Thursday night Virginia Democratic Rep. Jim Moran (8th Congressional District) was conducting a town hall meeting when he was asked a question by a disabled military veteran. Moran's disrespect and rudeness in responding to the vet were captured on videotape and spread by Rush Limbaugh, Hot Air, Weekly Standard, and Fox News.
This morning the military vet was a guest on Fox & Friends as he talked with anchor Steve Doocy about the incident. Wayne Tunick, a 27-year U.S. Navy veteran, attended the town hall to ask why Congress was on the verge of a shutdown that would stop paychecks to military men and women including active troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. He also questioned why Moran was conducting a town hall instead of being in DC working on a resolution to the budget crisis.
When Moran commented that Tunick was making "caustic" remarks, Tunick took exception and told the Congressman so. That resulted in Moran telling the veteran to be quiet and sit down.
Another town hall attendee taped the entire episode and it quickly went viral on Friday. I wrote about it at the Washington Examiner as well as others who called attention to the exchange.
Moran's office responded to the incident by saying there were people waiting in line waiting and they couldn't disrupt those wanting to ask questions. When asked by Doocy about that, Tunick said there were not a number of people in line behind him ... there was one person.
His motivation, he said, was the ultimate leadership lesson he learned from the military: number one is you always take care of your troops. The troops, he told Doocy, did not need to worry about a government shutdown cutting off their paychecks with their spouses wondering whether they would be able to pay the bills.
With a late-night deal struck with Congress at the eleventh hour Friday, there will be no government shutdown.
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