Obama’s Favorite Republican?
EmailABC News' Jonathan Karl reports:
House Republicans are united in their opposition to the health care bill, but when the vote comes this evening, there is one House Republican to watch: Rep. Joseph Cao of Louisiana.
ABC News has learned that the White House is making an 11th-hour push to convince Cao to be the sole Republican to vote “yes” on the Democratic health care bill. Cao has been promising presidential support for additional financial aid for his New Orleans district. The sources say Cao has had several conversations with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and health care advisor Nancy-Ann Deparle
Congressional sources tell ABC News that Republican Whip Eric Cantor is also making a big push, trying to convince Cao to join all other House Republicans in voting no. Cantor has met with Cao several times today.
Cao is telling his colleagues that he is still undecided.
Cao’s New Orleans district is one of the most Democratic in America. He was elected in a something of a fluke last year, defeating William “Cold Cash” Jefferson, who is about to go to jail following his conviction on multiple corruption charges.
Coa is pro-life, so the only way he could be in play is if the Stupak amendment banning abortion funding passes.
One other thing: He claims to have actually read the bill … as you can see in this entertaining video put out by his office: Click Here.
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Looks like these people actually have a representative not a lock stepper. He should list himself as an Independent and wash his hands of the republican party. I remember him being elected. Looks like he takes his responsibility seriously. I wish he was my representative. I’m stuck with lock steppers.
Posted by: rightbehind | November 7, 2009, 9:46 pm 9:46 pm
Hey rightbehind…you sure have the correct name as that’s exactly where the Dems are going to be when it comes to nailing you and the rest of the middle class for the tax dollars to pay for this puppy!
Posted by: tobeornottobe | November 7, 2009, 10:50 pm 10:50 pm
I’m impressed with this guy. He’s his own man. If he doesn’t get re-elected because he didn’t stick with the clique, he’ll still do fine in whatever he chooses to do because he takes his responsibilities seriously. I love and independant thinker and do-er.
Posted by: Cindy | November 7, 2009, 11:11 pm 11:11 pm
Cao did indeed vote for it. It passed, with 2 votes to spare. Onto the next drawn out stage of the process (going into the 8th month of this push, at least no one can seriously claim this bill has been rushed!).
Posted by: jhw539 | November 7, 2009, 11:17 pm 11:17 pm
Amazing what happens when you flash cash to a weakling like this.
Independent thinker??
Glad he doesn’t represent me.
Posted by: Taxed Enough Already | November 7, 2009, 11:20 pm 11:20 pm
He ain’t no Republican if he votes for this massive crap. I actually like the fact this bill is showing the true colors of some that have no business in the Republican party.
Posted by: Deborah | November 7, 2009, 11:23 pm 11:23 pm
Things will be changing in 2010 for you Libs. Keep up the good work. LOL
Posted by: Deborah | November 7, 2009, 11:24 pm 11:24 pm
“…. (going into the 8th month of this push, at least no one can seriously claim this bill has been rushed!).”
…………………
Are you serious? “no one”? If you said no rational individual, I would certainly take what you said more seriously.
Posted by: David | November 7, 2009, 11:28 pm 11:28 pm
Good post David
Posted by: Deborah | November 7, 2009, 11:30 pm 11:30 pm
Kudos to Congressman Cao-the only Repbulican congressman with a heart instead of political calculator.
Posted by: B. Bear | November 7, 2009, 11:38 pm 11:38 pm
“…. (going into the 8th month of this push, at least no one can seriously claim this bill has been rushed!).”
…………………
Are you serious? “no one”? If you said no rational individual, I would certainly take what you said more seriously.
David | Nov 7, 2009 11:28:03 PM
I don’t take what irrational people say seriously, hence my original wording, “at least no one can SERIOUSLY claim…” I cannot remember a bill that recieved this level of extended public debate, committee level work, CBO analysis, and sustained media coverage. People can seriously put forward the opinion that it is a bad bill, but saying it’s rushed and I’m laughing at them.
Posted by: jhw539 | November 7, 2009, 11:41 pm 11:41 pm
I am guessing Cao wasn’t going to be getting re-elected anyway. He did get a small concession.
Keep in mind, 39 democrats did not vote for it. Many more will be losing their elections next year.
Posted by: northwest david | November 7, 2009, 11:51 pm 11:51 pm
He’s an American!!!
