GOP senators, fearing defeat, buck White House

 

First it was the vote to override President Bush's veto of the Medicare bill. Then came the housing bailout, which the White House opposed. Ditto the GI bill and the farm bill.

What all this legislation has in common is that Republican senators, who once marched in lock-step with the White House, are roaming off the reservation. It's an election year, and by all markers, Republicans are in trouble. So party leaders are cutting them some slack, letting them vote their constituent interests instead of sticking to the party line.

This could be important to Republican senators from states leaning blue in the fall -- Norm Coleman of Minnesota, Susan Collins of Maine, Elizabeth Dole of North Carlina and Gordon Smith of Oregon. Voting against Bush, goes the reasoning, could help them get reelected.

But according to a recent article in politico.com, even some red-state Republicans are taking advantage of the freedom to roam. Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia reports that Vice President Dick Cheney upbraided him for overriding the White House on the Medicare veto.

"Dick, I'm beyond that," Chambliss reports he told the vice president, adding that Cheney is "my good friend and my hunting buddy, but my mind was made up" to back his local doctors and senior citizens.

He did not repeat Cheney's reaction. One can only imagine.

In the meantime, Democrats have taken note of the new GOP trend.

"There is nothing like a looming election to really crystallize the thought process," said Jim Manley, senior communications advisor for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. In an email to C2C (that's us, Countdown to Crawford), Manley added, "Over the last year and a half, House and Senate Republicans agreed to lay down for the president and cast politically indefensible votes that are going come back to  haunt them  in November. The only question is why they stood with a president with record low approval ratings for so long."

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Eric Draper/White House

Comments

[Jeugenen]

AMERICAN CONGRESS SCHEDULED FOR MAJOR HEAD SURGERY

Congressional health being at an all time low indicates that the Kennedy Liberals and Reagan Conservatives have set a date with the guillotine for the desperately united Leiberman Neo-Libs and Podhoretz Neo-Cons, for the their notorious subversive Neo-Marxist contempt of Christian Culture and Constitutional Law.

For the illegal Iraq War for Israel, for the illegal Mexican occupation, for the sacrificial killing of children, for the outsourcing of jobs and technology to China, for the subprime loans and stock trading scam, for dependence on fossil fuel, and for the blooming recession and inflation; the rallying cry shall be, “Off with their heads!”.

[Kathy]

Yeah yeah yeah media, keep telling the public that Obama's a shoe in and it just may take. Then again, maybe democrats will feel so sure of success that they'll stay home and not vote.

[jimh]

Dude. Take a breath, release. Repeat. Try using actual full sentences, in a paragraph, next time and you might be a little more clear.

[hgh]

For the illegal Iraq War for Israel,
ILLEGAL?

[Sean]

Jeugenen
_______________________________________________________________

Wow, its nice someone else gets it!

[Gilly Bartston]

Too late now GOP idiots. You should have stopped the moron 8 years ago before he and his puppet masters ruined the country. Now you'll get what you deserve!