Dave Camp Scores Perfect Zero on the Environment

Rep. Dave Camp, the Congressional champion of the Dow Chemical Company, has had a perfect record of defending our area's worst polluter and now comes official word on just how bad a Congressman he really has been for the environment.

The League of Conservation Voters, an independent watchdog on environmental issues has just issued its latest National Environmental Scorecard that rates Camp a perfect zero, a distinction that only he earned for his dismal environmental voting record. That's right, no other Michigan member of Congress earned a perfect zero.

Many of our Democratic friends continue to vote for Dave because they "don't think he is THAT bad." Well, my friends, Camp is as bad as it gets.

When it comes to voting for the rich and powerful, Rubber Stamp Camp is always there. When it comes to supporting the Bush administration and Halliburton, you can count on Dave's vote.

But when it comes to clean energy, preserving our natural heritage and saving our planet, Dave Camp votes against it -- not just some of it -- but ALL of it.

Here's a complete rundown of the LCV scores for Michigan's Congressional delegation.

Dave Champions the Unborn, But Refuses to Help Kids Get Health Insurance

Dave Camp makes no bones that he stands by his Catholic roots and is opposed to abortion, but unlike Church leaders who support help for the poor and children, Camp votes consistently with his rich buddies to deny aid to the downtrodden and votes for tax cuts for the rich.

In just one more example of Camp's total disregard for the health of our children especially the millions of children in America who have no access to health insurance, Camp lived up to his nickname of Rubber Stamp Camp, voting in lockstep with the Bush Administration to oppose the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (SCHIP). Even though several other Michigan Republicans joined Democrats in passing the legislation and in favor of overriding a Presidential veto, Camp stubbornly refused to give kids a break. Here's how the vote went down on Oct. 18, 2007.

We Need Change In the Fourth District

"Both diapers and politicians need to be changed often - and for the same reason." Robin Williams in 'Man of the Year'

If there is one politician who needs changing it is certainly the errand boy for the neocons of the Bush administration. "You want a war in Iraq? I'll vote for that," says Dave Camp. "You want to spend billions on Blackwater? Why not"

The stink from Dave Camp's office is really ripe. The guy's been there waaaaay too long.

It's time for a change.

Iraq Spending Bill - Camp Votes No

The Iraq supplemental bill, which sets a certain date for withdrawing our troops from Iraq, passed out of the U.S. House today. Unsurprisingly, Dave Camp voted against the bill and to continue the war.

But U.S. Rep. Dave Camp, R-Midland, said the legislation would micromanage the war and send a signal to enemies of the United States that "they simply need to hold on a little longer to win."

Camp would prefer no exit strategy or accountability for the war. All the more reason to fire him come November 2008.

When is protecting our troops “anti-troop?”

Answer: when the Republicans–the ones who are lockstep with Bush’s muddled non-plan for his war in Iraq–say it is. Here is a question for you: if a member of your family was about to be sent to Iraq, wouldn’t you want him or her to have the best available equipment? Of course you would. This is why Representative Jack Murtha (who is a Vietnam veteran) is pushing a plan in Congress that prohibits President Bush from sending more of our sons and daughters to Iraq if they are not well-equipped.

Strangely, the Republicans in Congress are calling Murtha’s plan “anti-troop.” Anti-troop? Hmmm. By this reasoning, putting our children in car seats to protect them shows that we are anti-automobile. Or inoculating them against childhood diseases means we are anti-God (after all, we might be interfering with God’s will).

Either the Republicans have lost their ability to reason, or they value ideology over the lives of our sons and daughters. You might call Representative Dave Camp (his toll free numbers is: 1-800-342-2455) and ask him what he values most: the lives of our troops or sticking with the President‘s failed policy.

The price of support

Dave Camp voted for more of this:

Surprise, surprise

Dave Camp wanted to know what his constituents think about the war in Iraq, so he naturally went out to find out ... in a way meant to reinforce the same course of action Camp has advocated all along. And, what do you know ... he got exactly what he was after, and in a way that allows him to couch his vote against the Iraq resolution in a way that makes it look like it's the fault of his constituents rather than the representative.

That's some keen leadin', Dave.

Here are some highlights:

I share with my colleagues, the president, our service men and women and their families the wish that this war was over and won. It is not, and the resolution before us today does nothing to resolve this conflict, reduce the loss of American life, stabilize Iraq or advance our security.

And:

Friends, we may often disagree, but the facts are, regardless of how it began, and irrespective of the benefit of hindsight, we are at war and Iraq is the central battleground.
Islamic extremists are waging a Jihad against us, and they are struggling to make Iraq a base camp. Our focus must be on winning; and disturbingly I see no mention of winning, succeeding or victory in this resolution. That, in itself, is telling of just how the other side perceives this conflict: not in terms of defeating an enemy of America, but in terms of defeating a political foe.

Hear the sound of a hand slapping the head. The distressing thing isn't just that Dave apparently acknowledges that the invasion and subsequent occupation, which he supported, have gone disasterously wrong; or that he his solution to this screw up is to keep adding fuel to the fire; it's that he apparently has no clue what the conflict has turned into (note the translation, a little ways down, of an Arabic news report in which the various sectarian militias are lying low in hopes that we'll do their dirty work for them -- and willing to trick us into doing it). Has any of this penetrated the thinking of Dave Camp, or the realities that we're stuck in a civil war that could suck in the only people who've stayed out of it?

No, it hasn't. That's why Dave voted against a non-binding resolution against the president's strategy of more of the failing same.

It would be wrong to pick on poor Dave and his rotten, stinkin, unwise, blind support of the war without pointing out the monetary cost paid by the state of Michigan for this ongoing blunder of foreign policy. Not to mention the lives of Michigan residents.

Dave can pass the buck, as he did in his comments, to his constituents. Yes, yes, Dave, you were merely listening to the select few who got your survey; but we ought to expect, on tough issues, a little -- you know -- leadership.