Esse Quam Videri
For those of you who are transplants to the Old North State, that is our state motto. When translated from the Latin it reads: To Be, Rather Than Seem. This phrase would tend to trip up most politicians. But an interesting thing appears to be happening with a couple of North Carolina’s members of Congress. Democrats Heath Shuler (NC-11) and Mike McIntyre (NC-07) have developed a bit of a reputation by voting against their party on a couple of social issues. Carolina Politics Online has the story.
The latest vote was an amendment by Conservative leader Mike Pence (R-Indiana) to defund the tax dollars to Planned Parenthood. By a vote of 183 to 247, the Pence Amendment to H.R. 3293 failed. All Republican House members from North Carolina voted in favor of the amendment.
Shuler and McIntyre have been making it a point to speak and vote conservatively and have been joined in the past by Rep. Larry Kissell (NC- 08). Recent clues of the Blue Dog tendency include a rather testy letter on guns to Obama’s Attorney General and a vote on self defense on certain federal land.
Now, you could argue that the Blue Dogs only flex there collective muscle when the their vote is insignificant to the outcome (as is the case with the Pence amendment). But the counter arguement would include the prevoisly mentioned gun vote as well as the current conflict over government ruined healthcare.
It is really up to the voters of the 11th, 7th and maybe 8th districts to decide if their Congressmen are “being” or “seeming.”
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