The RNC has been targeting Congressional Democrats who represent GOP-leaning districts in a desperate attempt to stop health care reform. Two of these Representatives are Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona and Tom Perriello of Virginia. And recently, Giffords and Perriello told them to shove it: they are both voting yes.
Perriello might be my favorite member of Congress. He represents Virginia’s 5th district, which covers much of the state’s southside, and has a cook PVI of R+5. Not only did Perriello defeat the odious Virigil Goode in the 2008 elections, but he represents a particularly compelling brand of conviction politician: he worked as a human rights prosecutor in Sierra Leone and has founded a series of faith-based political activist organization, including Faithful America and 24 Hours for Darfur.
Giffords represents Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, which is sort of ground zero for nativist sentiment. Her district borders Mexico, but she has resisted crude anti-immigrant bias and has called for a comprehensive immigration reform bill. Recall that the Arizona GOP has brought us such winners as JD Hayworth, Matt Salmon, john Shadegg, Trent Franks, and Rick Renzi. There must be something in the cactus juice.
Both Giffords and Perriello are endangered incumbents this year: Stuart Rothenberg listed Perriello as one of the most endangered house members this fall. You know the drill.
Duly noted. And Steve Benen had a post yesterday about the Republican fearmongering that came with Social Security, including Alf Landon in the 1936 election warning that Social Security would force all Americans would be forced to wear identification tags around their necks. http://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/dps/pdfs/dp104594.pdf has the story. Good for these two that they can stand up to today’s Alf Landons. THe 1936 story bears much repeating; it is too bad that it has received so little.
Contributed (very modest amounts, unfortunately) to both — thank you for the pointer.
Will do, Jonathan.
I will go to Perriello’s Charlottesville office and personally help with GOTV efforts if he votes yes. I think Perriello is a good guy, and on a relative merits basis, he is light years ahead of Goode, who is loathsome. The only thing that might help here is that C’ville is actually growing, unlike other parts of his district, which are fairly moribund.
Excellent news, all: you don’t have to give a lot. If everyone around the country does the same thing, we’re making progress.
Technically speaking, if you’re a “Representative”, doesn’t “good behavior” imply representing your constituents? Rather than shoving things they don’t want down their throats?
No, technically speaking, being a representative means using your best judgment to do what’s right for your constituents. If they are really convinced you did the wrong thing they will vote you out of office, as is their right.
Then I think you’re going to have to change the name of the position to something with less “Represent” in it. Maybe start calling them “Misrepresentatives”, so voters can reasonably say, “Hey, good job of misrepresenting me!”
“Misrepresentatives”– that’s an excellent suggestion, Brett Bellmoron!
Hey, we’ve got a bicameral legislature, on the theory that one chamber takes the long view, because it’s insulated from the immediate wrath of the votes, and the other chamber reflects the will of the public, because it’s up for reelection every two years. The result is a combination filter which is only supposed to pass legislation which is a good idea in the long run, AND popular with the people. Fail one of those tests, and it’s not supposed to become law.
Apparently you want TWO chambers that ignore the will of the people. I personally don’t think that’s very healthy for the legitimacy of the government in a representative democracy, but maybe you define legitimacy as, “The government doing what I want, and damn everybody else.” I do get that impression here.