I just want to say that despite the fact I disagree with at least 95% of the votes he casts and I can’t understand why he goes along with the Republicans’ shenanigans, Dick Lugar has real political courage, and that is something so rare these days, in either party, that I just have to stop and make note if it. He knows for a near-certainty that he is going to get a tea-party challenge from his right and yet he is still willing to come straight and say that he thinks we should restore the Assault Weapons Ban. When asked about the problems this will cause him, he’s succinct.
…Lugar is going out on a limb by expressing his support for bringing back the now-defunct assault weapons ban – especially because local Tea Party activists have promised to field a primary challenger for the six-term senator.
Lugar has a reputation for working across party lines in the Senate, and his support for gun control legislation would likely put him at odds with a more conservative GOP challenger.
Lugar also said in the Bloomberg interview that a Tea Party challenge is “not one that I welcome, but nevertheless, this is a democracy.”
If I thought Ben Nelson and Mark Pryor were crossing their party to do something courageous, I’d praise them, too. But they’re just cowards.
