“Democrats aren't the only members of congress who represent districts of distress. Mo Brooks who represents Alabama five, right, they have a median household income which is less than Maryland seven where Elijah Cummings represents, they have a median home value that is less, fewer people with bachelor degrees and the poverty level is a little bit less than Maryland 7 but about in the ballpark. my question to you is this, so Mo Brooks spends a lot of his time defending the president, why should he do that by your logic and not go home and deal with the issues in your district?"
-- CNN's John Berman
My brother pointed out this comment by CNN's journalist.....trying to slam a district in Alabama. So the district (5th district), is basically where I grew up as a kid.
I just started laughing.
First, he picked on bachelor degrees, which if he'd come to northern Alabama....he would have found out that a fair number of kids are in community college or trade schools, and don't see any value in getting into serious debt with a worthless bachelor degree.
Crime? Crime in northern Alabama just doesn't compare to Baltimore. Murder and assault just doesn't occur at the same rate like in Baltimore.
If I actually went to locals in Baltimore and offered up a way for them to move.....given the chances, I think more than half would agree that northern Alabama is a heck of a lot safer than Baltimore.
But lets go to the odd figures. If you went into the 5th district and started to look at individual households.....a lot of those households have either an RV, or bass-boat.....more so than Baltimore's surroundings. Cars able to pass a state inspection on a moment's notice? I would take a guess that more than 95-percent of the 5th district cars could easily pass the inspection.....with Baltimore's collection of cars questionable.
Lets go to this one odd final factor. If you gathered up 1,000 residents of the 5th district in Alabama and said....you can move, and leave. There might be a hundred willing to talk about this idea (most wanting to move to Alaska or Wyoming). But in the end, less than 25 would take the step of leaving the 5th district. In Baltimore, with a 1,000 residents offered the chance to move? I suspect that a minimum of 800 would discuss the matter, and maybe 600 of them agreeing to move (virtually anywhere but Baltimore).