Jim Henley notes that as Dick Armey prepares to retire--and thus to meet his (political) maker--he is showing an alarmingly strong tendency to think of the welfare of the country rather than the short-term electoral fortunes of the Republican Party:
...The latest - per this article in the LA Times, the outgoing House Majority Leader "Urges End to Cuba Sanctions: In a vivid sign of waning support for the economic embargo on Cuba, House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) said he believes that the United States should open trade with the Communist regime and that he has backed the restrictions on travel and trade only out of loyalty to two Cuban American members of the House. Speaking at a trade promotion event in Wichita, Kan., on Wednesday, Armey acknowledged that congressional support for the 4-decade-old restrictions is fading. 'If they last a year, it will be the last year they last,' said Armey, who plans to retire from Congress at the end of the year."
Let's add up the score. In the last month, Armey has 1) Lined out the TIPS program and national ID card from the scare-quote Homeland scarequote-security bill; 2) Come out against the idea that the US has any business engaging in prophylactic war; 3) Come out against maintaining the Fidel Castro Perpetuation Program - aka, the trade embargo against Cuba. You are wimps, liberals, if you do not offer at least a grudging acknowledgement of this record. The sequence of events suggests two things: First, the prospect of retirement sure does loosen inhibitions in at least some politicos, eh? Second, doesn't this pattern hint that Armey holds the President and leader of his party in a fair amount of contempt? These are serious hot-button issues.
Too bad he couldn't have had his conversion back when it would have done the country some significant good--back in 1992, say.
Posted by DeLong at August 11, 2002 03:28 AM | Trackbackour politics takes after our legal advocacy system - pick a side and support it completely but know you are often merely wearing a proper mask - eventually a children know a mask can be taken off - thus floyd abrams and ann coulter play together at a party celebrating her book "slander" - "liberals are savagely cruel bigots who hate ordinary Americans and lie for sport," happily writes ms. coulter wearing her mask - abrams advocates appropriately in reply - then off to play together where the posh do play
Posted by: on August 11, 2002 08:35 AMpolitics really is great fun to play at though in the afterward of the play are conditions that matter considerably for a great many people who are not able to sufficiently insulate themselves - do we wish we had been invited to the coulter-abrams book party - celebrity is wonderfully enticing - speaking of wearing masks there is a wonderful article about lauren bacall and rob lowe and larry king and and - receiving hefty fees from drug companies for mentioning the appropriate prescription drugs when they appear on television programs we might consider sorts of news programs - my dear friend samantha had such a fearful time with shyness until she discovered [?contract?]
Posted by: on August 11, 2002 09:07 AMRalph Nader may be among a few political figures who really takes politics seriously. Of course, I chose to make my vote "count," and Nader has never held elected office. Oh well, at least Nader has yet to tell us for a hefty fee of the struggles of an uncle with terminal shyness until finding Merck or Lily or Pfizer....
Posted by: on August 11, 2002 11:18 AMRWC? Is that you?
Posted by: on August 11, 2002 03:00 PM