Wingnut Congressman Dana Rohrabacher has an ass-kissing expose in the “Beachweek” section of my local paper, the Long Beach Press-Telegram today. This is no surprise, since the once independent paper was bought a few years ago by a righty media magnate.
What is surprising is that the piece emphasizes Rohrabacher’s differences with the Bush Administration.
Rohrabacher’s political agenda once aligned closely with the right wing of the GOP. But new experiences over the past 17 years of his tenure have smoothed out some of the rougher edges of his political philosophy.
Say what? Rohrabacher is still an wingnut, but he now seems to find it necessary to distance himself from that faction of the GOP.
When BushCo is being abandoned by a nutter like Rohrabacher, they must be in trouble. The article tries to show Rohrabacher as a moderate by highlighting a couple of areas he leans left of BushCo, but I think that is simply an acknowledgement that even the red Orange County that makes up most of his constituency is liberal in some ways.
Now in his ninth term, the 58-year-old congressman has stepped up his political tempo somewhat during recent months, pushing issues that more and more differ from the Bush Administration’s stances, including:
Legalization of medicinal marijuana.
Broadening stem-cell research.
Resisting Bush’s call to give “guest worker’ status to illegal immigrants.
Opposing “most favored nation’ status for China.
Well, the first two of those positions place Rohrabacher to the left of Bush, but what about the second two? I am no expert on either issue, but it seems like #3 makes him more to the right of Bush. On #4, he is against Favored Nation status for China because of their civil rights abuses, so that seems somewhat left of BushCo, but he also cites their communism as an issue, which makes him seem like an old cold-warrior.
This made me laugh:
Personal experiences in recent years seem to have molded Rohrabacher’s most current viewpoints that differ strongly from those of the conservatives. Although long regarded as a conservative, he maintains that he has been a moderate all along.
Anyone who knows Rohrabacher, knows he is no moderate; he was a speech writer for Reagan, for crying out loud. And the idea that he has always had some moderate views flies in the face of what the article tells us. His views on stem cell research have changed since he and his wife did in-vitro fertilization (resulting in triplets). He is more moderate about that now, so he must’ve been more of a nutter before, right?
What I think this article shows is that even a nutter can sometimes get things right when he must appeal to moderate constituents.
[Rohrabacher has] introduced three bills that he believes will benefit the troops.
One would allows reservists, if gone one year, to use more lenient bankruptcy regulations to deal with overwhelming financial problems.
Another bill would allow a mobilized reservist who stays in military to continue with TriCare health care after returning home.
Under the third bill, mortgage payments owed by activated reservists would be suspended until they return from the war zones. Owners of rental properties would receive tax credits for uncollected rents from military families.
But the article also shows he is still a nutter.
He wants the government to cut off immigrants and their children from access to any benefits, including health care.
“If we did that, a lot of them would go home,” Rohrabacher asserted.”
After the speech, the congressman said he would support a change in the Constitution to deny citizenship and benefits to children born to illegal immigrants.
If he really thinks this, he is an idiot. The only thing that will make illegals go home is raising the standard of living in Mexico (and other countries the illegals are coming from). Period. He acknowledges as much, but thinks it can be accomplished through “Christian charity.” Seriously.
So he wants to cut off health care to illegals? I think cutting off health care would not only endanger the health of the illegals, but of all the nice American folks who employ them or live near them (which is all of Southern California). And it completely contradicts his assertion that to solve the illegal immigration issue “we have to do it with love in our hearts.” We love you, but we wont heal you or educate your children. What a dumb ass.
The congressman is the new chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of House International Relations Committee, and he plans to probe the U.N. Oil for Food program. He also will look into technology transfers, visa policies practiced by the State Department, Chinese expansion of nuclear weapons technology and the massive cultivation of opium poppies in Afghanistan.
Why doesn’t he also look into where the missing money in Iraq went? That was a heck of a lot more money than Oil for Food. And will his Oil for Food investigation look at the role of Halliburton? I doubt it.
Update: Here is info on Rohrabacher’s voting record:
– Rated 0% by NARAL, indicating a pro-life voting record. (Dec 2003)
– Rated 13% by the ACLU, indicating an anti-civil rights voting record. (Dec 2002)
– Rated 80% by the US COC, indicating a pro-business voting record. (Dec 2003)
– Rated 30% by CURE, indicating anti-rehabilitation crime votes. (Dec 2000)
– Rated D by VOTE-HEMP, indicating an anti-hemp voting record. (Dec 2003)
– Rated 17% by the NEA, indicating anti-public education votes. (Dec 2003)
– Rated 5% by the LCV, indicating anti-environment votes. (Dec 2003)
– Rated 56% by CATO, indicating a mixed record on trade issues. (Dec 2002)
– Rated A by the NRA, indicating a pro-gun rights voting record. (Dec 2003)
– Rated 11% by APHA, indicating a anti-public health voting record. (Dec 2003)
– Rated 33% by SANE, indicating a mixed record on military issues. (Dec 2003)
– Rated 100% by FAIR, indicating a voting record restricting immigration. (Dec 2003)
– Rated 13% by the AFL-CIO, indicating an anti-labor voting record. (Dec 2003)
– Rated 10% by the ARA, indicating an anti-senior voting record. (Dec 2003)
– Rated 72% by NTU, indicating “Satisfactory” on tax votes. (Dec 2003)
For specifics on how he has voted, Click Here.
Over all, Rohrabacher is a nutter with a slick surfer image who knows how to push his constituents’ buttons. But more importantly, he is distancing himself from BushCo, and that seems to me to be a sign that Bush is in serious trouble.
