Democratic Rep. Gene Taylor: I Voted for McCain

[Hepburn]

It's the ultimate in distancing yourself from your party: Rep. Gene Taylor, a Democrat from Mississippi, said in an interview with Mississippi's Sun Herald that he voted for Republican John McCain in the 2008 presidential election.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20020654-503544.html

Fucking asshole....:mad:

[JonLP24]

1. Not surprised

In fact I think McCain may be more liberal than Gene Taylor.

[countrydad58]

3. Blue Dog Neo Confederate POS

Why voting for Dems means nothing policy wise, when POShits like this are in congress.

[Hepburn]

4. Exactly....

...gawd, I detest those freaking Blue Dog A-holes!

[xchrom]

2. I'm sure he wasn't the only one. Nt

[SargeUNN]

5. Typical of him

His area suffered big from the Katrina debacle and yet he runs to the very slime that screwed his area and votes for them. However it is Mississippi a state that is known to vote against it's best interest.

[gateley]

6. I'm sure McCain's being White had nothing to do with it. nt

[jobycom]

7. I don't believe him.

He's in a tough fight in a district he never should have won, anyway, and that he can't hold by being liberal. His opponent has been painting him as an "Obama/Pelosi liberal," and winning votes by doing it. But you don't run as a Democrat on the Mississippi Gulf Coast if you want to win unless you have some ideological reason for doing it. You have a much easier time winning as a Republican, so if he were really even moderately conservative, he'd have run as a Republican from the beginning. The fact that he picked the Democratic Party shows that he's not as conservative as he's pretending. It's the same way LBJ kept winning in Texas until he became president.

And if you think he's an asshole, google Steven Palazzo, his opponent, and tell me which you'd rather have. And if anyone answers Palazzo on some idiotic belief that it's better to have a full time Nazi then a part-time liberal, pity the fool.

[countrydad58]

8. So where was his votes on

Healthcare, Wars, War Funding, Stimulus,One time rebates for seniors & disabled? I bet he voted the nazi way just like his opponent will vote. Yes I bet his opponent will go farther no doubt., but why run as a Dem,when you cant stand for the core issues of the parties platform?

[jobycom]

9. To understand that, you have to really know how Congress works.

Not in the civic course way, but in the real way. Everything that's done by Congress is done by party. The party that controls the Congress gets what they want done, and the party that doesn't doesn't. Having the majority in Congress gives you control of the committees, and of what bills get introduced and voted on, and what doesn't get done.

Most of the votes we see are just show. The Speaker and the party whips know how a vote is going to go 90% of the time, or more. That's their job. The whips count the votes before anything is voted on, and they know how many votes they need to win something. The party in power can then decide whether to even bring something up for a vote. So in real terms, on something like health care, the Democrats control Congress, and they go around to their members and see how everyone is voting. If it's an easy victory, they don't really do anything. If it's going to be close, or they have no chance to win, they start working out compromises to make a vote more likely. They promise undecideds special benefits if they vote--maybe they give them the floor during prime time so they can get on the news, or they promise some local funding project for that Congressional district in exchange for the vote, so the Rep can use that as a campaign issue. If that's enough to convince them, then the work is done. If it's not, they may need more compromises.

Some Reps, though, they know can't vote their way. Taylor is one of those. So they work around him. They let him vote no by forcing someone else to vote yes, even if Taylor (or whomever) himself might want to vote yes. When the Dems have a strong majority, that's not a problem. If the majority was small, it could become a problem. Then they might have to force Taylor to vote their way, and if he doesn't, that's when they start having to pressure and punish him. It hasn't been that way in a long time, though, because we've either had a good lead, or no lead at all.

If Taylor is replaced by Palazzo, then you not only have a voice that will make Boehner look sane (ish), and you will not only lose the votes on the issues where Taylor votes our way (I'm really not sure how often that is), but you'll also be closer to letting the Republicans back in charge, and then you lose more than the one vote. Sure, just losing Taylor won't make that much difference, but there are a dozen or so in his situation, so letting them all lose would be bad.

Taylor is literally the Democrat from the most conservative district Democrats hold. His district (where I grew up and my parents still live) has a Partisan Voting Index of R+20, meaning that district votes Republican by 20 percentage points higher than the national electorate. That's considered an overwhelmingly safe district for Republicans. Gene Taylor has been winning that district since 1989 (when Dukakis lost to Bush 70-30 in that district). In 1984 I voted against Reagan, and I was literally the only person I knew who did. I was in college in that district, and my civics professor asked a show of hands of anyone voting for Mondale, and mine was the only one that went up. One of the other students who didn't see me then raised his hand to say he actually knew someone who was voting for Mondale, in the same way some people say they have seen Bigfoot. So there were two of us. The other one wound up in another class with me, and another professor asked who believed in Evolution, and she and I were again the only ones who raised our hand (although for once the professor was on our side).

If Taylor has to claim he voted for McCain to win in that district, more power to him. Maybe the Republican he is keeping out of office is the next Boehner, or Trent Lott, since that's his old district. We gain nothing by opposing Taylor.

[countrydad58]

10. Then what stops these Guys

from switching parties,like Richard Shelby & other Southern Democrats. Once elected as a Dem. I hear what your saying,that its all a kabuki dance, frankly I am just tired of this shit. The pukes in the minority have killed so much in the 60 vote senate, making congress & majority rule useless.

[jobycom]

11. Nothing, but when they switch, we can cut them loose.

Taylor has never made noises about switching parties, or I wouldn't defend him. He claims he's disappointed in both parties, but moreso with the Republicans.

As for the 60 vote Senate, that's weakness on our part. We've never needed it, our leaders (Obama and Reid) just don't know how to work Congress. Clinton was able to get good legislation through smaller majorities in his first two years.