Johanns befuddled by big numbers, going broke

“doesn’t make any sense,” Sen. Mike Johanns said Thursday

“doesn’t make any sense”

Don Walton's column in Thursday's Lincoln newspaper, parlays Johanns' tale of the neglected millionaire Nebraska farmers "going broke" into a solid trouncing of -- Johanns -- in the comments section. Srsly, one would think one is reading the SF Chronicle to hear the hammering from the peanut gallery:

• " Before bailing out, as Secretary of Agriculture, he had the opportunity fix this but apparently did not. Now he votes against one billion dollars of federal stimulus dollars while joblessness increases in Nebraska. His former lieutenant governor, now Governor, says Nebraska will take the money. Johann's once decried publicity mongering. Now he can't get enough."
• " Well Mike, maybe this is your opportunity to reach across the aisle, work with them, and create some improvement to the bill. OR.... you could continue the path that you're on, but using phrases like "non-sensical", anger, and disappointment to up the partisan bickering. Which path are you going to choose? ..."
• " Of course Mike's gonna support Big Ag, just like he and his GOP buddies support Big Pharma, Bil Oil, Big Everything Else. He will give the big guys the advantage over the family farmer every time. Why does this state keep voting for these Republicans? Can't you see they DO NOT represent the average voter in the state? Farmers who have adjusted gross income of $250,000 after writing off everything except the blue sky overhead are, to be sure, Big. Wake up, Nebraska voters!!!"
• " Conservatives whining about the government waste and handouts in the stimulus package, yet, whining again when someone wants to cut their welfare handout. This is a microcosm of what has got us to this place with our economy. Everybody wanting something from the government, when, the government can't do one thing without waste, fraud, greed, or on budget. GOD -- please help us to become self-reliant again and less reliant on the government handout."
• " Johanns has a point about gross vs. adjusted gross sales. Cost of production is pretty high and many times what a farmer gets in gross income isn't close to what he/she earns otherwise. Of course, if Congress hadn't let corporate farming run wild, farmers wouldn't have to farm over 1,000 acres just to earn a living."
• " Well Senator, you had your chance to do something as Ag. Sec, but you were too busy sucking up to the giant multi-national conglomerates that own agriculture today. The American people have for years seen the absurdity of government welfare money going to companies that make millions, but you and your Bush cohorts blocked every reform."

Just to share a few. Twenty-two comments in the first four hours and all of them, every pea-picking paragraph, giving Johanns a good drubbing. I'm no longer sure I'm living in Nebraska.

If this keeps up Mike's tradition of never finishing a job could repeat itself again! Do Senators have understudies? Vice-Senators? Not even a Lieutenant Senator? Ah, that's too bad. Being understudy to Mike Johanns can be a good thing.


Update: 31 comments and still no sign of support for Johann's plea for bailing out corporate farms.