Serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis. © James Conner.
Rep. Steve Daines and 86 of the House’s 232 Republicans voted late yesterday to end the Republican precipitated government shutdown and to raise the debt ceiling. Why did vote Aye? Did he come to Jesus and try to start atoning for his sins? Or did his sense of political self-preservation persuade him to deviate from the political principles that caused him to join Boehner’s insurrection in the first place?
I’d like to believe he finally came to Jesus, but I think his vote was cast out of fear that Montana’s voters would not react well if he took another step down the Shutdown Trail. His conversion came not from conviction but from a sudden vision, shaped by opinion polls, of himself on his political deathbed.
Regardless of his motives, should his vote cause his political sins be forgiven? Should Montana’s voters give him a second chance? No. Even if he was scared straight this time, I think he’s a recidivist at heart who again will fall in step with the economic Cruzafictionists in his party. Therefore, Montanans should not forgive, not forget, and not vote for him again.