The Limitless Self-Absorption Of Sen. Ron Johnson, (R/Tea Party - Himself)

It's daunting even trying to describe (find me a metaphor!) let alone absorb (he's our Senator!) Ron Johnson's libertarianish isolation from the real world, his forfeiture of US Senate leadership and his disregard for everyday Wisconsinites he represents, including cancer patients sitting alone with their thoughts and fears and a chemo drip.

So we'll let his record of small thinking on big issues do the talking:

About the needs of Wisconsin farmers and rural communities in the omnibus farm bill he voted against:

Why did he vote against programs helping beginning farmers, supporting rural development, export marketing, and the Conservation Stewardship Program, which rewards farmers for conservation?

If funding is his concern, why did he vote against the Republican-sponsored amendment to cap payments that farmers receive when market prices for crops go south? Why did he vote to prohibit USDA from making loan guarantees — a budget-neutral policy instituted in the Reagan years to provide a bigger role in agriculture for private lenders?

Why did he vote against another no-cost amendment requiring crop insurance to be available for organic crops under terms similar to other crops — in this state, with the second-largest organic farming sector in the nation?

The farm bill covers forestry also, which matters to a state where 46 percent of the land is in forests. Why did Johnson vote against reauthorizing the Forest Legacy Program, which provides 75 percent of the funding to purchase voluntary conservation easements from private landowners — a cornerstone of Wisconsin’s forest conservation?

And Johnson - - eligible, along with the staff he has chosen, and their dependents, for federally-supplied Cadillac health care coverage - - goes into robotic stump speech mode instead of showing concern for constituents with cancer:

Discussing health care outside the Supreme Court today, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told ThinkProgress that there “shouldn’t” be a law requiring businesses to cover employees who have cancer because that would “create an obligation” for others.

“When you create a right for somebody,” Johnson said, “you create an obligation for somebody else, and then you’re taking away that person’s right.”

KEYES: I know Richard Murdock had said even though businesses should give people, for instance, with cancer, health coverage, they shouldn’t be legally required by the federal government.

JOHNSON: They shouldn’t. Listen, our rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And when we start expanding beyond that realm, when you create a right for somebody, you create an obligation for somebody else, and then you’re taking away that person’s right. And that maybe doesn’t seem all that great, but it’s just true. Our nation was based on the foundation of freedom and limited government.

Oh, and if mercury-free fish from the Great Lakes is your heart's desire, don't expect help from Johnson.