| Finally, Brian Bilbray and I agree on something. I've been saying it for years, but apparently he's only now coming around: he should be ashamed of his record, and now that he's up for re-election, suddenly he is.
During his chat with the U-T's Logan Jenkins, he falls all over himself trying to demonstrate that he's not a partisan hack who's married to Bush's failed policies (except when he's to the RIGHT of Bush). He talks about working with Democrat Heath Shuler on immigration reform, thinking that it moderates his well-documented immigration insanity and fealty to his corporate sponsors. He recalls clean beach legislation that he cosponsored...in 2000. Without mentioning that he's desperate to abandon all environmental standards to help build an ineffectual border wall.
But here's where the beauty of the current political landscape kicks in. After claiming that the string of Dem wins in special elections have nothing to do with the 50th (apparently everything he doesn't like is a fluke- he's got the spin down), he dramatically tries to break from the Republican brand:
"I don't work for anyone but the 50th," he told me. "I didn't swear to uphold some Republican agenda."
This from the guy who votes with the Republican Party 91.8% of the time and has seen his (reasonable-for-a-Republican) lifetime Progressive Punch score of 12.93% drop more dramatically than anyone else in Congress- this term his rating is at 5.25%. Now these aren't the only metrics out there, but it's hardly the profile of a legitimate across-the-aisle legislator. This is a man who was elected in 2006 on his perceived moderate credentials only to arrive in DC and enable Bush policies and the broader pro-corporatist politics of fear and repression. He knows that won't fly in a district full of politically reasonable people, so he's trying to keep up the smoke and mirrors as long as possible. Trouble is, while he's astute enough to realize he should be ashamed of his record, that doesn't change reality.
Bilbray's made his GOP-enabling bed. Now he has to live with the consequences. |
