With CAFTA passed, we're sure to catch Bin Laden

One of the Republicans who held out against last-night's CAFTA vote arm-twisting was Butch Otter of Idaho. Otter helpfully described to the Boston Globe how Delay and Co. pulled off the vote.

Representative C.L. ''Butch" Otter, Republican of Idaho, said GOP leaders promised pork-barrel spending and future legislation to undecided members, with a massive highway spending bill scheduled to be completed this week as a prime location for pet projects. Otter said he opposed CAFTA, despite personal lobbying from Bush at the White House.

''They're pulling out all the stops," Otter said. ''They're either promising or threatening. They've done everything they could."

This of course is reminiscent of when Delay extended the vote on the Pharma-friendly Medicare prescription bill in 1993 2003. In that instance, too, Republican dissenters were cajoled with threats as well as pork.

Hopefully, Otter and some of the other Republicans who saw defeat snatched from the jaws of victory will come forth with specific examples of how their wavering colleagues were bribed, bought or scared into voting with Delay/Bush to ship even more jobs out of the country while imposing corporate influence on developing nations.

Meantime, when Bush went to the Hill yesterday fishing for votes, he described the CAFTA vote in national security terms. Apparently, if we don't allow pharmaceutical companies to choke off the supply of low-cost generic drugs to low-income residents of less developed nations, the terrorists have won.

UPDATE (BEMUSED CABLE ANCHOR EDITION): CNN's Lou Dobbs' jihad against trade agreements suffers from a tinge of xenophobia, but today with his quote of the day he nailed this poor bastard.

"Every time I drive through Kannapolis and I see those empty plants I know there is no way I could vote for CAFTA."
July 14, 2005
Rep. Robin Hayes, R-North Carolina
*Hayes voted for CAFTA

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