Few Democrats are so undeserving of their seat as Congressman Norm Dicks. Here are seven reasons why he should not be reelected.

1.  Elected to the United States House of Representative seventeen times (34 years) he has still yet to secure a chairmanship for himself.  If someone you knew had been working for a company for over thirty-four years and still wasn’t trusted with even a middle-management position, wouldn’t you be a little suspicious of his character, conduct or convictions?

2. In 2003 he voted to authorize the president to use U.S. forces to preemptively invade Iraq.  Although publicly he has subsequently changed his position on the subject - he has continued to vote in favor of bills related to funding the war, even at times by breaking rank with his Democratic colleagues.

3.  Despite a legal background marked by a JD from the University of Washington, Congressman Dicks Voted for the USA Patriot Act.  He also voted for the Military Commission Act that effectively rationalized the suspension of habeas corpus as a tool to fight terrorism (He was one of only 32 House Democrats to vote for this.  The remaining 162 Democratic members of Congress voted NAY on the bill).  It remains uncertain as to whether or not US citizens – in addition to alien combatants – are also subject to the laws outlined in this bill.

4.  Continues to support free-trade legislation, despite a worsening economy.

5.  Voted for the Bush Bailout, despite countless polls that suggested that the overwhelming majority of both Democrats and Republicans opposed the legislation.

6.  Voted for the FISA Amendment Act of 2008.

7.  Crapped out of his first Melon Interview midway through a radio recording because he suddenly remembered he had “a dentist appointment.” The subject of the interview was veterans suffering from PSTD – a topic which both Elliot Trotter and Peter Braun were shocked to discover that the congressman was unwilling to discuss or knew relatively little about.  This was very disturbing given that Congressman Dicks represents one of the largest military districts in the United States.

These are only a few highlights into the career of one congressman who went too far and was kept for too long. Therefore, I would encourage you all to either vote for the Republican candidate, Doug Cloud, who – if nothing else, is not Norm Dicks and would have opposed the bailout.  If you, as a Democrat, can’t move yourself to vote for a Republican, then write-in Paul Richmond, a fellow Democrat who would have been a vast improvement had he won the primary.  If neither of these options sound palpable to you, then you can write in Harvard West: The Lesser of Three Evils.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 at 7:00 am and is filed under Politics, Politics & Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.