I wondered how long it would take for me to regret my slog to the polls to save Mark Warner's Democratic Senate seat. I actually thought about staying home because Warner was supposed to have a double digit lead and I don't particularly care for his rabidly centrist, austerity mongering, "Let's Make a Deal!" Gang of Eightism. Well, I have the answer - 21 days.
As it turns out, my vote turned out to be more important than I thought it would be - Warner won by a mere 18,000 votes. Today I wish that margin had been by 17,999, since a vote for Warner turned out to be a proxy vote for Tommy Udo*.
I already had that queasy feeling of "here we go again" when the Pete Peterson deficit cutting ads began showing up again in my local market and now I have verification that once again millionaire Mark Warner will train his beady eyes and boyish grin on making the lot of the 99% worse than it already is.
Mark Warner's sick centrism: Dem rejoices that GOP majority will make it easier to cut safety net
Yes, my Senator is predictably slathering at the thought of being part of a bi-partisan coalition that will finally be able to rein in all those awful entitlement programs that are the underpinning of survival for millions of elderly, ill, disabled, and hungry Americans.
From the Salon article linked to above:
And what sacrifices would Warner (net worth: $257 million) ask of the nation’s well-heeled? That sort of nasty partisan question doesn’t interest the good senator as much as “reforming” “entitlements” like Medicare and Social Security.
Warner’s call to gut such programs — undergirded by his fanatical deficit hawkery — makes poor public policy, of course. Undermining Americans’ health and economic security is hardly the recipe for economic prosperity, and with poverty and near-poverty at almost record levels, such proposals smack of utter callousness. Here it should be noted that the real threat to the safety net comes not from the incoming GOP Senate; Republicans won’t control enough seats to thwart a Democratic filibuster. But milquetoast Democrats like Warner can band together with the right to ram through drastic cuts to vital public programs.
All you entitlement ensnared Americans who are being denied the freedom to die quicker, or be hungry earlier in the month, or live live even more humbly than you already do, have no fear, Mark Warner and the Republicans are here to bi-partisanly remove your shackles and allow you to plummet further and explore even deeper depths of economic misery. Your sacrifice is the Hard Choice they must make!
I would like to apologize to America, to Virginia, and to castigate myself for voting this man back into office. I already knew what and who he was - he has made no secret of it. But I was lured, once again by the Greater Evil, We Must Retain The Senate arguments and re-elected him. In truth, it would have been better to withold my vote for him as he is an undeserving and undermining Democrat who wants to eviscerate the seminal social foundations and structures established by the New Deal and Great Society reforms. An article in the Virginian Pilot today (behind a paywall) says that he's looking forward to taking "controversial" positions.
Never again.
***
Tommy Udo