Reason Writers Around Town: Michael C. Moynihan on Massachusetts' Cambodian Tea Party Candidate

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Michael Moynihan talks to Massachusetts congressional candidate, Killing Fields survivor, and professed "Reagan Republican" Sam Meas:

Sam Meas isn't your typical congressional candidate. For one thing, the Cambodian refugee doesn't know his birthday. "I tell people I am 38 years old— plus or minus two years." In 1973, Mr. Meas's father was sent to be "re-educated" by the Khmer Rouge and was never heard from again. During the chaos following the regime's collapse in 1979, Mr. Meas was separated from his mother. He never saw her again. Marching night and day toward the Thai border with a cousin, Mr. Meas recalls stepping over corpses and watching bloated bodies float down jungle waterways.

Read the whole thing here.

Comments

[Max]

What a whiny Cambodian refugee. Anybody who reads Reason can't think reeducation camps are such a bad idea.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

D.

It's like you're not even trying.

[Kathleen Sebelius]

Neither can anyone who works for the Obama administration!

[grrizzly]

a self-described "social conservative"

Michael,
In what way is he socially conservative? I noticed it when I read the article on Saturday in the WSJ.

[John]

"Like most in the grass-roots movement, Mr. Meas rails against the health-care bill and illegal immigration, and says we need to slash personal and corporate tax rates. But he can also drift into the hyperbolic, declaring that "having lived under a totalitarian regime . . . I know what it is like to have lost all of your freedom"?stopping just short of comparing the Obama administration's policies to those of the Khmer Rouge."

That is a cheap shot. He does nothing of the sort. He is not comparing Obama to the Khmer Rouge. He is saying "I have lost everything so you guys better value what you have". That is no where near saying "Obama is the Khmer Rouge.

That is shitty journalism Moynahan.

[Max]

You're in a libertarian toilet, asshole. You don't get choccolate fudge here.

[Max]

You get shitty everything.

[Max's Upper Lip]

Why do I have a poop mustache?

[Max]

ARFARFARFARFARFARFARFARFARFARFARF!!!!!!!!!!

[Max's Brother]

I remember the first time I crapped in Mom's mouth.

[x,y]

"Reeducated"? Now where have I heard that recently?

[Secretary Sebelius]

What?

[creech]

Agreed, that was a cheap shot. He also stopped short of comparing Obama's administration to lots of other totalitarian regimes. I guess we all (or most of us) "stop short" in lots of arguments but perhaps Moynihan knows what we are thinking but afraid to say?

In any case, Mr. Meas isn't expected to win. And despite the "pronounced libertarian streak," Meas strikes me as the kind of congressman who might just vote to intervene in foreign conflicts whenever he believes a killing field may be happening. But I'll stop short of calling him a "neo con."

[prolefeed]

In any case, Mr. Meas isn't expected to win.

RealClearPolitics shows this as a "likely Democratic" seat, not a done deal:

http://realclearpolitics.com/e.....e_map.html

[Les]

Isn't a "Reagan Republican" someone who thinks we need to severely enforce all drug laws and support terrorists trying to overthrow democratically elected socialist governments?

[John]

The contras were Democratically elected? Some forms of stupid doesn't wear off even after two decades.

[John]

The Sandinistas were Democratically elected? Some forms of stupid doesn't wear off even after two decades.

[Lurker Kurt]

If I remember correctly, the Sandinistas came to power after an armed insurrection.

After delaying elections that they had promised for several years, they finally allowed one to be held because they thought they would win.

Apparently the voters lied to the pollsters before the election.

[Les]

John, when you call people "stupid," make sure it's for a good reason and that you don't end up looking stupid, yourself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.....#Elections

In 1984 the Sandinistas were elected into government in a free and fair election. And we didn't need to pay for terrorists to kill civilians there because they were kicked out of office in free and fair elections in 1990.

History is fun!

[Les]

I should clarify that, of course, the Sandinistas first controlled the government by force, but then were elected in a democratic, free and fair election in 1984.

Also, because of the evident knee-jerks going on, I'll clarify that the Sandinistas were scumbags, but that doesn't mean it's okay to support terrorism to overthrow them. And it also proved unnecessary.

[Lurker Kurt]

I wonder if he blames Richard Nixon for the killing fields?

[JD]

I'm surprised they'd let him be on the ballot if he doesn't know his exact birthdate. Our society kind of fetishizes knowing this stuff, despite the fact it makes no damn difference for 99% of the stuff we do. Next time you meet someone, try pretending you don't know when your birthday is or exactly how old you are, and watch them boggle.

[Dello]

Personally, I don't even care what his politics are: Any candidate that's been ANYWHERE is better than the idiot career pols we have now.

[IceTrey]

Mr. Meas show us your birth certificate!