July 16th, 2008
“I voted for the fastest way to kill this bill,” U.S. Congressman Don Manzullo told me just now. He wanted to make absolutely sure that I — and you — understood that he was NOT voting for impeaching President George W. Bush. And, I promised him I would make that clear.
This is, said Don in a call to me at home, a complicated process and, while there are at least two ways to get that bill killed, voting “yes” was the fastest way to do so. As I told the Congressman, my earlier blog post was not a comment on impeaching Bush, but, instead a reflection on the Congressman’s strong Constitutional foundations. He accepted that, and in turn, I wanted to make sure you understood as well.
One of the complicated pros and cons of Web work — and especially with a short post meant only to comment on a single issue — is that the post can be seriously misleading and then it can take on a life of its own. I apologize for a post that out of context could be and probably was misread as my saying Manzullo voted to impeach the president. He did not. Period.
I heard from our newsroom editors that Register Star political editor Chuck Sweeny is talking with Don and will have a more detailed explainer of the vote and what it means in tomorrow’s newspaper. Knowing Chuck’s ability to take complicated subjects and make them understandable, his piece will be one of the first I read tomorrow. I suggest you join me.
July 16th, 2008
Years ago when I first met then-candidate, now Congressman Don Manzullo, I was pretty sure there’d be disagreements. Don’s a lot more conservative than I am on social issues, although we’ve been in sync over the decade-plus on many of the economic issues. And, then we started talking about the Constitution. Don made it clear then, and he has been consistent since that he’s going to defend the Constitution — and there are times when doing so makes him appear to be a rip-snorting leftwinger. I knew then that there’d be times when Don would vote his head and heart and not his politics. He did that this week when he broke with the Republicans and became one of a handful of GOPers to support Dennis Kucinich’s impeachment bill.
That’s Don Manzullo paying more attention to protecting the Constitution than playing politics. I admire him for that. He’s done it before, several times, but the one I believe is among his best moments is when he told the editorial board shortly after voting for the then-brand-new Patriot’s Act that he would never do so again because he feared what its implementation would do to the fundamental rights of the U.S. Constitution.
As this impeachment bill story plays out, there will be those who will talk the politics of Republicans supporting a bill that might have implications for the president and vice president. I have no doubt politics plays into it. But, I’m confident Don Manzullo was thinking less about politics and a lot more about protecting your rights, mine and his with a strong Constitution. Thanks, Don.
