Burnt Orange Report

Henry Bonilla Missed the Memo

By Byron LaMasters

After a tip from a reader, I watched the reairing of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart at midnight last night. U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-Texas) was the guest, and Jon Stewart basically just ripped him a new one. Seriously. Henry Bonilla was trying to make the point that he just wished that all politicians would be honest about where they stand. Bonilla labeled himself a conservative, and spoke of another congressman who called himself a liberal, and asked why John Kerry wouldn't just be honest and say that he was a liberal, too.

So, Jon Stewart asked Bonilla if Kerry was a liberal, and Bonilla hit his stride. Here's basically what was said:

Bonilla: Yes!! Those groups. These groups. Ya know, the conservative and liberal groups, they say John Kerry is really liberal.

Stewart: What groups? I mean who says Kerry is really liberal.

Bonilla: You know those groups. Like the trial lawyers and labor and doctors--

Stewart: Congressman. I don't think your following me. You say 'these groups'. Who are 'these groups'?

Bonilla: All of them. You know the groups. They rank ALL of us. You know. Liberal groups. Conservative groups. There's lots of them.

Stewart: But which group says John Kerry is the most liberal and John Edwards is the fourth most liberal senator.

Bonilla: That's right! John Kerry and John Edwards are liberals! More liberal than Ted Kennedy! Why aren't they honest about it then?

Stewart: That wasn't the question. The group is the National Journal. And they rated Kerry and Edwards as the first and fourth most liberal senators for last year. For their careers, John Kerry is more conservative than Ted Kennedy, and John Edwards is more conservative than the median Democrat.

Bonilla: Oh. That's interesting.

Apparently, Henry Bonilla didn't get the full July GOP Talking Points Memo. They all got it:

July 2004 GOP Memo:

John Kerry is the most liberal senator. The National Journal says so, and they're nonpartisan. John Edwards is the fourth most liberal senator. The National Journal says so, and they're nonpartisan. That makes John Kerry the liberal senator from Massachusetts! More liberal than Ted Kennedy! Repeat that as much as you can! He's voted to raise taxes hundreds of times, and that's only when he shows up to vote. He's missed two-thirds of his votes this year, so he's not doing his job! Think what he'd do as president! Hide the children!

It looks like Bonilla forgot about the whole National Journal thing. Next time he ought to review the GOP talking points memo before he makes a fool of himself.