The Most Famous Republican in America

Edward Galuszka — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:11:58 +0000

Congressman Joseph Cao

For the past few weeks, Congressman Eric Cantor (R-VA) has been promising his constituents that, like during the voting for the Stimulus package many months ago, that America’s Affordable Health Choices Act would have the same distinction. Had he been successful, he may have risen above the pack as the most famous Republican in America. He has been preempted by the courageous actions of freshman Congressman Joseph Cao, who stood alone as the single Republican vote for passage for HR3200.

Congressman Cao’s election was seen as somewhat unlikely during the 2008 campaign. The district had been held by a Democrat as long as anyone could remember, and was only elected amid a corruption scandal so blatant even William Jefferson couldn’t squirm out of it. While that’s still not a matter of settled law, Congressman Cao’s place in the district couldn’t be more clear. Whether due to reasons of politics or morals, Joseph Cao has split with the rest of the Republicans by voting with the majority on HR3200.

As of tomorrow morning, I predict that Joseph Cao will become the most famous Republican in America. From the left he will be praised for his support of the bill, and to the right he will be considered a traitor and demonized for months to come. He not only crossed party lines alone, he openly defeated Congressman Cantor’s vow that not a single Republican would vote for the bill. The fallout will be immense, and it leaves the question open as to whether this will be a good move for him or not. In any case, this has made the race for this seat in 2010 far more interesting than it would have been otherwise.

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Senator Snowe and Olympic Fence-Sitting

Edward Galuszka — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:09:59 +0000

By Edward Galuszka

Over the course of the Health Care debate in the United States, we’ve seen a lot of tilting at windmills from quite a few members of the Senate Finance Committee. This has been especially particularly evident regarding the so-called public option, which would establish a government-run insurance option to compete with private plans in the proposed insurance exchange. The Democratic members of the committee in particular have been tilting back and forth on the measure, including Chairman Max Baucus.

There’s one Republican on the committee that has also participated in the Public option waffling. In fact, Senator Olympia Snowe hasn’t just participated in the swaying to and fro on the option, she’s elevated it to an art form. Her power on the committee hasn’t just extended to the public option, but to whether or not she would vote the bill out to the Senate at large. As the bill has now left committee, the power of the Senator from Maine has not diminished.

In fact, some would argue it’s increased. As the sole Republican vote to have the bill leave committee, she is strongly placed to speak for an entire group of moderate, pro-reform Republicans who have little voice in the upper chamber of the Congress. This was first among the reasons why Senator Snowe had been so coy in the past few weeks regarding her support or non-support of the Finance Committee legislation. It seems, however, that this fence-sitting may have come to and end.