Reply #67: Fair enough. [View All]

[Warren DeMontague]

I suspect that in the Senate people have to pick their battles, but too often that bleeds over into political expediency.

Hell, even my US Rep- who is far enough to the left that I agree with her almost all the time-- absolutely enraged the f*ck out of me by voting along with pretty much the entire rest of the gummint on that stupid resolution affirming the pledge of allegience... during that whole "Under God" flap. Now, I'm an atheist; I thought it was wrong to have to say that when I was a kid, 30 years ago... but I do understand that the reality is, whether something is right or not, for a congressmember to vote against something like that is to open him or herself up to stupid charges of being "against the pledge". Throw in some kid sobbing and a flag waving in the background, and you've got a 30 second political hit piece. "Why won't Representative Flooblefarb let our kids say the pledge?"

Shit, we're seeing this all over the place in this campaign; Kerry says something about "global test", and never mind the context of what he was saying, the GOP jumps all over it- "global test! he said global test!"

Now, how something like that translates into a vote for the Iran-Contra thug Negroponte as Iraq ambassador, I'm not sure. I know Senators have to pick their battles. But on the face of it, I agree with you-- it does sound like a very bad vote.