(Thumbnail image from Anh Joseph Cao's Office Website)
"His was the one Republican vote in favor of the Democrats omnibus health care bill last night. He represents an overwhelmingly Democratic district around New Orleans. Is that why he did it? What does the political future hold for Louisiana's Anh Joseph Cao?" (FOX News)
That was FOX News' Geraldo Riveria discussing the one Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives who voted for the Democrats' bill to reform health care over the weekend.
We're looking at perspectives on whether or not this means political suicide for Congressman Anh Joseph Cao from CNN, CNBC, Talking Points Memo and The Atlantic.
Cao explains his decision on CNN by saying it was a tough one, but he was merely representing the interests of his constituency, which is heavily Democratic.
"I believe it was the right decision for my constituents down in the 2nd District. Twenty percent of the people in my district are uninsured and a good number of other people down here, they are poor. We are in desperate need of a health care system as well as health care reform post-Katrina."
Reporters from CNBC discuss how Cao's decision might actually help him get re-elected next fall rather than hurt his chances.
"He must not be a popular guy with his peers at this point."
"No, but if you were in a close race where you've got to go up for election next year and you are in a very close race where you figure this comes down to the line as to whether you return to Congress or not?"
Talking Points Memo's Versha Sharma writes Cao could get away with this because he knows he holds all the cards. She says the Republican leadership knows they need him if they ever want to win the 2nd District of Louisiana again.
"He represents the second congressional district of Louisiana, a solidly Democratic district that includes New Orleans... His unique victory was celebrated by Steele and other GOP leaders, a fact which the young lawmaker is not letting party leadership soon forget."
Despite all the attention given to Cao, Lynn Sweet of The Chicago Sun-Times tells CNN's Don Lemon that just because Cao crossed party lines does not make this health care bill bipartisan.
"The Obama team has been trying to redefine bipartisanship....by saying that they've had a lot of Republican amendments and concepts in there. That's fine, that's true. But it's also true that another measure of bipartisanship is how many Republican votes you get. And when it's one or none, it's not bipartisanship."
Finally, Chris Good of The Atlantic's Politics Blog says the Republican leadership is lucky Cao is talking about his decision. Discussing the tactics the Republican leadership used to try and keep his vote could do more damage.
"Republicans lost a little bit of face with Cao's vote, especially coming three votes shy of blocking the legislation altogether, but not as much face as they would have lost if Cao were out today talking about draconian threats against him."
So what do you think? Was Cao's reason for voting for health care good enough and how do you think Republican leadership should react?
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