Posted by: sara | November 8, 2009, 12:12 am 12:12 am
Cao was not riding with the ‘NO” Men. I like a man that stands for Something!!!!!!
Posted by: sara | November 8, 2009, 12:14 am 12:14 am
I’m curious, how did the two newest Democrats (who won on Tuesday) vote? If they both voted for it then it seems like the media really needs to be reporting on how huge that victory actually was…
Posted by: Marvin | November 8, 2009, 12:21 am 12:21 am
Deborah,
So you think the GOP has any better ideas to help fix this healthcare mess we’re in? I haven’t heard one iota from the GOP except criticism of the Democratic effort.
Wasn’t it Teddy Roosevelt who said: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
Think about that one for a while. The GOP epitomizes the idea of a weak collective critic, with no courage to fix this mess. So, we lose a few seats in 2010. Then what? Do we have any sense that the GOP has any ideas to help move us forward? Nope. When Sarah Palin is the face of your party, there’s something SERIOUSLY wrong.
Posted by: Josh | November 8, 2009, 12:24 am 12:24 am
“I’m curious, how did the two newest Democrats (who won on Tuesday) vote?”
They voted for it. It passed by 5 votes and there were Dems that voted “no” that would have voted “aye” if they were needed for it to pass.
The lone Republican is from a heavily-Dem district so he was just trying to represent his district honestly. But he did insist that anti-abortion provisions be included as did many Conservative Dems.
See the Dem party actually includes cons and libs that work together to pass legislation.
Posted by: OB-Wan222 | November 8, 2009, 12:49 am 12:49 am
He is also a Jesuit Priest, and shows that Roman Catholic Church is in support of this Bill. Now we will seer what happens when the Bishops show their support.
Posted by: Thinking | November 8, 2009, 1:25 am 1:25 am
“It is so sad that humans don’t really treasure their liberty/their freedom, until it is taken from them.”
The song remains the same. That’s the same nonsense that cons said about child labor laws and the minimum wage and the forty-hour work week and Social Security and Medicare and etc., etc.
Funny they didn’t put up such a fuss over the Prescription Drug plan, oh wait, that was a Republican idea.
Posted by: OB-Wan222 | November 8, 2009, 1:44 am 1:44 am
He is also a Jesuit Priest, and shows that Roman Catholic Church is in support of this Bill. Now we will seer what happens when the Bishops show their support.
Posted by: Thinking | Nov 8, 2009 1:25:51 AM
==================================
Cao is not a Jesuit priest.
He *was* a Jesuit seminarian in his youth, but he decided that he did not have a vocation and chose not to be ordained.
If he were a priest, he would not be serving in Congress–because of the Catholic Church’s rules, not the rules of the Congress. In 1980, the pope ordered all priests serving as elected officials to leave government office. Fr. Robert Drinan, a four-term congressman from Massachusetts, ended his political career on the pope’s order. For those of us in his district, it was a great loss.
Fr. Drinan was the last Roman Catholic priest to serve in the U.S. Congress.
Posted by: dan | November 8, 2009, 2:42 am 2:42 am
A friend from that area said the district he represents is in the ACORN district, lots of welfare, food stamp and section 8 receipents…..He replaced the guy with $90,000 in the freezer…..
Posted by: bailedout | November 8, 2009, 2:47 am 2:47 am
“Cao was not riding with the ‘NO” Men.”
The “NO” men will be re-elected.
The “YES” men didn’t even know what they were voting for. Voters will deal with them soon enough.
Posted by: Mary | November 8, 2009, 7:59 am 7:59 am
Because the only way to stop the use of fear and ignorance holding America hostage is by spreading knowledge and truth.Conservatives were quick to insist that the near-riot — the first of many town-hall mobs that would dominate the headlines in August — was completely spontaneous. The protesters didn’t show up “because of some organized group,” Rick Scott, the head of Conservatives for Patients’ Rights, told reporters. “They’re mad about the stimulus bill, the bailout, the economy. Now they see that their health care is about to be taken over by the government.” In fact, Scott’s own group had played an integral role in mobilizing the protesters. Conservatives for Patients’ Rights had been working closely for weeks as a “coalition partner” with three other right-wing groups in a plot to unleash irate mobs at town-hall meetings just like Doggett’s. Far from representing a spontaneous upwelling of populist rage, the protests were tightly orchestrated from the top down by corporate-funded front groups as well as top lobbyists for the health care industry. Call it the return of the Karl Rove playbook: The effort to mobilize the angriest fringe of the Republican base was guided by a conservative dream team that included the same GOP henchmen who Swift-boated John Kerry in 2004, smeared John McCain in 2000, wrote the script for Republican obstructionism on global warming, and harpooned the health care reform effort led by Hillary Clinton in 1993. “The insurance industry is up to the same dirty tricks, using the same devious PR practices it has used for many years, to kill reform,” says Wendell Potter, who stepped down last year as chief of corporate communications for health insurance giant CIGNA. “I’m certain that people showing up at these town halls feel that they’re there on their own — but they don’t realize they’re being incited, ultimately, by the insurance industry and the other special interests.”
