Monday, May 12, 2008
Politics / Woods Cooper: 'About As Bad As They Come'
Posted by Jeff Woods on Mon, May 12, 2008 at 11:13 AM
"He says that's not true," U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., told The Daily News about Davis' refusal to meet with Clinton. "But that's on the front page of The Hill. I told him he might as well go ahead and endorse Barack (Obama), because once Hillary sees that he's a dead man anyway."There's more Cooper venting in the article. He paints Clinton as petty and vindictive, which is an interesting complaint coming from someone who's still steaming over something that happened 15 years ago. Cooper's comments prompted the blogger Chris Bowers to examine the congressman's ancient health-care plan. He calls Cooper "a right-wing Democrat, about as bad as they come" and puzzles over how he gets away with it while supposedly representing a relatively liberal district. We've been asking ourselves that question.
Comments (6)
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He calls Cooper "a right-wing Democrat, about as bad as they come" ...
I don't know a thing about Cooper's health care plan, but I do object when folks like Bowers slam Cooper. Our own Ginny Welch, who ran against Cooper last year, referred to him as a "Bush Democrat."
I certainly don't agree with everything Cooper does or every vote he's made, but I've found if I call his office to ask them to clarify one of the Congressman's positions, there's always a very well thought out, reasoned response. Again: I may not agree with it. But he's his own man and makes decisions based on what he thinks is right. He's not hyper-partisan.
I challenge anyone to call the office of a rubber-stamp Republibot like Marsha Blackburn and ask her to explain some of her votes. The truth of the matter is, people like Blackburn do what some GOP poo-bah tells them to, not what they think is in the best interest of their constituents. Maybe that kind of hyper-partisanship flies in Williamson County, but I'd rather be represented by someone who will at least give my concerns a fair listen, not turn a deaf ear because it's not part of some grand plan for a permanent Republican majority.
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I tend to take Cooper at his word that Hillary gave him an ice-cold reception and sabotaged his bill. And maybe 15 years would seem like an ancient grudge if she weren't running for president and promising universal health care. That makes it plenty relevant.
Cooper's bill isn't relevant to anything happening now. He only introduced it to generate contributions from grateful insurance companies for his Senate campaign. It never had a chance to actually pass. It also gave Cooper and his ilk a way to claim they're for health care reform without really doing much of anything.
