http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/3/16557/33913/967/692629"Anyone believing this tripe from Tennessee Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Nashville)? Our fellow claims that the administration is secretly patting him on the back for voting against (their) stimulus package:
"Well, I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I actually got some quiet encouragement from the Obama folks for what I’m doing. They know its a messy bill and they wanted a clean bill.
Now, I got in terrible trouble with our leadership because they don’t care what’s in the bill, they just want it pass and they want it to be unanimous. They don’t mind the partisan fighting cause that’s what they are used to. In fact, they’re really good at it. And they’re a little bit worried about what a post-partisan future might look like.
If members actually had to read the bills and figure out whether they are any good or not. We’re just told how to vote. We’re treated like mushrooms most of the time."
And pretty much everyone else in the party, including the vast majority of your beloved Blue Dog Coalition who backed the stimulus, people like John Tanner and Travis Childers and Jim Matheson and dozens of the most conservative Democrats in the House.
Of course, if voting against the stimulus means you get rewarded by
http://www.politico.com/politico44/">having your name floated for HHS Secretary, one can see why other Democrats might consider following Cooper's lead.[br />
Cooper's major accomplishment in the field of health and human services was
sinking the Clinton plan in 1993, precisely because he objected to employer mandates for universal coverage."
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Blue Dog hack Jim Cooper for HHS? Aw fuck no. I'd rather have Lobbyist Tommy.....