The House of Representatives voted to pass their version of the Health Care bill. The vote was close, 220-215. Of the 220 “Yeah” votes, only one of them was from a Republican congressman; Joseph Cao from Louisiana. Already Republicans are deserting him:
The only Republican in the House to vote for a Democrat-backed health care bill says he has had two fundraisers canceled since Saturday’s vote and some campaign contributors have asked for their money back.
I don’t agree with the Grand Old Party on this one; I think they have it wrong. This is delicate situation for Joseph. The only reason he has the seat is because the incumbent, William Jefferson, was caught with 80k in his freezer. On top of that, the election that resulted in Cao winning the seat was delayed twice due to hurricanes. This meant that the star power of Obama wasn’t on the ballot; many many Democrats just stayed home. And he still only barely won.
Look, the bill didn’t pass because of Joseph, a firm anti-abortion advocate, voted yes. In fact, the bill may have passed because Republicans got their way–they insisted that strong anti-abortion language be inserted in the bill giving cover to the more conservative democrats who may come from pro-life districts. In fact, Cao didn’t even cast his vote until AFTER the 218th vote had already been counted.
This is a case of a Republican trying to stay in office. Hard to blame him.