On Thursday, the House of Representatives finally found Josh Bolten and Harriet Miers in Contempt of Congress. Two hundred and twenty Democrats and three Republicans voted for the measure. Only one Democrat did not: Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas. Cuellar got on a plane after that vote and returned to his home state.
LAREDO, February 15 – U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, spent all day Friday introducing President Bill Clinton to audiences in East Texas, far from his South Texas Congressional District 28.
“I don’t know why they asked me to go, but I’ll be happy to support the Hillary campaign whether it’s in South Texas or whether it’s in East Texas,” said Cuellar. “It’s an honor that they’ve asked me to do this.
President Clinton’s tour across East Texas included Texicana, Longview, Tyler, Nacogdoches and Lufkin, a region that contrasts with Cuellar’s predominantly Hispanic district.
You can learn more about Bush Dog Henry Cuellar from David Kowalski’s profile at Open Left.
Henry Cuellar may seem like a familiar name to many blog readers. He should. Cuellar was the early, less successful challenge a la Joe Lieberman. In his case, the net roots were energized not by “The Kiss” but by a similar W gesture at the 2006 State of the Union address: W squeezing Cuellar’s cheeks.
Cuellar, of course, has a bad history with George W. Bush. He endorsed him for President in 2000. At the time, Cuellar was only thinking about running for the House. But that was before Tom DeLay’s redistricting. In fact, Cuellar ran with the active support of neighboring congressman Ciro Rodriguez but lost to Republican Henry Bonilla in 2002.
Following the DeLay redistricting, Cuellar found his home town of Laredo (yes, that Laredo) in the district of his sponsor Ciro Rodriguez. In a highly controversial move, Cuellar ran against Ciro and defeated him in the primary and then cruised to an easy 59%-39% victory in the 2004 general election.
Cuellar has been financially supported by the Club for Growth, the National Right to Life PAC, and the Texas Right to Life PAC, and voted with Bush on FISA, on Military Detainees, the Bankruptcy Bill, and on tax cuts.
Cuellar’s Progressive Punch score in an abysmal 73.65 and he ranks 209th among Democrats. His lowest scores are on Family Planning (16.67), Corporate Subsidies (35.29), Justice for All: Civil and Criminal (54.35), Government Checks on Corporate Power (58.33), and the Environment (65.57).
This is the guy that Bill Clinton decided to spend all day with yesterday. Bill Clinton toured Texas with the only Democrat in the House of Representatives that voted not to hold Josh Bolten and Harriet Miers in contempt on the day after he decided not to help them in contempt.
What kind of message does that send to you?