Senator Menendez (D-NJ) Embarrasses Himself During His Twitter Town Hall Meeting

Earlier today, anti-liberty U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) hosted a Twitter town hall meeting that he promptly turned into an embarrassing fiasco.

Prior to the Twitter town hall, the senator encouraged folks to send him questions via the Twitter hashtag #AskMenendez. But -- predictably -- Senator Menendez avoided every single one of the tough questions -- such as, why does he support Barack Obama, who has openly admitted that under his energy plans, "electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket?"

Coward.

But even that didn't save him from embarrassment.

For example, @SenatorMenendez tweeted "My bill will end subsidies, invest in alts" ("alts" meaning companies and other entities – think Solyndra -- trying to provide so-called alternative energy). In other words, the senator's claim that "my bill will end subsidies" is an obvious lie, because "invest in alts" means... you guessed it: subsidizing alternative energy.

So Senator Menendez plans to end subsidies by… funding more subsidies?!?

To cite another example, @SenatorMenendez tweeted: “We can support @WhiteHouse plan to get 54.5 mpg by 2025” -- meaning, an increase in mandated fuel efficiency by auto manufacturers. As somebody who happens to have a degree in mechanical engineering, I can tell you with certainty that one key way auto manufacturers raise fuel economy when government forces them to is by reducing the amount of weight in a vehicle – making those vehicles less safe. Literally thousands of Americans have needlessly lost their lives in auto accidents since government-mandated fuel economy standards were made into law decades ago. It’s simple: all else equal, heavier vehicles means safer vehicles. Yet, Senator Menendez is against the freedom of auto manufacturers to decide for themselves if making heavier, safer cars is in their rational best interests. No, instead Senator Menendez – who, like most of Congress, has absolutely no professional or educational background in engineering of any kind – wants to use D.C.’s numerous guns to force auto manufacturers to make cars that are less safe than they otherwise would be. How many Americans will needlessly die should Senator Menendez gets his legislative wishes?

We encourage more of our nation’s elected officials to host in-person town hall meetings. But, since far too many of our nation’s elected officials are too cowardly to meet with the voting public in person, we also encourage more of them to host Twitter town hall meetings.

No doubt Senator Menendez’ Twitter town hall meeting proved illuminating in a way he did not foresee.

The North New Jersey Tea Party Group is the largest New Jersey-based tea party organization in terms of Facebook group page members, with over 4,500 of them. For elections in 2012, we have announced our endorsement of Marco Rubio, for him to be asked to be the Republican Party’s vice-presidential nominee, no matter who eventually wins the nomination for president. We have also announced our official support for the candidacies of Ted Cruz (who seeks to become U.S. Senator from Texas), Richard Mourdock (who seeks to become U.S. Senator from Indiana), and Congressman Scott Garrett (the incumbent from New Jersey’s 5th congressional district).

Mark Kalinowski
North New Jersey Tea Party Group
Liberty, Free Markets, and Individual Rights
E-mail: nnjteaparty@gmail.com
Twitter: @nnjteaparty
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/172402990061/
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http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/111373848903476/