U.S. Rep. Paul Broun has probably never said anything about Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that didn't include the word "socialist." Until now.

In a column for the Daily Caller, a right-wing website, Broun quotes Reid as saying in 1995:

For years, I have sponsored legislation that would call for an audit of the Federal Reserve System. I offer that amendment every year. Every year, the legislation gets nowhere. I think it would be interesting to know about the Federal Reserve. I think we should audit the Federal Reserve. It’s taxpayer’s money that’s being used there. But we don’t do that.

And, miracle of miracles, Broun agrees! (Actually, no, they don't agree. Broun's "audit the fed" bill, originally introduced by libertarian former Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), passed the House 333–92. But Reid now says he won't bring the bill up for a vote because Democratic leadership doesn't want to jeopardize the Fed's independence by subjecting it to congressional oversight. And, really, can anyone think of anything that Congress has successfully overseen lately?)

Anyway, Broun goes on to lay out his case:

The Federal Reserve’s lack of accountability and transparency has led to grievous consequences. Since the Federal Reserve was established, the United States has witnessed the Great Depression, the high inflation and unemployment of the 1970s, the stock market crash and banking crisis of the 1980s, the market turbulence of the 1990s, and, most recently, the 2008 financial crisis. Yet at the same time, the buying power of the United States dollar has fallen 95 percent under the Fed’s stewardship – in other words, today’s dollar is valued at approximately what a nickel was worth in 1913. What does this mean for the average American taxpayer? The steady decline of the U.S. Dollar punishes thrift, erodes the value of savings, and harms senior citizens living on fixed incomes.

This is just more gold-bug paranoia about fiat currency and (most likely) a cynical effort to draw media attention and attack Democrats for hypocrisy. Well, it worked. Well played, sir.