From Stark
On my daily cruise through the Washington Post front page, I saw an interactive graphic decorated with four mug shots: Michelle Bachman, Paul Ryan, Ron Paul, and Rick Larsen.
That certainly got my attention. What does Larsen have in common with those three worthies? That’s easy: They are all vertebrates who walk upright.
When you explore the graphic and the information it contains, you learn that Larsen is apparently one of just nine Congress members who voted for three big factors in the federal deficit: war measures, economic stimulus, and tax cuts. (The graphic erroneously links Larsen to the group who voted for stimulus but against tax cuts and war, perhaps confusing him with John LarsOn of Connecticut. But when you click on the actual lists, our LarsEn is among the elite nine.)
I have emailed Larsen’s office to clarify and verify the info in this graphic.
By contrast, Paul voted for the tax cuts but against war and stimulus. Bachman voted for war but against stimulus, and was not in office when the key tax-cutting votes were taken during the Bush administration. (I’m guessing she might have voted yes…) Ryan voted for war and tax cuts but against stimulus.
If you click right in the middle of the ” Interactive Graphic” it correctly shows that our Rick Larsen foolishly voted for…
…the stimulus plan
…the war
…and the tax cuts!!!
Seriously, we could do a lot better randomly drawing a name out of the phone book.
Nov. 2012 can’t come fast enough!
…..I’d expect nothing less from the WA Post……
I don’t see anything surprising or even interesting in any of this. We all know that the voting was mostly along party lines. Perhaps the point of the article is to draw attention to the fact that some of the members of Congress who voted to support the war under Bush are now calling for a reduction in forces and an end to the conflict in Libya ( due to violation of the war powers act).
The reason that some members of Congress have changed their thinking on the war in Afghanistan and other conflicts is because they do not support the way that Obama is prosecuting the wars without any clear goal for victory. If you don’t want to win the war, get the heck out of there.