Everybody knows that the only way to find out who your true friends are is by noting who stands by you when you are down and out. Political principles work the same way. If you are prepared to throw them out the window when times are tough, then you never really held them in the first place. Principles are intended especially to guide our behavior in difficult circumstances. If they don’t do so, then our proclaimed principles stand revealed as having been nothing but rhetoric in the worst sense of the word.
A rising star in the conservative ranks has been Republican congressman Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan. His reaction to the no vote in the Senate last week:
“With the legislative opportunities now exhausted, I urge the president of the United States to immediately release Wall Street TARP funds to the domestic automakers to avoid their impending bankruptcy and its consequent devastation of working families and the depression of our American economy.”
A look at Congressman McCotter's money tree sheds some light on his rather liberal stance.
Chrysler Service Contracts, Inc., Political Support Committee, $14,000; Dealers Election Action Committee of the National Automotive Dealers Association, $32,500; Ford Motor Company Action Fund, $22,100; General Motors Corp. Political Action Committee $26,250.
$94,850 in total. Not bad for a few phone calls and a little after hours shmoozing. All of which brings up another conservative truism: The more things change, the more they stay the same.
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