IA-03:  Democrat Wanted, Apply Within

One of our commenters (Tom) beat me to the punch with his comments eariler.

Representative Boswell voted for the end of the Estate Tax, and today he voted for the new bankruptcy law, another gift to big business and the wealthy at the expense of Iowa's middle class, this time to the credit card industry. Sure, these pro-business/anti middle class laws would have been passed solely by the Republican majority, but now the Republicans will say it was a bi-partisan effort. Is Boswell for us or against us?

This was noted by others as well, Steve Soto gives a good list of the 31 House Democrats who voted to side with the GOP majority in both the bankruptcy and permanent estate tax repeal votes.  His comment is dead on:

I fail to see how 31 House Democrats voted yesterday to abolish an estate tax on the wealthiest families in the country that will add $1 trillion in debt next decade at a time when we are fending off GOP claims that there isn’t enough money for Social Security, and then come back today and vote against consumers and in favor of MBNA and the ABA for the bankruptcy bill.

John Edwards also weighed in on the issue.  His post is worth reading.

My open note to Rep. Boswell: 

If these were the type of votes I wanted to see on this legislation, I would have voted for Stan Thompson.

I don't know if this is a political tactic or whatnot, but one thing is pretty clear:  this isn't going to win over the people who were throwing garbage at you in West Des Moines, and these aren't the people that supported you in close elections over the past two cycles.

These bills reach beyond "reforming a broken system" and begin hurting real people who are struggling with the ever increasing economic risks that are being piled on their shoulders.

We have priorities, and we have an agenda.  It's time to take a stand on them - that's why we cast a ballot for 'Boswell'.