If he has any shred of integrity remaining, Tom Carper will have no choice but to oppose a filibuster of health insurance reform, even if it contains a robust public option.
Why? Because that has been his position on other key votes, even those that he allegedly opposes. Take his vote on Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. Please:
From the Booman Tribune:
When Samuel Alito was confirmed, only four Democrats voted for him (Tim Johnson of South Dakota, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, and Robert Byrd of West Virginia). However, the real vote was to invoke cloture. On that vote, the Democrats were much more generous. The following Democrats (in addition to the previous four) voted for cloture: Daniel Akaka of Hawaii, Max Baucus of Montana, Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, Maria Cantwell of Washington, Tom Carper of Delaware, Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Bill Nelson of Florida, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, and Ken Salazar of Colorado.
Progressives were furious with all of these Democrats who voted for cloture because they allowed Alito to be confirmed with less than 60 votes (he got 58 votes).
Note some of the other names on that list of infamy: Baucus, Lincoln, Landrieu, both Nelsons, Loserman, et al. But, OK, fair enough. The ‘adults’ insisted on an ‘up-or-down vote’.
However, if Carper now votes against cloture and effectively denies Americans a public insurance option when he supported cloture that led to a right-wing Court for likely a decade or more, then he will have demonstrated a moral bankruptcy in diametric, but hardly coincidental, opposition to his healthy campaign coffers.
We know he is morally and ethically bankrupt. His career proves it. Whether he’s willing to lay it all out there for everyone to see is another story.
Memo to Carper’s ‘Spokesman’: Can Tommy come out and answer questions on his own? Please? We can prepare them in advance if he’d like.
And with that, a challenge to DL readers: What questions do you want Tom Carper to answer? We will compile them. Keep them respectful and respectable, but don’t hesitate to ask pointed questions as he’s earned them. We will then do our best to seek answers from Delaware’s Most Famous Self-Styled Adult. And, of course, to keep you posted on our progress or lack of progress.