(UPDATE) Rep. Joseph Cao, Loved And Hated In One Night

Update below: Rep. Cao’s interview on CNN after the vote.

Before I head out for a week or so, I wanted to blog something about Rep. Joseph Cao (R-La).  He represents a heavily democratic New Orleans district and was the lone republican to vote for the house bill that passed tonight (Nov. 7. 09).  Those supporting health care reform definitely saw Cao as a great guy, I’m sure most haven’t even heard of him until his vote.  This same night he also got a lot of backlash from conservatives thinking he should have followed the rest of his clueless party and vote no on health care reform.

Fortunately for the people in his district, Cao chose to be a representative and represent his constituents which heavily support health care reform and are heavily democratic.  ABC has some insights on why Cao even voted for the legislation,

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.

But of course, doing good for his constituents  isn’t good enough for some conservatives and Tea Baggers alike.  They have been acting like anything but adults.  From vandalizing his Wikipedia page,

To tweeting violent acts,

To blasting his facebook page with threats of getting him out of office and so forth,

Of course in between all this were those who support health care reform congratulating and thanking him for his vote.  Here’s Cao’s statement on why he voted the way he did tonight,

Tonight, Congressman Anh “Joseph” Cao (LA-2) voted in favor of the comprehensive health reform bill, H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act.

Of his vote, Cao said:  “Tonight, I voted to keep taxpayer dollars from funding abortion and to deliver access to affordable health care to the people of Louisiana.

Cao said:  “I read the versions of the House [health reform] bill.  I listened to the countless stories of Orleans and Jefferson Parish citizens whose health care costs are exploding – if they are able to obtain health care at all.  Louisianans needs real options for primary care, for mental health care, and for expanded health care for seniors and children.

The bill passed the House at a 220-215 vote.

Cao said:  “Today, I obtained a commitment from President Obama that he and I will work together to address the critical health care issues of Louisiana including the FMAP crisis and community disaster loan forgiveness, as well as issues related to Charity and Methodist Hospitals.  And, I call on my constituents to support me as I work with him on these issues.

Cao said:  “I have always said that I would put aside partisan wrangling to do the business of the people.  My vote tonight was based on my priority of doing what is best for my constituents.

H.R. 3962 included the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, which will keep in place current federal law on abortion funding and conscience protections for health care providers.

Cao said:  “Before the Stupak-Pitts amendment was adopted as part of this health reform bill, the bill failed to explicitly include the longstanding policy prohibiting federal funding of elective abortion and plans which include elective abortion.”

According to a letter from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops dated November 7, 2009, “The [Stupak-Pitts] Amendment will not affect coverage of abortion in nonsubsidized health plans, and will not bar anyone from purchasing a supplemental abortion policy with their own funds.”

Cao said:  “Thank to the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, taxpayer dollars will not go to supporting elective abortions, and for thousands of my constituents, this was a top priority.  By incorporating this amendment into the health reform bill, my colleagues and I made this bill better, and that is an achievement of which I will always be proud.”

Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond, the archbishop of New Orleans, said:  “I am grateful to Congressman Cao for his courage and determination to defend life. I appreciate his work to prevent abortion from being included in health care reform and for protecting conscience rights of health care professionals. I – and, I am sure, many in New Orleans would join me – [I] appreciate Congressman Cao’s commitment to the people of New Orleans.”

The bottom line on all this is that though, I commend and thank Cao for his vote, the bill would have passed without his vote.  And to make that statement simpler for conservatives…health care reform would have passed in the house if he had voted against it.  Conservatives are acting like his vote meant a lot.  Though, I suppose they could be mad because the health care legislation passage is now technically a bipartisan bill.  Now I’m sure he has received plenty of threats from conservatives on his phone already, that’s how conservatives and republicans handle losing (no surprise there!).  I’m just hoping that when Limbaugh and Beck go on their daily rant that Cao keeps up the good fight and stands firmly by his vote.  Simply put, unlike some conservatives and blue-dog democrats, Cao was doing his job, representing people in his district.  Too bad we don’t have more representatives like that.  Rep. Cao is ok in my book, quite simply, he got what he wanted.  A health care bill that doesn’t fund abortions….though that abortion thing is another story to be debated on another day.  Here’s Cao’s information if you’d like to complain or congratulate him,

http://twitter.com/AnhJosephCao

http://josephcao.house.gov/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Anh-Joseph-Cao/89848636525

UPDATE:

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Wow! Maddy Said All That?! GOPer Brings Baby As Prop To Health Care Debate

The House is having their debate on the health care legislation today.  One GOP member decided to use a baby as a prop.  Usually, I wouldn’t care, but this baby is a genius.  Apparently, the baby, named “Maddy” (I’m assuming this is a celebrity baby based on that awkward name), he knows all about the health care legislation and wanted to talk about it on the House floor as well as play with the microphone,

The stupid is showing.

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VIDEO: GOP House Members Shout Down Women’s Caucus

This is what the GOP has become.  They don’t have anything to bring to the table so they shout down the Democratic Women’s Caucus members on the House floor.

No respect at all, and these are the “adults” that hold our future in their hands.  I’d be happier with 5th graders in congress.

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David Plouffe’s Interview On Meet The Press

Obama’s former campaign manager, David Plouffe was interviewed on Meet the Press.  It was such a good interview that I thought it was worth sharing,

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Teabagger Raps, Gonna Send Politicians Tumblin’ Like Jack And Jill

Bwahahahaahhahaahhaha lol, sorry, but there’s no way in hell I was going to let this video go unmentioned on this blog.  I guess this is the Tea Party’s way of  “getting hip”.  Here’s Hi-Caliber with his song, Patriotic People, so I guess those with different views aren’t patriotic….anyways, here’s the video,

(h/t AmericaBlog)

So apparently he thinks liberals are some sick individuals, he sort of bashes people with alternative lifestyles, and he thinks democrats want to take away his second amendment right.  Cute how he bashes Joe Biden’s hair but has a fucked up hairline himself.  Then he comes out of no where bashing Kanyezzy (I agree Kanye is a jackass) but how is that relevant.  And if Kanye is a jackass why did he just sample his Heartless song lol. Then he says Obama was hiding out in Minnesota while he was talking or whatever to US soldiers.  What an idiot!  Notice how he shouts out the 912 project.  I’m sure Glenn Beck is really proud of his follower right now.  Hi-Caliber is a starving artist, I hope it stays that way.

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Boehner Admits Republicans Have No Health Care Alternative Plan

Clearly republicans feel backed into a corner now that a moderate health care plan from dems was revealed, a plan that even republicans could get behind.  Even opposing this would continue to prove the point that the GOP is just opposing health care reform for political purposes.  Here’s the weird press conference that Boehner held today in which…well, we pretty much got insight into the republican health care alternative they were talking about.

Here’s the brief transcript via ThinkProgress,

QUESTION: Will the Republicans put their alternative online for 72 hours as well?

BOEHNER: Uh, we’ll uh, we’ll have our ideas ready. Don’t worry.

…………..

QUESTION: Is it your plan to have one Republican alternative that you all would get behind and endorse?

BOHNER: We have a number of ideas that we would like to proffer in this process, and we’re not quite sure how the majority intends to proceed. And so until we understand how they intend to proceed, it’s pretty difficult for us to have a solid plan.

At least he’s finally being honest with the American people or maybe he’s bull-shitting us, either way he just let us know the GOP doesn’t really have a plan.  All they have are “ideas” within their “heads”   Why can’t the GOP get behind a plan?  It’s not hard, we know what it is, it’s nothing.

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