What you liked best about: Dan Coats

[JSojourner]

Not one of my favorite Republicans, but still...Dan Coats has impressed me in a couple of ways.

First, I really respected his dogged support for Head Start.  As a tried and true, anti-spending Conservative, Coats repeatedly insisted that there were -- in his words -- "a very few things" government can and SHOULD spend money on.  Head Start was one of those, in his opinion.  It earned him no small amount of criticism from his fellows, but he was right.  (IMO)

Second, after leaving office, Coats was named President of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.  A couple years into that job, he wrote an op-ed apologizing to President Clinton about his criticism of the Americorps program.  Coats said he got to see first hand what a positive contribution Americorps volunteers made with the BGCA.  I thought that took class.

I've met Coats on a number of occasions and he is personally a very nice man.

[WalterMitty]

he was bush's first choice for sec. of defense.  instead we got rumsfeld.

[JSojourner]

he was bush's first choice for sec. of defense.  instead we got rumsfeld.

And Coats got the booby prize -- ambassador to Germany.  Hey, I'd be thrilled with that assignment, but Coats wanted Sec Def SOOOOOO badly.