Thursday, December 11, 2008
Barry / Congress / Politics Bredesen on His Fellow Republican Wamp's Coke History
Posted by Bruce Barry on Thu, Dec 11, 2008 at 8:34 AM
Here's Phil Bredesen once again excelling in the role of Democrat in name only, commenting on Zach Wamp's recent revelation about his youthful indiscretions:
"Everybody has probably got some background, but voters are pretty good about analyzing those things and deciding whether they are important. I don't believe there are any people ready for sainthood who run for political office."Here's what an actual Democrat might have said about Wamp:
"Yes, voters ought not judge a person by their actions decades earlier that have no bearing on fitness for office today. But voters definitely ought to judge an elected official by his hypocrisy on issues of the day. Wamp, who wants voters to overlook his own past drug use, has as a Member of Congress voted against alternatives to incarceration, for more juvenile prosecutions, and against expanding services that help released offenders re-enter society. He gets low ratings for his voting record from groups advocating saner approaches to reforming drug laws and expanding rehabilitation. Wamp, who thinks his own past indiscretions should be exempt from criminal scrutiny, has been a serial enabler of America's prison-industrial complex that locks people up and ruins their life for nonviolent drug offenses, contributing to our distinction of being the country with the highest prison population rate in the world."
Comments (5)
Showing 1-5 of 5
Amen. I'm pretty convinced that Democrats would do so much better here if they were actually Democrats (as opposed to the spineless beige blob that Bredesen is).
like
dislike
if wamp wanted voters to overlook his past drug use, why did he bring it up himself? pretending something didn't happen and focusing on the fact that it's in the past are two different things. you're not making sense. criminal scrutiny? oh, oh, wait now i see. when you say phil should sound more like a actual democrat, you mean he should sound more like a whiny finger pointing twat. gotcha
Wamp's cocaine addiction was an issue in his first campaign for Congress. It's smart for him to talk about it now. He's inoculating himself against attacks should he run for governor. But he hasn't shied away from talking about it in the past, either. To be fair, he has worked in Congress for more federal money for drug treatment programs.
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n614/a08.html?397
I'm not a Bredesen fan by any means. But I think Bredesen says these things not because he is secretely a Republican, but because he doesn't think or consult with his advisors before he spouts off. I mean, like when he told Obama to stay away from TN. It was not because he didn't support him, because I think he probably did, but because he knew Obama wouldn't win here. But he doesn't know how to say these things in a smart or diplomatic way, so it sounds like some southern governor (forget he's a New Yorker) telling the "yankee" to stay away from these parts. Of course, had he consulted with his advisors (and he may have and they might not be that smart)they would have told him that spending a little time or money here might help down-ballet candidates. How Bredesen got as far as he has in his political career is bewildering to say the least. But I don't find Tennesseans to be the most politically astute people either, especially since the governorship is Bill Frist's for the taking. And he'll be just like Bredesen, sleeping through his entire term in office but still getting reelected in a landslide.
