A Good Republican Response in a Washington Post Letter

Rich Nugent, A Congressman from Florida, had an excellent letter published in the Post this morning:

"We were pushing for a public policy (a one-year extension of the payroll tax cut) that was universally acknowledged to be more responsible than the Senate alternative (a two-month extension). We took this course not at some expected political cost to our opponents but rather at a known political cost to ourselves.

In short, we chose to put responsible policy before callous political self-interest. I’m unclear on why that was a bad thing."

Nugent also writes a defense of the Freshman House Republicans: "Is the House above politics? Of course not. But this year, we have made an uncommon effort to get Washington to face the hard questions — even when it was not in our own political interest to do so."

I just hope that the Freshmen Republicans and the supporters that propelled them to election in 2010 will not have gotten so discouraged by the successful media/Democrat campaign to turn this issue against Republicans that they give up on trying to make the changes that this country needs.