Reply #37: Unfavorable [View All]

[adwon]

I don't find Joe to be the worst possible senator. I was represented by Jesse Helms for 20 years of my life.

I really don't care what he thinks about the war. What the senate thinks about war and foreign policy doesn't matter much, no matter how much they yell and shout. They're essentially irrelevant because they have chosen to be irrelevant. If they actually gave a damn, I'm sure I would have had heard of proposals to set up a Truman committee for this war. Even a resolution, you know?

Joe fails for me because he waffled, if only for an instant, on Social Security. As I recall, his initial response was "No no but hell no will it be privatized" but "Well, I'll give the president a fair hearing." Quite frankly, I can't understand what the fuck he was thinking. I'm an advocate of compromise when it results in decent results. I'm not an advocate of compromise for the sake of compromise. Social Security is a no-compromise issue. Period. You simply don't waffle on it. If you compromise on that, you tear out the bedrock of old-school liberalism, not post-60s liberalism, but FDR-Truman-Kennedy-Johnson liberalism. What in the bloody hell can you campaign on then? Will you claim to be somewhat more compassionate than the GOP? What credibility would you have?

Sorry to rant. I guess we all have a litmus test in our heart of hearts, and Joey tripped mine.