When US federal workers were missing paychecks and the partial government shutdown entered its seventh week, Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina, was doing what any responsible lawmaker would do: riding Space Mountain and carrying a bubble wand at Disney World in Florida.
Naturally, TMZ had photos of the vacationing senator on its homepage a few days later.
The celebrity tabloid empire – better known for staking out actors and artists outside restaurants, gas stations, courthouses and their palatial estates – has turned its paparazzi prowess on a new and maybe equally chaotic subject: the US Congress. And America’s lawmakers may find themselves uniquely ill-equipped for the Hollywood experience.
The outlet last week put out a public call for tips on lawmaker sightings as the partial government shutdown dragged on, leaving thousands of Department of Homeland Security employees without pay.
I’m impressed by your total lack of ability to put this in context. It’s not that they left, it’s the issue of deciding to fly while not funding airport security. They could easily have passed a bill to solve this weeks ago, chose not to, and now think they deserve a vacation for doing nothing. I don’t know how things work at your job, but I’ve never gotten extra vacation time for sheer incompetence.