U.S. Sen. Mark Warner asked a radio host earlier this month where he could sign a White House petition to deport Canadian pop star Justin Bieber — and now says that devoted fans of the troubled 19-year-old are about as informed as members of the tea party.
During an appearance on NPR, the Virginia Democrat recently expounded on his Feb. 4 appearance on a Hampton Roads radio station where he was asked what he thought of the petition.
“I said I don’t know as a senator, but [as] a father with three daughters, [ages] 19 to 24, I’ll sign the petition,” he said during an appearance of NPR’s “Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me!” that aired over the weekend. “And I, you know, went to a hearing, gave a speech and I came into the office a couple hours later and the whole place was exploding — they were going, ’Oh, senator, senator — we’ve had more press in three hours on Justin Bieber than [in] five years trying to work on the budget.’”
A panelist on the show offered that he somehow thought going up against millions of “Beliebers” is scarier than the tea party.
“They’re both about equally informed,” Mr. Warner quipped.
Deporting Mr. Bieber is the second-most popular petition in the three-year history of the White House’s online petition program with more than 260,000 signatures, trailing only a 2012 petition to label the Westboro Baptist Church a hate group.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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