Posted by: Truthrevealer | November 8, 2009, 9:36 am 9:36 am
See the post below, it is all now about revealing the truth. The rehash of the so called liars playbook is over and the truth will be spread far and wide across america.. The GOPs hollow game of pretending that the extreme fringe of their own sad party represents all americans is a very veiled and completely manufactured act of fear by the top health insurance companies and the top health insurance companies lobbyist liars, theives and cheats. Cheats because they think they can continue unobstructed to unnecessarily take the hard earned money of all middle class americans, it is not about the poor it is about them losing their core….you and I and every american working or currently trying to get back to work… Once this bill passes, even the fringe mad dog orchestrated attempts will grow ever increasingly to become the saddest attempted perpertration to keep a financial grip on all americans earnings…..
Posted by: Truthrevealer | November 8, 2009, 9:36 am 9:36 am
Right now on ABC Frank Luntz at 9:37am 11/8/09 today during the roundtable has no soul, to continue the very deviously designed orchestration to railroad the health care bill that will help all middleclass americans that are suffering..Americans are not angry like he portrays. Using the repubs fringe element of blind anger does not and will never represent all americans…….
Posted by: Truthrevealer | November 8, 2009, 9:39 am 9:39 am
Wither way, y9u want it, now live with it and it’s taxes. Broaden your view and you will start to see what Obama is really after. For forty years, everyone knew health care was the key. Know that Obama is about to control health care, he will branch out from there.
Posted by: James L. | November 8, 2009, 9:47 am 9:47 am
Saw a video of a woman who wanted this bill to pass, so her prescription costs would finally be brought under control. A lot of folks forget that Obama brought the big boys from the pharmaceutical companies to the white (for a beer?) and made a quiet deal with them on the cost of medicine, long before this health push really got started. The cost of medicine was determined back in Jun/Jul. Why do you think we haven’t heard from those guys?
Posted by: James L. | November 8, 2009, 9:52 am 9:52 am
Lets face it no one wants to fix this thing yet everyone knows it needs to be fixed. Let it all colapse. And then something may get done in the next 10 to 20 years. why rush
Posted by: mike | November 8, 2009, 9:56 am 9:56 am
Loks to me like ABC is trying to point him out and target him for a GOP takedown like the party tried to do to Scozzafava. It didn’t really work in that instance, all they did was throw away a constituency they had held for over a hundred years, but according to Steele, the party aims to eject all moderate aka reasonable candidates who are willing to work together for the good of the country. Voters on the whole are tired of obstructionism. I will be interested to see where this swing to the far right takes the GOP in the coming years. It may be seeing some short-term success in pockets, but I doubt it will be good for the party’s future in the long haul.
Posted by: iamwomaninMI | November 8, 2009, 10:11 am 10:11 am
I love this part of the quote attributed to Teddy Roosevelt above: “those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat” I think that should be the new tag line for the GOP.
Posted by: RSC | November 8, 2009, 10:15 am 10:15 am
I’m a democrat that will certainly vote against my senator next election. He is Bill Nelson in Florida. I’m sure he will support the bill in the Senate. I’m tired of congress wasting my money….period. This is the last straw after the democrat’s allowed Goldman Sacks to take over our government.
Posted by: dkennedy | November 8, 2009, 12:37 pm 12:37 pm
Marvin – To answer your question Owens (NY-23) had campaigned that he would not vote for this bill pulled a Pelosi, he lied and went along with the rest of the idiots who voted for this bill which will help rush the government towards bankruptcy.
Posted by: Sandcrab 1613 | November 8, 2009, 1:51 pm 1:51 pm
“Obama’s favorite Republican?”
The nation’s favorite Republican.
Posted by: progressnow | November 8, 2009, 9:05 pm 9:05 pm