It's rather unfortunate that some of the benefactors of the 2006 GOP backlash that gave us a new batch in Congress are turning out to be rotten fruit. In other words, the Democrats In Name Only (DINO's) that make it a point to step off the platform way too often and undermine their party's agenda. We all know the players...most of that "Gang of Six" and the Blue Dog Coalition are who fit nicely in with that milieu of part-time turncoats.
But for some strange reason, Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill just manages to get under my skin on an all-too-frequent basis. And I'm still trying my best to figure it out.
Without a doubt, McCaskill's early support of then Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was a key factor in his Show-Me State primary victory (and narrow loss to McCain-Palin) last year. That's a key distinction, since Missouri has voted for the winner in 25 of the past 27 presidential elections. So given her support of the candidate she helped become President, why is she causing more harm than help with issues like cap-and-trade and passing true health care reform?
The widely televised fracas at one of her town halls last month clearly left Ms. McCaskill bewildered and unnerved, as the video clip above shows. It was like watching a rural substitute teacher in a downtown St. Louis classroom losing it over juvenile sycophants and ne'er-do-wells. Despite her admonishments and utter failure at maintaining decorum ("You don't trust me?" "If you want me to go home..."), she still defended the disrupters via the media and placated them via her staunch assurances that single payer would have no chance in hell of passing in Congress.
"I think it was a huge mistake for anyone to suggest that anybody who's opposed to the health care plan is 'manufactured'...Now, I think both sides are organizing, but that's what we do in a democracy."
Really? That's democracy? Apparently, Ms. McCaskill was unfamiliar with Dick Armey's dick army that had been bussed nationwide to disrupt town halls, thanks to that sinister PAC known as FreedomWorks. And yet, she still tweeted about those "real folks" and their "real opinions" out there, from dimwits who were handed talking points from lobbyists. Ironically, that very same conservative PAC gave McCaskill a Senate vote score of 33 out of 100 when it came to bills they favored and opposed. Hence, the higher the score of approval from FreedomWorks, the better the fit for that DINO label.
But the duplicity got worse last week on MSNBC's Morning Joe, when she discussed the President's recent speech to a joint session of Congress:
"He talked about handcuffing the public option, which is essential...for a moderate like me. Without handcuffing it, it could morph into a comprehensive government plan, which I think most moderates can't support."
I don't recall Obama discussing that in last week's speech to Congress, do you? Sure, he made it clear that he would only sign a deficit-neutral bill, but "handcuffing" it? Not that encouraging, Senator.
To make matters worse, McCaskill considered the President's clean energy bill a bad move for her state's economy. In other words, Missouri's anything-but-clean coal industry donations from companies like Peabody Energy are more important than climate change and the well-being of Missourans. This was stated despite the fact that the cap-and-trade system the House passed via Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) gave full protection to states now dependent on coal (Missouri gets about 80 percent of its power from coal sources). All of this clearly indicated that Ms. McCaskill probably didn't even bother to read the damn bill.
Ultimately, I don't know what the hell to make of Senator McCaskill, since it's hard to figure out which side she's really on. She goes from speaking in favor of Democratic proposals to regurgitating Republican talking points in a heartbeat. It's just one of many illustrative examples behind the consistently low popularity of Congress. There's just way too many of them standing in the middle of the road, acting as a roadblock to real progress.
Show-Me Staters, what do you think?