First, I want to apologize for missing the past few days, but in the words of the Great American Philosopher Joliet Jake, "It wasn't my fault!" Chez618 is currently stuck with dial-up due to some wiring problems, been working beaucoup OT, trying to deal with some non-work-related issues, keeping up my own blog, and oh, yeah, spending some time with the lovely yet talented Mrs. 618. ("Get a life? What is this 'life'?")
Fortunately, Lee Harris commented on my first germane post, steering me to his blog, Candyland10, which follows the antics of Representative Candice Miller (R, 10th District), and links to other blogs watching the rest of Michigan's Republican Congress-critters.
Lee's blog and links allowed me to assemble this initial scorecard for the MI Republicans:
- All nine Republicans voted NO on Medicare drug price negotiation
- On raising the minimum wage, four (Hoekstra, Camp, Walberg, Rogers) voted NO, four (Ehlers, Upton, Miller, McCotter) voted YES (and deserve thanks for doing so), and Knollenberg didn't vote (which seems to be a trend, as we'll see)
- Miller and Ehlers are AGAINST the proposed troop surge, Rogers might be AGAINST it, and Knollenberg might be FOR it
- Stem cell research: NO: Walberg, Rogers, Knollenberg, Miller (and, unfortuantely, Democrat Stupak), YES: Upton
- Acting on 9-11 Commission recommendations: FOR: Camp, Upton, Rogers, Miller, McCotter; AGAINST: Hoekstra, Walberg; DIDN'T VOTE: Knollenberg
Knollenberg also voted AGAINST increasing fuel efficiency requirements and ethics reforms (big surprise, right?).
A number of bloggers (and some news commentators) have pointed out that the Republican party is starting to show some signs of fracturing, now that the Democrat-controlled Congress has loosened the "lock-step" formerly required of Republicans. On the other hand, it appears that on many issues, like the Medicare proposal, the R's will continue to vote as the administration wishes, only defecting when their own political future is at stake.
There is no denying that the Republicans who cross party/ideological lines to vote for the common good (like hiking the minimum wage and implementing the 9-11 recommendations) deserve our gratitude. That doesn't mean they get a free ride on everything, though. Nor should Stupak be let off the hook for his "no" vote on stem cell research.
