my head, another hit a parking lot, and another hit the gym. Well, interestingly enough, I wasn't able to get into the gym this morning because I didn't have an ID that was appropriate. And so I was escorted back to the room and just a few minutes later, that's when the rocket attacks occurred. So, uh, small wonders. . .what a small blessing. . .a big blessing on Easter Sunday morning. So, thanks so much.

This quote, coupled with McHenry's comment about the "two-bit security guard" on March 29th, is not good. The bottom line is that whoever launched that strike could take the information McHenry provided and use it to kill Americans in the Green Zone. This is why professionals operating in a combat zone are trained not to reveal any battle damage after an attack. You never want the enemy to know whether or not he's been successful. In this case, Congressman McHenry very clearly broke "operations security" (OPSEC) by revealing "critical information" as defined in Army regulations.

http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=947

[JBoy]

41. Fucking right. Good job providing that damage assessment to the enemy, McHenry.

He should have whatever security clearance he has revoked. Dumb shit.

[Doctor_J]

49. Fucking chickenhawks think that the million deaths over there are a game

and a photo op. This goddamned loser needs to be run from office.

[ms liberty]

37. Thanks for posting this, DogPoundPup, and also...

I've crossposted this to the NC forum; I want to make sure every NC DU'er sees this! K&R

[muntrv]

39. Enlist, McHenry, if you want the credentials.

[gatorboy]

40. Arrggh! I can't stand that guy!

Who are the fools that constantly give that man a job?

[peaches2003]

42. He is just a little prick

I saw this jerk on c-span awhile back and looked up his website. What a little chickenhawk he is. I also looked into his position in the House because I couldn't understand the Repugs letting such a little shit out in public. Turns out he is one of their new shining stars and headed up in the Repug House leadership. Couldn't believe it. Keep your eye on him and any of you in NC do what you can to see him defeated in Nov.

[rucognizant]

47. And I..........

saw this jerk on c-span awhile back and called his office in DC to protest his ,iserabl;e ideology!
He's outta there............. enough Dems turning up to vote this time, to clean house, purge the bad ones.

[MikeNearMcChord]

43. So Patrick McHenry is the new Conrad Burns, another arrogant GOP

prick who shi**s on those who put their lives on the line. Whether they are firemen or soldiers the GOP just doesn't care.

[pacalo]

51. I just have to say...

I love that Barf-face picture in your signature.

:rofl:

[LynnTheDem]

54. "2-bit security guard" = "supporting the troops"

The republican rightwingnut way.

Send them to die for lies.

Mock them for their medals.

That's "supporting the troops" when you're stupid enough to be a MFing rightwingnut.

[proud2BlibKansan]

57. Funny, I don't remember that attitude when Cynthia McKinney

was in Congress. Where was this guy then? She could have used his help.

[jamesinca]

59. This is good

A GOPer questioning the respect of a GOPer of the military(or its hired guns) is very believable. This helps really tear a hole in the national security/defense facade. McHenry needs to win and he has a big liability I think.

[sofa king]

60. I wonder if that's the same gym that got mortared?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3259897

If it was, I'll leave the obvious comment to someone else.