"I'm Not A Rubberstamp"

J.D. uttered those words at the close of last night's debate. "I'm not a rubberstamp, I'm a representative. [...] I will make the difference in Washington for the better."

During the debate, Hayworth made it no secret that he strongly disagrees with the President on immigration. He despises Bush's position. Among Republicans, he is an extremist on immigration, joining the likes of Tom Tancredo and Pat Buchanan. Yet to J.D., immigration is all that matters. Putting a stop to illegal and legal immigration is his self-described goal in Congress.

I guess to Representative Hayworth that means he's not a Bush Rubberstamp. No, to him he is a rebel because on one issue he is so far to the right. As the Mitchell camp pointed out last week, it is no surprise the GOP is running from hardliners like J.D. The Republican Party even went so far to endorse a candidate in a competitive primary so the immigration extremist (Graf) *hopefully* won't win. I love seeing the Republicans so conflicted that they would flip the bird to a sizable portion of their anti-brown people base in order to retain a Congressional seat. Ah, politics in an election year!

So back to Hayworth saying he is not a rubberstamp. Looking over his record, I find it hard to believe J.D. when he says he is not a rubberstamp. What major Bush legislation did he oppose? In the first minute of the debate he touted his support and votes for the Medicare Part D plan and No Child Left Behind. Two huge pieces of Bush legislation that are failures. No Child Left Behind is now an oxymoron, an unfunded one at that! The Medicare Part D plan is confusing, overly bureaucratic, and the legislation was one step towards the death of Medicare.

It looks like J.D. likes to point to the P.R. pieces the Bush Administration shot through Congress, failed to fund properly, and then touted as accomplishments. He is proud he put his vote behind those bills. He is proud of being a rubberstamp.

But he's not a rubberstamp because he's the immigration rebel. It's that one issue that seperates J.D. from other Bush Rubberstamps. Let us all be thankful that J.D. is on the wrong side of Bush on this one.