The Zombies Are Still Attacking-- And They're A Bipartisan Lot Those Zombies

Republicans and their media would like to make believe that the colossally unpopular Bush never existed. But much of what made him unpopular were his policies-- policies that were routinely and uncritically backed by congressional Republicans. That's where the term "rubber stamp" came from. Today they are proud of their knee-jerk opposition to all the ameliorative efforts from President Obama to fix what Bush and the Republicans broke. That's where the term "obstructionist Republican" comes from.

During the Bush years very few Republicans veered from their party's increasingly right-wing dogma. Most Republicans stuck with the party line over 95% of the time, with no regard whatsoever to the interests of their constituents. Going into the 2010 elections, they want to be judged as individuals but when they vote like a flock of sheep, do they have that right? There are 30 members of the House who voted at least 98% of the time with their party. These are the automatons with no capacity for individual leadership.

Trent Franks (R-AZ- 98%)
John Shadegg (R-AZ- 98%)
Doug Lamborn (R-CO- 99%)
Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA- 98%)
Tom Price (R-GA- 98%)
John Linder (R-GA- 98%)
Nathan Deal (R-GA- 98%)
Phil Gingrey (R-GA- 98%)
Mike Pence (R-IN- 98%)
Steve King (R-IA- 98%)
Steve Scalise (R-LA- 99%)
Todd Akin (R-MO- 98%)
Roy Blunt (R-MO- 98%)
Adrian Smith (R-NE- 98%)
Virginia Foxx (R-NC- 98%)
Sue Myrick (R-NC- 98%)
Patrick McHenry (R-NC- 99%)
Jim Jordan (R-OH- 98%)
Bob Latta (R-OH- 99%)
John Boehner (R-OH- 98%)
John Sullivan (R-OK-98%)
Joe Wilson (R-SC- 98%)
Gresham Barrett (R-SC- 98%)
David Davis (R-TN- 99%)
Marsha Blackburn (R-TN- 99%)
Sam Johnson (R-TX- 98%)
Jeb Hensarling (R-TX- 98%)
Randy Neugebauer (R-TX- 98%)
Pete Sessions (R-TX- 99%)
Eric Cantor (R-VA- 98%)

That's pretty much the worst of the House. In the Senate we've lowered the bar slightly (97%) to find that there were 9 uncritical thinkers who just wrote Bush and Cheney a blank check. The worst of that chamber:

John Barrasso (R-WY- 98%)
Jim Bunning (R-KY- 97%)
John Cornyn (R-TX- 97%)
Jim DeMint (R-SC- 98%)
Jim Inhofe (R-OK- 97%)
Johnny Isakson (R-GA- 97%)
Jon Kyl (R-AZ- 97%)
Mitch McConnell (R-KY- 97%)
David Diapers Vitter (R-LA- 97%)

None of these members of Congress can run away from the Bush record and the Bush disasters at home and abroad-- because they share in them equally with Bush and with Cheney. But what about on the Democratic side? How bad was the collaboration? Don't look for any new names on these two lists; they're all the regular suspects who take immense amounts of legalized corporate bribes and then cross the aisle and vote with the GOP on the important, substantive issues. In the House there were 21 who were bad enough-- judging by their Bush-support scores-- so that Democratic voters shouldn't support their re-election efforts:

John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA- 35%)
Melissa Bean (Blue Dog-IL- 32%)
Sanford Bishop (Blue Dog-GA- 35%)
Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK- 48%)
Allen Boyd (Blue Dog-FL- 37%)
Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX- 36%)
Lincoln Davis (Blue Dog-TN- 42%)
Chet Edwards (D-TX- 35%)
Tim Holden (Blue Dog-PA- 36%)
Jim Marshall (Blue Dog-GA- 46%)
Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT- 41%)
Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC- 40%)
Charlie Melancon (Blue Dog-LA- 36%)
John Murtha (D-PA- 32%)
Solomon Ortiz (D-TX- 35%)
Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN- 38%)
Earl Pomeroy (Blue Dog-ND- 33%)
Mike Ross (Blue Dog-AR- 34%)
Ike Skelton (D-MO- 42%)
John Tanner (Blue Dog-TN- 37%)
Gene Taylor (Blue Dog-MS- 38%)

And in the Senate the Democratic support for Bush was even worse: 8 of them supported Bush over 55% of the time:

Max Baucus (DLC-MT- 56%)
Evan Bayh (DLC-IN- 57%)
Tom Carper (DLC-DE- 58%)
Mary Landrieu (DLC-LA- 63%)
Joe Lieberman (I/DLC-CT- 59%)
Blanche Lincoln (DLC-AR- 61%)
Ben Nelson (DLC-NE- 71%)
Mark Pryor (DLC-AR- 56%)

They own the failures of the past and, ironically, all of the names on these lists are working to hamper the solutions that American voters were looking for when they elected Obama president. If you want to know, for example, why this country still doesn't have universal health care, look no further than the list above-- and then cross-check it with the legalized bribes each of them gets from the medical-industrial complex.