The emails from Saturday night’s votes are flowing into my inbox. Most of them are congratulatory ones – for Congressman Bobby Scott (D-3rd), Congressman Tom Perriello (D-5th), Congressman Jim Moran (D-8th) and Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-11th) – thanking them for their support of healthcare reform.
Some of them are critical of my representative, Congressman Glenn Nye (D-2nd), who voted against the reform. In an email to constituents before Saturday’s vote, Nye informed us of his intention to vote no and his reasons for it. (An expanded version of the email can be viewed here.) At the end of the day, Nye voted against the bill because it wasn’t the “right” bill.
To quote one of my Twitter buds: “don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”
If I weren’t facing a 32% increase in my own health insurance premiums, if others weren’t facing similar increases, then maybe waiting for a perfect bill would be the answer. But it isn’t.
I understand that Nye is in a tough district. But so is Rep. Perriello, who voted for the bill. The contrasts between these two couldn’t be more stark. Perriello held numerous town hall meetings – I believe he held more meetings than anyone else – on health care while Nye held small meetings, generally in front of selected audiences. Both men may very well be one-termers, but for different reasons. Perriello is likely to suffer the backlash from his Republican constituents, but his Democratic supporters are energized enough to make the vote a close one.
Nye, on the other hand, may have just cast the vote that was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. The enthusiasm gap that we witnessed last week is very likely to continue in 2010 in the 2nd CD. While Nye has been pandering to conservative voters (and putting a quote from the president of the NFIB on your website is serious pandering), he hasn’t as much as thrown a bone to his Democratic supporters – you know, the folks who were out there campaigning on his behalf – knocking the doors and making the phone calls. His answer that he votes with the Democrats X% of the time rings hollow: on the issues that matters, such as health care, he doesn’t.
Would we have been any worse off with Thelma Drake as our representative? Probably not. And this is probably the biggest point that Nye misses: we voted for change, not more of the same. I knew, the first time I heard him debate Drake, that this wasn’t the guy to bring change. At that debate, which was hosted by the Central Business District Association of Virginia Beach and, unfortunately, the only one I didn’t videotape, I heard the people behind me whispering that he agreed with nearly everything Drake said. And he did, disagreeing with her only on Iraq. I recall being less than amused to hear him say that he didn’t believe we should roll back the Bush tax cuts.
Nye got elected by riding a wave of anti-incumbent fervor. The same will not be true in 2010. Most of those Republicans he’s pandering to are going back home. Despite all of their kudos to Nye for his votes, they will be casting their votes for the Republican candidate, likely Scott Rigell. They, like us, are obsessed with the number of party members, not whether those members embrace the party platform.
No wonder so many voters stay at home. Look at the choices we get.
I find it interesting that it was only after the New York congressional seat was picked up, and the abortion compromise was reached (thus enough other votes were gathered) that Nye suddenly decided how he was going to vote.
Posted by Brian Kirwin | Monday, November 9, 2009, 8:51 amI think he planned to vote no all along. He just delayed announcing it.
Posted by vjp | Monday, November 9, 2009, 8:55 amI think he wanted to vote no all along, and the delay wasn’t his choice. Just my opinion.
Posted by Brian Kirwin | Monday, November 9, 2009, 9:38 amVivian, I agree with your analysis. In 2010, when voters in the 2nd Congressional District are given the choice between a strong Republican candidate like Scott Rigell and a Democratic Party candidate who votes like a Republican on issues that truly matter, the voters won’t settle for “Republican Light” when they can get the “Real Thing”.
Posted by Louis Eisenberg | Monday, November 9, 2009, 9:32 amGee, The way y’all talk, it’s a wonder how Owen Pickett remained in office until he decided to retire. I think Nye is calling shots by the same playbook.
Posted by Wally Erb | Monday, November 9, 2009, 9:54 amI think your right, you need a more liberal candidate to run for the seat. That will assure a win. For who?
Posted by Wally Erb | Monday, November 9, 2009, 9:56 amExcept that the 2nd CD no longer looks like it did when Pickett was in office. The district is much more Republican now. Nye following the Pickett playbook is suicide.
Posted by vjp | Monday, November 9, 2009, 10:38 amOn the contrary, Vivian. The 2nd and 4th on the last redistricting was made more Democratic friendly at the sacrifice of the 4th and the 1st.
“CD #2 (Green) – “The GOP was too clever by half in it’s 2001 redistricting scheme. Because of demographic and political changes both district 2 and district 4 became politically competitive and were won by Obama in the 2008 election.”
Posted by Wally Erb | Monday, November 9, 2009, 11:50 amWe’ll have to agree to disagree on this one. You cannot compare the 2008 results to anything. That was a once-in-a-lifetime election. Look at the results for any other election and you’ll see what I mean.
Nye will be the top of the ticket in 2010.
Posted by vjp | Monday, November 9, 2009, 11:55 amVivian is correct; in the 2000 redistricting, VA-02 lost several heavily-black precincts in Norfolk (such as Brambleton, Campostella and Berkley), and gained the Republican parts of Hampton and the Eastern Shore instead.
Posted by Johnny Longtorso | Monday, November 9, 2009, 8:07 pmLou and Vivian,
I believe you all jump to quickly to annoint Scott Rigell as the Republican nominee. Although you might like having a Republican that the base wouldn’t vote for this time either. Why vote for a Republican that supported Obama for Presidnet when you can just have a Democrat.
I make no bones about it. I support Ben Loyola for the 2nd Congressional District. A great patriot that fought in combat, a great American and a true conservative.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Posted by John Hart | Monday, November 9, 2009, 4:06 pmDoesn’t really matter whether it is Rigell or Loyola. Republicans will support the nominee.
