OBAMA IS FISHING FOR VOTES

And undermining the integrity of the ballot box at the same time!

With a hat tip to Brooke of PaleoCon Command Center:

BARNEY FRANK'S MISTAKE

STOP THE PRESSES! POLITICIAN ADMITS MISTAKE!

According to this December 22, 2007 item in the "Religion" section of the Washington Post, Barney Frank regrets two of the votes he recently cast:

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) says he was wrong to vote different ways on House resolutions recognizing Christmas and Ramadan.

Instead of voting for the Muslim holiday and abstaining on the Christian one, Representative Frank says he should have abstained on Ramadan as well....

In my experience, politicians don't make such admissions unless constituents have applied some pressure. Of course, it is possible that Representative Frank realized all on his own that his differing votes evidenced a double standard.

Why do I have doubts about his revised view, just in time for Christmas? I've become highly skeptical about the integrity of all politicians — the result of my observing politicians' ambivalence and their lack of integrity as they jockey for power and votes.

Returning now to the remainder of the item in the Washington Post, Representative Frank further explained about his change of mind:

Frank says he's Jewish and doesn't observe either holiday, but adds that he wouldn't support a Yom Kippur resolution, either. He says Congress should stay out of religious matters and let Americans worship as they wish. In the future, Frank says he'll abstain on all such resolutions.

I've never quite understood why politicians abstain from voting — unless, of course, they aren't educated enough about a certain matter to vote responsibly. Isn't our elected representatives' job on Capitol Hill to make decisions?

Why do politicians abstain from a vote, anyway?

Obama Is Silent

That is a truly novel approach to politics. Except when it comes to Obama's friend Antoin "Tony'' Rezko. Tony is a high powered developer of slum property with friends in City Hall.

Well you know how it is in Chicago politics. Sometimes silence is better than an insurance policy. A life insurance policy. Which only pays off after you are dead.

For five long weeks, Sun-Times' investigative reporter Tim Novak called, e-mailed, requested, practically pleaded with Obama's press people to provide information about the senator's relationship to Rezko when it came to the development of low-income housing in Chicago. In an abundance of fairness and an excess of solicitousness, Novak sent a list of questions.

For five weeks, no answer.

I have a lot more on the Obama/Rezko connection and how Rezko the slum lord (on Chicago's dime) destroyed the housing stock in poor neighborhoods at city and Federal expense at Power and Control.