One of the advantages of flying from the Washington - Boston Shuttle terminal at La Guardia is the large number of free magazines and newspapers that are available to news-hungry travelers.
While the current magazine and newspaper racks do not compare to the offerings of yore (when a continuous coffee service and dessert tray accompanied the wide selection of newly-released journals and magazines), I depend upon trips from the Shuttle Terminal to replenish my stock of some esoteric magazies and, when Congress is in session, weekly issues of Roll Call and Politico. (I also acquire free copies of the Wall Street Journal, for which I would never pay because of the debased, ideologically-driven wackiness of their editorial page.)
This week's issue of Politico contained a short article recapping the S-Chip controversy. It was not that long ago, after the huge Republican loses of 2006, when Bush began casting vetos for the first time.
The Bush vetos were never exercised to protect the Budget from waste or fraud, but to forbid Stem Cell research and to deny health care to children.
I recall many of the ill-informed articles on Gather which parroted misleading or false informaton about the S-Chip legislation from Faux News.
The bill to permit greater state freedom to set S-Chips caps passed both houses of Congress, but the new (at that time) Democratic majority could not over-ride the Presidential veto.
Rahm Emanuel, then the Democratic Caucus Chairman, vowed that the issue would not be forgotten and that it would "bite" the party stalwarts who bowed to party leaders to sustain the Bush veto.
In 2008, a divine justice was fulfilled.
In the recent election, the Democratic National Committee reminded citizens of how Republican lawmakers voted against children's health. The DNC sponsored widespread advertising in the districts of vulnerable incumbents.
At least ten House Republicans were damaged by these advertisements, and all ten lost their seats in the House. The losers include some of the nastiest pieces of work from the Republican caucus.
Thelma Drake (Virgina) and Marilyn Musgrave (Colorado) are two of the smarmy, right-to-life fundamentalists who were less concerned about infants and children. These two also combine the lovely traits of homophobes and nativist know-nothings, too.
Other incumbants who were damaged by advertisements about their voting record include:
Steve Chabot (Ohio)
Tom Feeney (Florida)
Robin Hayes (North Carolina)
Ric Kellor (Florida)
Joseph Knollenberg (Michigan)
John Kuhl (New York)
Tim Walberg (Michigan)
In the interest of full disclosure, I acknowledge that I did not contribute money to any Presidential campaign this year.
I did, however, support with financial gifts the efforts to rid the House and Senate of the rightwing wackos and wierdos who had taken up residence there.
This news is enormously satisfying.
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Comments: 37
Incumbents assume that people will forget many of their votes.
Republicans in he House were used to having their difficult votes hidden in a mess of procedural votes.
With democrats in charge, there is a record to set before the citizens.
I just read a special story about Robin Hayes, Kris. I will try and remember where I saw it.
Another wacko deserving to lose.
Thanks, Peter.
In this case, the opposition reminded them, and very effectively.
What were you saying, Nippy?
:-)
That loomed very large in the minds of many people in CT.
Shays did support the S-Chip bill, so was not a victim of that "just desert".
These were INCUMBENT members of the House, Charles,. Hard to see how the top of the ticket was hurting them.
It would be very interesting to hear your idea of who the right candidate should have been - since the Republicans had quite a few candidates to examine.
I'd love to see lobbyists join the passenger pigeon (i.e. go extinct), but I'm not expecting it.
Glad to hear it, Diana.
I hope you succeeded in getting Coleman out of the Senate, too!
I would agree, Ann.
They defended their votes as opposition to the expansion of government, but all of them voted repeatedly to "expand government" in ways that were unthinkable before the Bush years.
Hear, hear, Stephanie.
Well, I read today a great article on the legal mechanism by which the new Congress can bundle and reject all the Bush Executive Orders and Rule Changes from the final months of his failed administration.
Charles, you seriously need to raise the intellect of your selected programming.
One might hope that citizens would care about the poliical decisions that actually affect their welfare, but it is so much more fun to rail about "gay marriage".
So do I, Kris.
"A penny for the old guy."
Good luck with that.
Intellect and programming are mutually exclusive.
Ditto!
Charles, people who do perfectly on admissions-based tests don't lose spots to ANYBODY. Although I admit his scores weren't unnamed. He said he scored "100s" which on an SAT isn't very impressive at all since you get something like 200 for spelling your name correctly.
On Election Night, sandy, I posted an article discussing the fall of republican monsters in the Seate.
Several comments anticipated your dismay at the victory eked out by the crap-meister known as Mitch McConnell.
Oh no, not another whiner who believes that somebody got a better deal than he did.
I did not know the "back story" to the comments.
If his college of choice required an essay, for example, Charles might have murdered his own chances. But not if his scores were perfect. But its stupid to get all snippy over that; there are a lot of colleges out there and a perfect score could get you in one. I won a number of scholarships to colleges I'd never applied to based on my test scores alone. I took the one with the best, but getting in was not an issue.
Of course, Charles would probably note that I'm *insert a sneer here* a woman.
I suspect you are correct, Stephanie.
It is impossible to have a rational conversation with someone nursing a grudge or carrying a chip on their shoulder.
Yes, few Republicans like to be reminded that it was Ronald Reagan who had the bright idea of arming Islamic fundamentalists because they would destroy the "Evil Empire".
The United States has sponsored terrorism throughout the Cold War.
Thank you. (I'll get caught up one of these days.)
There is never an obligation to comment, Sandy.
I made the reference to remind you that your friends are aware of your dislike of the crooked Mitch McConnell.
I missed this article, Mr. Wimsey. It is good to remember how many mean and ignorant members were voted out of the House last November.
We didn't need the anti-gay, anti-opportunity idiots like Davis and Musgrave in the house.