Election Issues 2006: December 2005 Archives

Principle hung on by a thread in the Senate, today. It was both a sad and joyous occasion for me. Sad, because the dirty political trick of placing the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) drilling question into a Defense Appropriations Bill is standard operating procedure in D.C. these days. Republicans believed the threat of saying Democrats opposed defense spending for our troops would be sufficient to get enough Democrat votes for a Cloture vote to limit debate and allow a vote to pass the bill. This embedding of one unrelated bill inside another is sadly all too common. The good news is Democrats held firm and ANWR drilling will not be passed inside this Defense Appropriations Bill.

Two very disturbing issues crossed my path this morning. Texas's attempt to replicate Florida's "Shoot First" laws and the Republican House's tax legislation which says, 'screw deficits, they don't matter to us'.

In the Washington Post, the 2006 voter's dilemma is highlighted by David S. Broder entitled, A Pox on Both Parties. He provides an excellent summary of public opinion sentiment toward Democrats and Republicans since the Reagan years to the present, in response to each parties performance in leadership. Broder concludes asking,"When both parties have lost public confidence, where do voters turn?"