What's To Be Said About Mark Warner?

According to Amy Gardner, Washington Post reporter, Virginia Senator Mark Warner's first year in office was a waste of time (he "has found himself mainly on the sidelines"), but he's doing his best to pull his liberal Democrat colleagues back toward the "center" of American politics.

Say what?

See "Senator Warner grapples with freshman status."

This is standard pablum that the Post has put out there about our "hugely popular former governor" even in the days when he wasn't all that popular.  Warner's a centrist pulled to the left only because of circumstances.  It's not his fault.

In the day, as governor, Warner raised taxes and mushroomed spending.  But it wasn't his fault.  He was forced to do it.  Don't blame him.  Circumstances.  Circumstances.

Now, as senator, Warner:

• Voted for the government takeover of the American health care system, but felt bad about doing it.

• Voted in favor of that $446 billion omnibus spending bill a few weeks ago, money that the government doesn't have, an expenditure that goes right into the exploding national debt, within which there were 5,224 pet earmarks.  But Warner's arm was twisted; he had no choice.


• Voted to raise the nation's debt ceiling to a staggering $12,000,000,000,000.  But felt bad about doing it.

• Voted in favor of extending federal health care welfare to the middle class.  But, shoot, he had no other choice.  Necessity called.

•  Voted to make Washington D.C. a de facto state and give its residents voting privileges specifically denied them in the Constitution.  But, hey, it was only fair.

• Voted against requiring reinforced border fencing to keep illegal activity from occurring along our southern borders.  But that was a Bush idea, so ...

• Voted, in fact, in favor of every Obama appropriations bill that has been set before him, despite the fact that the country is broke, the deficit has soared, and the passage of each risks the complete collapse of the dollar and the onset of inflation the likes of which this country has never seen before.

The devil, according to the Post reporter, has made him do all of it:

Warner entered the Senate in January with big plans to show Democrats a middle path, taking to the national stage the blend of fiscal conservatism and business know-how that had helped him win over Virginia independents and Republicans. But the freshman senator has found himself mainly on the sidelines as Congress and President Obama have pushed health-care reform, spending and energy measures without much attention to creating a center-based coalition.

Pay no attention to what he does.  Look only at what he says he wants to - but has failed to - do. Look at his words, not his deeds.

For the love of God.

Thus far, this chicanery has worked.

Not a bad ploy if you can get away with it.