(CNN) -- A freshman Democratic senator said Sunday that he will support his party's efforts to pass health care reform legislation even if that means losing his seat in next year's midterm elections.Many of us are hoping that's precisely what happens. Obviously he's not one of us.
"If you get to the final point and you are a critical vote for health care reform and every piece of evidence tells you if you support the bill you will lose your job, would you cast the vote and lose your job?" CNN's John King asked Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado on Sunday's State of the Union. "Yes," Bennet bluntly and simply replied.
But we know that's not precisely what happens. What actually happens is that he casts his vote in the teeth of the opposition of his constituents. Then when campaign time comes he waffles and denies or qualifies what he actually did. His campaign literature doesn't say he voted for a health care plan that'll gobble up fully 1/12 of the nation's GDP, only that he "led the fight for health care" so that "every American child will be covered." If he's lucky, by the time the professional handlers are done spinning it the voters will be dizzy enough that he'll come through with 50.01 percent of the vote after the unions help out in the recount.
Bennet was appointed by Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter to replace Sen. Ken Salazar, who stepped down from the Senate to serve as President Obama's Interior Secretary. Bennet, who was superintendent of the Denver public school system prior to his appointment, will have to seek election to the seat for the first time in 2010.
I see. Colorado's version of Roland Burris.