Kucinich to vote for HCR

[Associate Justice PiT]

     No politician is above selling out when it gets down to it. Disappointing, but not surprising.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     No politician is above selling out when it gets down to it. Disappointing, but not surprising.

Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn say hi.

     Do you know of any instances off the top of your head where they really got their arms twisted by Republican leaders? I will admit that Tom Coburn's ardent anti-pork stance is something that Congress could use a lot more of.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     No politician is above selling out when it gets down to it. Disappointing, but not surprising.

Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn say hi.

     Do you know of any instances off the top of your head where they really got their arms twisted by Republican leaders? I will admit that Tom Coburn's ardent anti-pork stance is something that Congress could use a lot more of.

Do you know of any instances off the top of your head where the Republican party attempted to push through legislation that was so grossly unpopular with the American people?

     No, though that doesn't contradict the point that I was trying to make in my previous post, namely that Coburn & DeMint probably have never been put under the same pressure to submit as Kucinich has. I am not trying to make any excuses for Kucinich here, but it's easier to resist selling out when you don't encounter real adversity over it.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     No politician is above selling out when it gets down to it. Disappointing, but not surprising.

Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn say hi.

     Do you know of any instances off the top of your head where they really got their arms twisted by Republican leaders? I will admit that Tom Coburn's ardent anti-pork stance is something that Congress could use a lot more of.

Do you know of any instances off the top of your head where the Republican party attempted to push through legislation that was so grossly unpopular with the American people?

     No, though that doesn't contradict the point that I was trying to make in my previous post, namely that Coburn & DeMint probably have never been put under the same pressure to submit as Kucinich has. I am not trying to make any excuses for Kucinich here, but it's easier to resist selling out when you don't encounter real adversity over it.

The Republicans wouldn't push such an unpopular agenda upon the American people. Even as a liberaltarian you would have to admit that Bush's Court pciks were better than Clinton's or Barry's.

     Once again, my point is that they haven't suffered the pressure to sell out that Kucinich did. Whether or not their party would ever undertake an agenda so unpopular that it would induce the party leaders to put the squeeze on them is besides the point.

     How could they not be? Law is a discipline where a certain level of conservatism is demanded. Not to mention that Obama's comments on the matter make me doubt that he could ever come up with a good SCOTUS appointment:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/SCOTUS/story?id=7493944&page=1

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[Associate Justice PiT]

     Do you know of any instances off the top of your head where they really got their arms twisted by Republican leaders? I will admit that Tom Coburn's ardent anti-pork stance is something that Congress could use a lot more of.

Yes. Jim DeMint voted for the socialist Medicare D prescription drug benefit because the Republican leadership threatened to withdraw support from his Senate campaign if he didn't switch his no to a yes.

Pretty shocking, no?

     That isn't socialism & it isn't shocking. No need to treat me like I'm a moron just because I disagree with you.

[Associate Justice PiT]

PiT - Republicans have historically had far more party discipline than the Democrats, but there are plenty of examples of it. 

I mean, look at how third-party groups are trying to primary Bob Bennett for supporting the [very sensible and non-socialist] Wyden bill. 

     My reason for bringing that up is that I suspect that all politicians have a "pain threshold". Squeeze one enough & he'll sell out like all the rest.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Well, remember too PiT that probably a good portion of the Democrats voting No (and probably some Republicans) believe the bill is better than the status quo but against their electoral interests.  For those Democrats who think the bill is good but want to get reelected, the only "squeezing" that needs to be done is to make them believe voting yes will be less painful electorally than voting no.  This can be done through meta-arguments (passing the bill excites the base, shows an accomplishment for the Democrats, thus making you more likely to be reelected) or direct threats/bribes of support (3rd party challenges, withholding support, etc).

If a congressman genuinely thinks the bill dying in a bloody vote would be good for the country and good for his reelection, there's no amount of squeezing that can be done really.

     Well they would have to be able to, following from my pain threshold metaphor, inflict pain. For Democrats in more Republican areas, it seems assured that voting for the bill would hurt their re-election chances. If we're talking about someone too new to hold any important assignments, the party leadership cannot threaten to revoke it.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Do you know of any instances off the top of your head where they really got their arms twisted by Republican leaders? I will admit that Tom Coburn's ardent anti-pork stance is something that Congress could use a lot more of.

Yes. Jim DeMint voted for the socialist Medicare D prescription drug benefit because the Republican leadership threatened to withdraw support from his Senate campaign if he didn't switch his no to a yes.

Pretty shocking, no?

     That isn't socialism & it isn't shocking. No need to treat me like I'm a moron just because I disagree with you.

My sarcasm was aimed at Jim DeMint, who is a super-partisan conservative purist on these issues and yet who changed his vote for campaign aid.

     Ah, my mistake. I can be touchy when I feel like people are making assumptions about my views.