So Here's Somebody Who's THE SEX

DAMN, baby.

“Rush Limbaugh is a has-been hypocrite loser, who craves attention. His right-wing lunacy sounds like Mikhail Gorbachev, extolling the virtues of communism. Limbaugh actually was more lucid when he was a drug addict. If America ever did 1% of what he wanted us to do, then we’d all need pain killers.”

I mean, DAMN BABY.

On first meeting him, one might not suspect Alan Grayson of being a crusader against government-contractor fraud. Six feet four in his socks, he likes to dress flamboyantly, on the theory that items such as pink cowboy boots help retain a jury’s attention. He and his Filipino wife, Lolita, chose their palm-fringed mansion in Orlando, Florida, partly because the climate alleviates his chronic asthma, and partly because they wanted their five children to have unlimited access to the area’s many theme parks.

Grayson likes theme parks, too. Toward the end of two long days of interviews, he insists we break to visit Universal Studios, because it wouldn’t be right for me to leave his adopted city without having sampled the rides. Later he sends me an e-mail earnestly inquiring which one I liked best.

He can be forgiven a little frivolity. In his functional home-office in Orlando, and at the Beltway headquarters of his law firm, Grayson & Kubli, Grayson spends most of his days and many of his evenings on a lonely legal campaign to redress colossal frauds against American taxpayers by private contractors operating in Iraq. He calls it “the crime of the century.”

His obvious adversaries are the contracting corporations themselves—especially Halliburton, the giant oil-services conglomerate where Vice President Dick Cheney spent the latter half of the 1990s as C.E.O., and its former subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root, now known simply as KBR. But he says his efforts to take on those organizations have earned him another enemy: the United States Department of Justice.

Over the past 16 years, Grayson has litigated dozens of cases of contractor fraud. In many of these, he has found the Justice Department to be an ally in exposing wrongdoing. But in cases that involve the Iraq war, the D.O.J. has taken extraordinary steps to stand in his way. Behind its machinations, he believes, is a scandal of epic proportions—one that may come to haunt the legacy of the Bush administration long after it is gone.

I mean, DAMN.

“Wall Street is the only place in the world where you can mug the taxpayers in plain view and then bill them for services rendered,” said Grayson.

“I opposed the initial $700 Billion bailout because it did nothing for homeowners, employment, or the economy.  There was no plan or strategy to help anyone but Wall Street banks.  And sure enough, the Bush administration wasted most of the $350 billion it got its hands on,” he added.  “Yesterday, I voted for the TARP Reform and Accountability Act to ensure that as much as $100 billion of remaining the money to help foreclosure mitigation.  I want to help people to keep their homes, and I want home values to go up, not down.”

“Today, I voted against releasing the rest of the money.  But if that money is going to be spent anyway, this legislation will direct at least some of it to solving the real problems of real people.  It will require participating banks to disclose what they are doing with the money, prevent bank bosses from enriching themselves at taxpayer expense, and allow funds to go to smaller community financial institutions.  I hope that President Obama will recognize the public’s disgust over the bailouts for everyone but them.”

Hey there. I mean, hey baby. Um, hey.

A.

Comments

[missy]

Yum. Obama's got a bit of the sexy himself:

“Even as he is sober about these challenges, I have never seen him happier,” Mr. Axelrod said. “The chance to be under the same roof with his kids, essentially to live over the store, to be able to see them whenever he wants, to wake up with them, have breakfast and dinner with them — that has made him a very happy man.”

[missy]

Oh, and will someone please put that man on my teevee, STAT, talking about the fuckup GOP?

[Paddy]

A, I sent you a vid of Grayson plus a link to more.

[Undeniable Liberal]

Daaaaaaayuuuuum. That made ME feel all squishy inside!
Beer, ciggie, goodnite, hold me.

[Serving Patriot]

More Graysons Please!

SP

[Elspeth Ravenwind]

Missy, thanks for that link...I am giddy and hope to stay so (as long as no more concessions to the efftard Rethugs occur).
:) Elspeth

[pansypoo]

yes. we need more of him. would be nice if he had congressional power.

[Ali]

no. He is wonderful, but.. the sex?

[TheOtherWA]

I learned about Grayson thru FDL, and yeah, my big ol' liberal heart skips a beat every time I read something new about him. I can't wait to hear the questions he'll ask in congressional hearings!

That man NEEDS to be on the teebee, now.

[Lex]

So how do we go about getting him on the talking-heads shows? I guess kidnapping him is out (although I sense A. wouldn't rule that approach out for other purposes). Other ideas?