Darrell Issa tries to earn brownie points from internet users by kissing up to Reddit. Reddit bitchslaps him instead.

Seriously how smart can these so-called "Redditors" be?

Courtesy of CNN:

In an unusual step, a U.S. congressman is proposing a two-year ban on all new federal legislation regulating the Internet. 

Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican from California who has been an advocate for Internet freedoms, has posted online a draft of his legislation, the Internet American Moratorium Act of 2012. The bill would "create a two-year moratorium on any new laws, rules or regulations governing the Internet." 

Issa first posted the complete text of the bill Monday on Project Madison, the nickname for a crowdsourcing platform that allows citizens to amend individual passages of legislation by adding or striking language. On Tuesday, he posted a link to the bill on Reddit, the social news site, where users quickly voted it to the top. 

"Together, we can make Washington take a break from messing w/ the Internet," Issa said on Reddit, where he also invited users to suggest changes to the proposed bill. He said he will begin taking questions about it from Reddit users Wednesday morning.

I don't trust Darrell Issa as far as I can throw him, and someday I'd like to find out just how far that might be, and the overwhelmingly liberal users of Reddit were no less suspicious. Here are a few of the responses that he received:

Hey Darrell, why did you vote for CISPA? 

He's a wolf in sheep's clothing. He doesn't support SOPA, but was a co-sponsor of CISPA because it wasn't as widely publicized. He's been constantly lying to everybody regarding his stance on net neutrality for the past two years. 

His legislation's name is as Orwellian as the PATRIOT Act, come to think of it. Issa's shown himself to be a sleaze time and again...I'm certain he has an ulterior motive. 

Internet lawyer here. This bill, as currently drafted, is a bogus, apparently fraudulent attempt to impose a wholesale ban on all federal regulations regardless of their impact on the internet. Reddit, we are being pandered to by a Republican Party whose future existence is threatened by its tanking approval ratings among the "young."

There were a few who tried to come to Issa's aid and provide a more neutral response, but overall there was mostly open hostility and anger at the idea that he thought they were that easily manipulated.

Overall it was very gratifying to see that the Redditors, mostly comprised of the very young people who we are counting on to move this country forward, did not fall for what I believe was a fairly obvious attempt to gain their support in a transparently sneaky fashion.

Perhaps Issa might think twice before trying this kind of bullshit again.

P.S. For those few who have never heard of Reddit, let me cautiously provide a link. However be warned, hours of very productive time may be lost forever if you visit.