Olympia Snowe is a wee young lass of 64, so I can understand why she’s throwing away all her principles and debasing herself in the face of a primary challenge:
Snowe stunned longtime Democratic colleagues Wednesday by blocking action on a small-business bill she co-wrote because Democratic leaders refused to allow a vote on an amendment they saw as a political hit job.
“Sen. Snowe actually wrote this bill,” said Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), chairwoman of the Senate Small Business Committee. “She killed her own bill under the guise that she feels so strongly about reg reform.”
But Richard Lugar is 78 years old. He’s served six terms in the Senate, and has a great reputation as a foreign policy expert. He has 13 grandkids. Why in the hell is he pandering to the Tea Party to win another term?
As the politics of the 2012 election heat up, GOP Sen. Richard Lugar declined today to join Democrats in reintroducing an immigration measure he’s long supported.
[…] Lugar’s spokesman said Lugar did not join Democrats in reintroducing the federal legislation to help children of illegal immigrants – known as the DREAM Act, or Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors – because Democrats have politicized the issue.
He started his latest term as a steady voice on foreign policy and a proponent of reasonable compromise on key domestic issues. He’s going out as a scared old whiner who will do anything — including running away from the eminently reasonable immigration bill he helped propose — just to keep his seat.