GOP's Nodler Cracking Under The Pressure

It seems that the GOP will go to almost any lengths to silence their opposition and evade responsibility for their public actions.

They will issues gag orders to state employees, silence their opponents by refusing to allow them in public events, and even misdirect complaint calls to people in Montana.  Anything except acknowledge the cruelty and short-sightedness of their plans.

But weekend antics by Asst. Majority Floor Leader, Sen. Gary Nodler, the third most senior Republican in the Missouri Senate, open up a whole new front.  They truly appear to be cracking under the pressure.

An argument over the behavior of a few developmentallydisabled adults attending a matinee in a Joplin theater has pitted a local politician against the group's 20-year-old caregiver, and both are claiming the moral high ground.

State Sen. Gary Nodler, a 54-year-old Joplin Republican, wants a formal apology and a reprimand for what he says was rude behavior on the part of certified nurse aide Amanda Richardson. He claims Richardson used a common four-letter word during the exchange.

Richardson denies using the word, and says her clients are the ones owed the apology.

"He said people like that shouldn't be allowed in places (such as movie theaters)," she said. "In his position, he should be helping people like this."

More Nodler:

"If you have clients who cannot behave without disturbing other patrons," Nodler said, "they shouldn't be there. The fact that someone is disabled is not a license to act inappropriately."

Nodler said he suspects the incident was a setup or somehow "politically motivated" because of his vote in favor of cutting government health care for the fiscal year that began July 1. About 90,000 low-income parents, seniors and disabled were expected to lose their Medicaid coverage.

Nodler claims to have seen a polygraph examiner.  An extensive review of the literature on polygraphs failed to reveal their reliability in identifying heartless jackasses.  We may have to rely on common sense to make that judgment.

However, with that whole paranoid, "this was a setup" business, there may be some other licensed professionals that Nodler might want to consider visiting.