Or are you saying that you would vote for Nye over Rigell?
Posted by vjp | Monday, November 9, 2009, 4:24 pmThank God there are still a very Democrats who understand what America is about.
Posted by Anon E. Mouse | Monday, November 9, 2009, 9:34 amSorry, should have been “very few Democrats.” (My defense is that I am being hit by a trifecta of allergies: Mondays, mornings, and work.)
Posted by Anon E. Mouse | Monday, November 9, 2009, 9:50 amNye is in much worse shape than Perriello. For all the talk about how Republican the 5th is, let’s remember that the ONLY Republican who’s won that seat in recent years was Virgil Goode, who first won it as a Democrat.
Posted by Steve Vaughan | Monday, November 9, 2009, 10:37 amI hate it when I agree with Brian Kirwin.
Posted by spotter | Monday, November 9, 2009, 11:22 amThat would scare the heck out of me if I were you
Posted by Brian Kirwin | Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 7:52 amThe wages of doing the right thing are being paid today by my congressman, Tom Perriello.
Why he deserves a teabag party at every office is still mystifying to me. However, I will be at the Farmville ‘party’.
Posted by Mark Brooks | Monday, November 9, 2009, 12:44 pmIf the Tea party turnout in Farmville reflects how the votes will be Tom Perriello better start looking for a new job now.Don’t recall seeing you there Mark.
Posted by dave | Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 10:03 pmSince you are commenting anonymously, I wouldn’t know either.
I was the obnoxious one ‘discussing’ a few things with Tucker Watkins. Such as whether he agreed with the display of a photo from Dachau prison camp showing hundreds of dead bodies.
His response was first to ask if I had ever been to Dachau. I told him no, I hadn’t.
Then he waved his arms and yelled at me saying President Bush had been called a Nazi. I don’t know why that would be germane, but I told him I didn’t call him one.
He said I most certainly had, to which I asked if he had read every blog post and comment in the last 5 years that I authored.
He only had a wave of his hand and a ‘harumph’, muttering something about blogs.
So, sure, identify yourself. I saw one person I knew from Cumberland County, Joe Topham, Perriello’s representative in Farmville, and the aforementioned purple heart band aid wearing Tucker Watkins.
Of course, he left his purple heart band aids at home that night, saying that ‘this isn’t a purple heart meeting, er, election.”
Posted by Mark Brooks | Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 10:25 pmMark Brooks remember next year this time that Dave Williams told you Tom Perriello would lose.
Posted by dave | Thursday, November 12, 2009, 8:49 pmWell-said, Vivian. My own, cruder commentary is that with a Republican, at least I know I’m getting stabbed upfront, whereas with Nye I’m getting stabbed in the back over and over.
Posted by Johnny Longtorso | Monday, November 9, 2009, 7:54 pmThere appears to be a plague upon some democrats to turn their backs on the party. Joe Frank, Nye, Ward Armstrong, and the list grows longer and longer. People who claim to be democrats but support republicans and republican causes. I would seem that the people who have been saying, “there isn’t a spits worth of difference between the two parties” are becoming prophets. Joe Frank supported Phil Hamilton in both words and cash. Ward Armstrong made a deal to not fund an opponent of Glenn Oder, and kept that promise. Nye would be more comfortable caucusing with republicans. The lines between the parties are getting blurred and the only people who lose are the voters and taxpayers. No matter who you vote for you get manure!
Posted by T.W. Bonsac | Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 5:51 amYes, isn’t it horrible how some Democrats actually vote to uphold the Constitution instead of the Party?
Posted by Anon E. Mouse | Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 9:04 amGee, somehow I thought it was about representing the district constituency and not the speaker of the House. If it is about Republican or Democrat, who represents the Independents? Maybe they don’t matter in getting elected, huh?
Posted by Wally Erb | Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 10:14 amThe deal Armstrong made was similar no doubt to the deal he made not to fund Connie Brennan, running against good ol’ boy Watkins Abbitt of the 59th.
Yeah, he’s some Democrat.
Posted by Mark Brooks | Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 10:27 pmHe also told Dave Guill he would get $250,000 for a HOD race from the DNC and Guill took his word for it. Until the money never came and he dropped out.
Posted by dave | Thursday, November 12, 2009, 8:56 pmYeah, but if the vote was tied, and Nye had to vote, I doubt he’d vote the way he did.
Posted by Brian Kirwin | Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 9:26 amI think that if Dems continue their quest for party purity, then we will not be i nthe majority for long. Thats the the advantage we have over Repubs is that we have a broad spectrum of political beliefs in the Dem party. I think if Nye would have voted yes on both things, he would probably lose this upcoming election. The district’s political beliefs are reflected well in Nye. The less things that the Repubs can attack him on, the better shape he is in. Scott Rigell will be a strong challenger. But I’m sure that Nye will be able to pull this one out.
Posted by Scott Cohen | Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 10:37 amIf this were the first time that Nye voted against the party, I might agree with you. But it’s not. This is the third major issue – the budget and ACES being the other two – that Nye has voted against the party.
If it’s only about winning elections, then why do we even need two parties, if the result is the same?
Posted by vjp | Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 11:08 amScott: Good point. But it seems that the strongly progressive wing of the Democratic Party, particularly as reflected in the Netroots is adopting the same behavior as the strongly conservative wing of the Republican party, which is constantly trying to run people out of the party as RINOs. I’ve seen a lot of this across the blogosphere in the post-mortem of the statewide loss.
Posted by Steve Vaughan | Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 11:07 am