Quin, I understand your point and agree with it as far as it
goes. Rep. Cao certainly has an obligation to represent his
constituents and he also must follow his conscience on taxpayer
funding of abortion. This vote, as long as the Stupak Amendment
remains intact, allows him do both. But conservative criticism of
Cao is understandable too. As long as Republicans are in the
minority and have little leverage in the House, there are only a
few issues where they (combined with moderate Democrats)
potentially have the votes to do some good: health care, card
check, cap and trade, some abortion financing issues. As I said
during the Dede Scozzafava kerfuffle, the fewer of those issues a
Republican is any good on the less point there is for
conservatives to support them, however admirable their personal
qualities may be.
