I'm Pete du Pont with the National Center for Policy Analysis. Set aside the fact Jim Jeffords told Vermont voters he'd be a republican when they sent him to the senate, and then, in effect, renegged on the promise.
What struck me most was Jefford's petulance.
Jeffords is in fact a very liberal democrat, but didn't have the courage to join the democrats. Despite the fact that his defection hands them the senate and earns him a committee chairmanship, he maintains the fiction that he's an "independent." He'll vote with the democrats on the key issues. He'll badmouth Bush.
Then there are his reasons for defecting. He didn't like the way the white house treated him, nor did he agree with President Bush on some issues. Well, poor guy. Since when does any white house owe any senator complete agreement on the issues, let alone special coddling?
It's all politics, of course, but Jeffords is playing a petulant game.
Those are my ideas, and at the NCPA we know ideas can change the world. I'm Pete du Pont. Next time, Italy turns right.