OK, Let's Get To The Bottom Of L'Affaire James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010

Take a look at the now famous-- and lionized-- Anthony Weiner outburst on the House floor yesterday and then let me start this conversation in the most benign possible way. Although I got at least two dozen formal campaign e-mails about this today, including from Weiner's reelection campaign-- the best one came from Bill Hedrick:

On Thursday, Congressman Ken Calvert, representing residents in Riverside an Orange counties, cast a vote against providing health coverage for the heroes of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

With most other Republicans, Calvert voted against the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010, which focused on 9/11 first responders, such as police, paramedics and firefighters. The bill would have ensured health care for those that fell ill from the toxic dust and debris from the falling World Trade Center towers and would have been paid for by closing tax loopholes on foreign businesses operating in the United States.

"This is just another typical example of Congressman Calvert placing the demands of his party bosses before the needs of the American people, in this case the heroes of 9/11," said Kristopher Daams, Communications Director for the Bill Hedrick for Congress campaign. "Apparently, providing care for those who responded to the deadliest terrorist attack on our nation's soil is nothing more than a 'massive new entitlement program' to Ken Calvert, but bailing out Wall Street isn't."

House leadership put the bill up for a vote without opportunities for amendments, requiring a special rule requiring a 2/3 vote in support for passage.

Sounds perfectly reasonable, right? It is. Nancy Pelosi went for it too, but that's where I started feeling a little queasy about the whole thing and started thinking about it as a kind of stunt.

Tonight the House considered the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act (HR 847) under suspension of the rules to provide medical monitoring and treatment to responders and survivors of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks. It also reopens the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund to provide monetary compensation for those physically injured by the 9/11 terrorist attacks or by response activities and debris removal... The final vote was 255-159 in support of the bill, short of the 2/3 majority needed for passage under suspension of the rules. 155 Republicans voted against the legislation.

"155 Republicans voted against the legislation" with a total of 159 opposed only means one thing: Democrats crossed the aisle. It turns out, so did some Republicans. In fact-- for all Weiner's and Pelosi's yelping about Republicans-- three times more Republicans (12) crossed the aisle to vote with the Democrats on this, than the shameful 4 conservative Democrats crossing in the other direction to join forces, as they often do, with Boehner and Cantor to oppose it.

So, of course, the culprits are all corrupt ConservaDems on their own ego trips: Melissa Bean (IL), leader of Rahm Emanuel's Chamber of Commerce owned New Dems, and 3 mangy old Blue Dogs, Jim Cooper (TN), Bobby Bright (AL) and Obama-hater Marion Berry (AR), drunk as usual. But Weiner just screamed "Republicans" and so did Pelosi and so are all the Democrats making hay out of this today. And what kind of punishment will be meted out to these Boehner Boys? The same kind that was meted out to Democrats who opposed healthcare reform, or Wall Street reform or who voted against women's Choice or who opposed including gays in Hate Crimes legislation. They wind up on the DCCC Front Line list and are given hundreds of thousands of dollars in TV advertising to trick unsuspecting Democrats in their home districts into thinking they actually vote for the Democratic agenda. If you give one dollar to the DCCC, almost every cent of it will go towards supporting ConservaDems who vote against the reason we elect Democrats in the first place! They just announced they would be doing twenty some odd million dollars in campaign ads for most of the worst "Democratic" members of Congress but managed to leave out Alan Grayson.

So two things: don't give the DCCC any money; donate it to Alan Grayson and other progressives instead. And keep in mind that when the Inside the Beltway crew sets something like this up and gets hysterical about "Republicans," they should really be talking about conservatives-- and that's a bipartisan disease. Don't fall for this crap! The money you give them goes to characters like Bobby Bright who voted with the GOP Weiner and Pelosi were railing against on the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010: