John Diaz, editorial editor of the San Francisco Chronicle had the same rant I did yesterday about the California Assembly Democrats. Pulling no punches he tells the story of their walk of shame. I forgot to mention, of course, the pivotal gay marriage bill that went down in flames on the California Assembly floor last week too.
Now some may quarrel with me on this, but I can kind of see a politician being worried about casting a vote for gay marriage–there is a possibility that he gets out ahead of his constituents on the issue, especially in the central valley (our kansas). Sure, theoretically they could take a hit in a Democratic primary for not supporting gay marriage, but most of these guys do not face credible primary threats. When you have term limits, why would try to run against someone in a primary? You wait your turn.
But “taking a walk on” (not voting for) an environmental bill? Nah, that plays everywhere with everyone. In fact, they could take a serious hit in a general election for not supporting it.
If fact, you could say that these guys have real courage, the courage of their conviction–and their conviction is that if you pay good money to put them in office, you should get what you pay for, their vote.