Here it is folks-- the best of the worst of Ron Johnson during 2014. It really is quite a body of work:
20.) Earned his first "Pants on Fire" Rating from Politifact for claiming that "20 to 25 percent" of all money spent on "Medicare" and other "programs" is lost to fraud. Dang, Ron! One in four dollars is lost to fraud! Do tell: You just figured out a quick way to balance the budget and keep Medicare solvent!
19.) In June, Johnson intense criticism for being one of only three senators to vote against the bill to fix long wait times for war-injured veterans seeking health care.
18.) Despite increasing revenues in each of the three years since the Great Recession, the U.S. Postal Service has faced budget problems largely because of artifical constraints put in place by Congress. Johnson's solution? He recommended that the U.S. Postal Service declare bankruptcy as way of reneging on contractswith USPS workers and phasing out the agency.
17.) At times, Senator Johnson is reminiscent of Will Ferrell's buffoonish character, anchorman Ron Burgundy. This side of Johnson was on full display when Johnson confidently asserted, "he's a dentist"," when he was discussing Syrian President Assad's background. (For the record, President Assad is not a dentist.)
16.) As the Russian economy continues its free fall, most forget that only a few months ago, Johnson was mocking Obama's economic sanctions and calling for military action against Russia. If only we'd listened to Johnson-- we'd be embroiled in yet another foreign war!
15.) Claimed, after an armed man hopped the fence, ran across the front lawn, and went in the front door of the White House, that it was Obama's own fault, blaming it on "Obama’s inability to manage."
14.) Despite overwhelming support for Obama's executive order changing immigration policy, Johnson announced he was coming up with a scheme to defund the order. He also suggested thathe would offer his own immigration plan, which would grant work permits to pretty much anyone wishing to enter the country, essentially creating a workforce of second-class workers with few rights and protections.
13. When Johnson was asked if we concerned about the record amount of money flowing into politics, a Socratic Johnson replied, "Are We Spending too Much Money on Halloween Candy?" (Johnson was referencing the fact that Americans spent approximately the same on Halloween candy in 2014 as Senate campaigns.) Ahhh... the 'ol throw out a big number to make another big number seem not so big trick.
12.) Rolled out yet another inane issue of his "victim of government" series. This time, he picked someone who was on a Wisconsin-run insurance plan for people with pre-existing conditions. The otherwise anti-Obamacare Governor Scott Walker, killed the plan, arguing that the people on the plan could go into Obamacare. In other words Johnson's "victim of government" had her (government) plan killed by Walker, not Obamacare.
11) One of the main reasons networks refuse to show beheading videos is because it would aid the terrorists in their propaganda efforts to terrorize Americans. Johnson disagrees: He thinks allAmericans should watch videos of beheadings so they can fully appreciate the evil of the terrorists. http://www.uppitywis.org/blogarticle/rojo-says-every-american-should-watch-beheading-videos
10.) In the midst of revelations that Governor Scott Walker was in the center of a serious criminal scheme, Johnson came to Walker's defense and swore that the "prosecutors are facing greater legal liability" than Scott Walker.
9.) Johnson also weighed in on the "skills gap" that most politicians are working to solve. He said that the real problem was a "willingness to work gap." Ouch.
8) Johnson is perhaps most well known for being the Senator who confronted then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over Benghazi. He would later say that the Benghazi scandal "disqualifies" Clinton from running for president. In a Friday news dump in late November, however, the GOP-controlled House Intelligence Committee released a report that debunked all of Johnson's wild-eyed Benghazi conspiracy theories.
7) In August, Washingtonian Magazine's bipartisan poll of congressional staffers announced that Ron Johnson won the vote for "Most Clueless" Senator. You're making Wisconsin proud, Senator!
6) In September, Johnson suggested that Senator Kirsten Gillebrand's claims of sexual harassment were false and further suggested that there was no problem of sexual harassment in the Senate... because he has never seen it.
5.) Johnson marked a somber moment at the United Nations... with a selfie tweet.
4) Over the summer, Johnson claimed that outsourcing is "quite beneficial to America." Yeah, especially Wisconsin-- where we've lost hundreds of thousands of jobs to outsourcing!
3.) In May, Johnson was caught on tape, calling for abolishing the student loan program. His suggestion? People work their way through college like he did... when he living with his parents and going to a state school in the early seventies when tuition that was a fraction of what it is today.
2.) Johnson often says that the reason he got into politics was because his daughter's life was saved by the exceptional skills of heart surgeon, Dr. John Foker, and that if Obamacare had been around when his daughter needed Foker's help she would have died because Obamacare would have scared gifted surgeons like Foker from going into medicine. In the beginning of this year, however, it was revealed that Foker was and is an enthusiastic supporter of Obamacare, putting a giant fly in ointment of Johnson's central talking point.
1.) In April, we learned that Johnson failed to notify the police when he was made aware that a member of his Senate staff was sexually assaulted by Republican Representative Bill Kramer.
Honorable mention: Johnson condemnation of normalizing relations with Cuba, while at the same time being one of the Senate's biggest proponents free trade with the arguably-worse fascist state of China; Johnson's frivolous lawsuit against President Obama; his humorous claim that he (and not his wife's wealthy family) paid for his 2010 campaign; and Johnson's absurd attempt (as 2016 approaches) to rebrand himself as a moderate, when he has been the Tea Party's poster child since he first entered the politcal world in 2010.