Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Chicken, uh, Salad
A fellow speechwriter in the Reagan White House, Dana Rohrabacher, now in his twenty-second year as a member of the House of Representatives from Orange County, California, is one of my best and oldest friends--smart, funny, loyal, thoroughly conservative, irrepressible. When Roll Call conducted a survey, asking members of Congress the magazine on the cover of which they would most like to appear, most members provided just the sort of answer you'd expect: Time, Newsweek, The Economist. Dana's answer? Surfing World.
Over the last couple of days, it emerges, Dana has experienced in particularly acute form the tension between the need to make a political statement and the need to run the country, between the political expedient and the truly wise.
Since we've discussed this tension a lot here on Ricochet, I thought I'd pass along the item, which appears in The Hill.
It isn't pretty--and I imagine my fellow Ricochetians will be divided about 50-50 over whether Dana was right to vote as he did or right to recant his vote. But it represents, all the same, a tribute to an honest man.
Rohrabacher's mea culpa for changing Wednesday vote: 'I'm chickens--t'
Rohrabacher confirmed the account, as relayed by his colleagues to The Hill. He added that he looked forward to casting a yes vote on Thursday night.
California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher offered a "mea culpa" at a closed-door meeting of House GOP lawmakers on Thursday afternoon.
Less than 24 hours after he joined 47 other Republican lawmakers to kill a leadership-sponsored measure to fund the government, the outspoken Golden State representative earned a standing ovation when he called himself "chickens--t" for opposing the continuing resolution to avoid upsetting constituents.
Though he initially cast a yes vote on Wednesday afternoon, Rohrabacher looked up at the tally board and saw that fellow Orange County Republican Reps. Gary Miller, Ed Royce and John Campbell had cast "no" votes.
When it was clear that the bill would fail regardless of his vote — all but six Democrats voted against — Rohrabacher switched his vote to no.
According to lawmakers in the room on Thursday, Rohrabacher apologized to his colleagues for his "cowardly" decision.
The veteran lawmaker told the crowded room, "Look, I'm going to mea-culpa this — I'm one of the 48 guys that voted against but, I know, even at that time I had trepidations. So, I want y'all to know that I'm sorry, because I think that you guys had more courage than I did. When my wife asked me to do a blog that explained it, it [would have] looked bad on you, so I decided not to. Then I asked myself, why did I vote for this in the first place? And then switch at the last minute? ... Because I'm chickens--t."
At least six other members stopped Rohrabacher as he left the room, tugging at his arm to say some version of, "Dana, I'm the same way ... I'm chickens--t too," a lawmaker who witnessed the exchanges told The Hill.
- Comment (11)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (1)
Comments :
Re: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Chicken, uh, Salad
To clarify:
This wasn't a choice between the Tea Party and John Boehner's leadership. In fact, John Boehner and the Tea Party were aligned on this one. Rohrbacher's vote was a 'no' vote on Boehner's CR, which would have offered up $3.65 billion in federal disaster aid, but partially offset that funding with a $1.5 billion cut to a Dept. of Energy manufacturing loan program.
The Democrats were against the CR because of the cuts to the DOE's loan program. The Republicans who joined the Democrats in their dissent were afraid of angering their constituents. With habitual cowardice like that coming from Republicans, I doubt we'll have what it takes to get this country back on track even if we recapture control of the Senate and WH in 2012.
Disappointing.
Oct '10
Re: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Chicken, uh, Salad
I hope that his vote was just a temporary aberration and the fact that he's one of your closest friends, Peter, makes this likely. Frankly, he had me at the mention of Surfing World. We need more politicians whose highest aspiration is to grace the cover of a surf mag. I went to his web site and a quick scan showed him to be solid on all the issues I looked at.
Dianne, it is disappointing that he caved, but it's a very good sign that he came around and owned up to it. It's got to be tough to be a Republican out there.
Jun '10
Re: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Chicken, uh, Salad
Thanks, Diane, but It's still not real clear. First it sounds as though the bill incresed spending by a couple of billion because they didn't have enough spending cuts to cover the increased costs. Am I missing something? Secondly, there could well have been 47 different reasons for a NO vote. We only know now of one, the 48th. He says he was chicken. OK, I believe him. But every time these guys pass a freakin bill they spend more money we don't have. And that is exactly our nation's problem.
Dec '10
Re: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Chicken, uh, Salad
The toughest part on all of these votes for the same items has to be knowing that it means nothing, except to the constituents.
Really, how likely is it that this bill will get through the Senate? What appearance will it have, coming out of the conference? It's the death of a thousand cuts, falling on real swords over vapor-legislation.
The simplest thing to do is just vote "No" on everything, then go surfing.
Jun '10
Re: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Chicken, uh, Salad
Better to do something cowardly, repent, and acknowledge you were a "chickens**t" than to convince yourself you were serving the public interest.
Better the repentant sinner than the sinner who continues to sin by convincing himself that evil is good.
Re: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Chicken, uh, Salad
I may live to regret asking this question, but: Didn't we go through all sorts of procedural gyrations and governmental gymnastics very recently in order to avoid a government shut down? I thought this was taken care of with agreements that produced the inappropriately named "Super Committee," which presumably will emerge from a nearby telephone booth and decimate the Department of Defense. And yet here we are again at the edge of a shut down if we don't spend more money? I'm truly confused here. Can anyone dumb this down for me please?
Sep '10
Re: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Chicken, uh, Salad
He has probably pulled similar stunts dozens if not hundreds of times of times. He is a 24yr politician who has been in DC for 30 years. Not impressed.
Mar '11
Re: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Chicken, uh, Salad
Your commendation counts for a great deal Mr. Robinson but to see a Representative apologize for pursuing the desired inclination of his constituents is a disgusting sight. His remarks display either a contempt for his constituents or what many will suspect an inability to defend his actions if he had voted the "right" way.
Jul '11
Re: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Chicken, uh, Salad
This is a perfect example of the perverse incentives that are built into the system that makes it hard for any politician to do the right thing. I'm not saying that decisions should be easy, nor am I saying that because things are hard we should shy away from them (I will interject a bit here to state that the only things worth doing are hard, else everyone would be doing them, and where's the fun in that?), but if any politician is too busy worrying about how things are going to play back home, then he's worried about re-election, not about making the right decisions in the long-term interest of the country. I'll repeat the phrasing: The long-term interest of the country. I'm not concerned with the short- or long-term interests of a politician, whether they're great people or sages of the Senate that happened to be former Klansmen. They work for us, not themselves, and to get confused in that responsibility, even a little, is an abdication of their oaths. If the job is that difficult, then go home - we don't need you there.
Aug '10
Re: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Chicken, uh, Salad
Term limits. Twelve years of service in Congress - max. Go home with the thanks of a grateful nation. No pension, no chance of ever returning.
Mar '11
Re: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Chicken, uh, Salad
A straightforward question from a rational human being. Yes indeed Mr. Carter one would think that yet despite all the hysteria and hoopla not a single serious effort was made to restrain federal spending during all the fireworks. Indeed, it is pathetic but absence of tax increases came to be regarded as a victory. If you are fascinated by details a blow by blow can be found from some articles on Heritage or one can even look at read and the CR itself.
But to give you a straightforward answer to your question, no. The out of control spending was not resolved, restrained it was simply temporarily postponed and now here we are again.
Edited on Sep 24, 2011 at 5:54pm