A spokester for Sen. John Ensign's campaign answers Jack Carter's complaint, i.e., that Ensign votes with Bush 96 percent of the time and more frequently than Tom DeLay, by noting that the Republican senator has opposed his Republican president on two whole issues: the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump, and the distribution of revenues from the sale of public lands in Nevada. "Those two things alone should speak volumes," the Ensign spokester says.
Well, volumes might be a bit much. Perhaps pamphlets. Or mailers. Or sound bites.
"Yucca Mountain" of course are the first words out of any and every Nevada Republican's mouth when asked where and how they're not in lock-step obedience to their D.C. masters. And we're glad to see the Ensign campaign bring it up. For one thing, nobody, which is to say not anybody, views opposition to Yucca Mountain as a serious sign of Republican political independence. Being against Yucca Mountain is mandatory in Nevada, and everybody knows it. Toss the public's pronounced Yucca fatigue into the mix, and voters are sure to see Ensign's big example of independence from the Bush administration for what it truly is: cheap talk.
Besides, if Ensign insists on injecting Yucca Mountain into the discussion, he's got some 'splaining to do. He won his Senate seat in 2000 arguing that as a Republican, he would be able to persuade other Senate Republicans to oppose Yucca. He failed. As the Washington Post reported after the 2002 Senate vote designating Yucca Mountain as the nuke dump, Ensign "earned no votes beyond those of the two Republican senators who supported him from the outset, Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island." Talk about speaking volumes.
The Ensign campaign, it should be noted, did not contest Carter's claim that Ensign votes with the White House 96 percent of the time. That's because it's true. We haven't seen a breakdown for Ensign's 2005 votes. But the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, working from an analysis conducted by Congressional Quarterly, reported last fall that in his first year of the Senate, 2001, Ensign voted with the White House 96 percent of the time. Ensign evolved, or devolved, rather, into even more of a Stepford senator after that; he voted with the Bush administration 97 percent of the time in 2002, 98 percent of the time in 2003 and a full-on robotic 100 percent of the time in 2004.
The difference between himself and Ensign, Carter said this week, is that Ensign works for Bush and Carter will work for Nevada. Ensign's knee-jerk obedience to the Bush administration is an undeniable, quantifiable fact, and one that can't be glossed over with limp references to Yucca Mountain. So Ensign has a couple of options. He can proudly embrace his 96 percent support of the administration, and firmly align himself with Iraq policy, Scooter, the Medicare prescription fiasco, crony-laden incompetence, the culture of corruption, massive budget deficits and all the rest. Or, more likely, Ensign can spend jillions trying to change the subject.
Ensign's "volumes' can be put on the back of a picture postcard and still have room for "Wish You Were Here!" If Ensign is so effective on the Yucca Mountain issue, explain why the Bush Budget proposal increases Yucca spending by $100 million over what Congress approved last year(editorial Sun 2/7/06).
Where was he on the cuts to student loans, medicaid, the Medicare Destruction Act of 2003, VA cuts, body armor, etc. and the current budget proposal to wipe out social programs for the benefit of waging war and killing more of our young people in the name of fighting terrorism over there?
Posted by: Diogenes | 02/07/2006 at 08:19 AM
The RGJ poll I see now has Carter ahead of Ensign, 50-42.
While that poll may not be completely "scientific," if Ensign's crew refuses to take it seriously, they are seriously nuts. The incumbent Ensign should be the one with the 50 percent, not Carter.
This is undeniably true, and a significant sign -- Carter has not only got traction by correctly associating the do-nothing junior Senator with the Tom DeLay GOP, he's got a serious chance to beat Ensign!
And he's got plenty of ammo, from a respected American name -- great name ID -- to the Bush fatigue he can hang on Ensign, who's got to be one of the Senators with the least to show for as far as a real record, beyond rubber stamping, like Gibbons in the House.
Get Carter, Nevada!!
Posted by: VegasFirst | 02/07/2006 at 10:59 AM
"Congressional sources said Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove has threatened to blacklist any Republican who votes against the president. The sources said the blacklist would mean a halt in any White House political or financial support of senators running for re-election in November...."
I wonder if that settles the question.
Posted by: Not Bob | 02/07/2006 at 11:05 AM
Seems like the question that might be settled here in the Nevada U.S. Senate race is free thinking and courage versus a Stalinist-like party line opposing all dissent, at the penality of political exile and defeat.
I knows who I wants to win.
Posted by: VegasFirst | 02/07/2006 at 01:32 PM
Why? He is a republican, anyways, I say, eat some spaghetti.
Posted by: Tiffany Ongsiaco | 02/07/2006 at 09:14 PM
Even Ensign's supposed opposition to Yucca Mountain seems pretty fanciful.
When praising the recent State Of The Union, a politician who was against Yucca Mountain would be expected to take issue with Bush's announced support for new Nuclear Power Plants.
New Nuclear Power Plants are a problem until the issue of waste is settled. Adding to that problem would only add to the political pressure to go forward with Yucca despite any Scientific reasons to not move forward.
Posted by: Shrek | 02/08/2006 at 11:37 AM
IT'S SUNDAY! TIME TO GO TO PETS MART! A WHOOPSIE! AN OOPSIE DAISY!!! A WHOOPSIE!
Posted by: Tiffany Ongsiaco | 02/12/2006 at 02:43 PM