Read the link for the latest from New Orleans’ ignorant (not to mention unethical, although that doesn’t come into play here) new congressman, who replaced the earnest, honest, moderate Joseph Cao. Yes, he actually said this: “For far too long, we’ve let companies dictate their decisions based on a bottom line, what they’re going to give back to their shareholders, their boards of directors. That’s not what this country was founded on.”

Nobody like this should be within sniffing distance of Congress, much less barroom brawling distance.

It raises this point for all the purer-than-thou conservative ideologues out there who treat moderate Republicans like the enemy rather than like a sometime friend: A vote with you half the time is better than no votes with you at all. Integrity is always better than lack of integrity. Partial understanding is better than ignorance.

Joseph Cao, the one-term Republican congressman from a 70% Democratic district, was a miracle. Conservative ideologues (which is a contradiction in terms, because no true conservative is an ideologue) spent too much time treating him like a pariah instead, because he wouldn’t toe the line 100% of the time.

Now this is what we get instead. Just by spouting his tommyrot in public, Rep. Cedric Richmons makes it all the harder for an ill-informed populace to understand the real ideals of the U.S.A. This sort of thing is horrible for the public weal.

This is not to say that Cao would have won re-election if conservatives treated him better. Probably not. But we’ll never know for sure. And what we do know is that conservatives did not appreciate him, nor nurture him, nor help him develop. What a waste.