Obviously That Soldier Wasn't on Ms. Blackburn's List of Major Campaign Donors

MSNBC's David Schuster calls West Tennessee's Republican Congresswoman to the carpet for her hypocrisy on switching the debate from the war's human cost in her district--of which she seems to know little--to a newspaper ad (via Crooks and Liars):

Shuster: "Let’s talk about the public trust. You represent, of course, a district in western Tennessee. What was the name of the last soldier from your district who was killed in Iraq?"

Marsha Blackburn: "The name of the last soldier killed in Iraq, uh, from my district I -- I do not know his name"

Shuster: "Ok, his name was Jeremy Bohannon, he was killed August the 9th, 2007. How come you didn’t know the name?"

Blackburn: "I - I, you know, I - I do not know why I did not know the name, uh, we make contact with the families .... that is something that my staff and I do .... we are very appreciative of the sacrifice ..."

Shuster: "But you weren’t appreciative enough to know the name of this young man, he was 18 years old who was killed, and yet you can say chapter and verse about what’s going on with the New York Times and MoveOn.org."

Blackburn: "You are exactly right. I can say chapter and verse what is going on with the New York Times."

Shuster: "But don’t you understand, the problems that a lot of people would have, that you’re so focused on an ad — when was the last time a New York Times ad ever killed somebody? And yet, here we have a war that took the life of an 18 year old kid, Jeremy Bohannon from your district, and you didn’t even know his name."

Blackburn: "Well, and, uh-ee-duh-yuh, we work very closely as I said those families .... We work closely with Fort Campbell because most of Fort Campbell, Kentucky actually sits in Montgomery County, Tennessee."

Watching Schuster wear out Blackburn on the video is impressive. She would have looked better just conceding that an ad never killed anybody. Rarely does the mainstream media so hammer away at a conservative Republican for such plainly stupid grandstanding absent concern for her own constitutents.

Ms. Blackburn seemed dumb-struck, thumbing through mantras about caring for military families to cover her ignorance of the name of the last soldier to die in her district. That last rattled point about some of Kentucky actually sitting in Tennessee sounded hauntingly familiar.

HT: Rachel