Didn't mean to shaft-yah
"Okay, this is pretty pitiful," writes Josh Marshall.
One Republican in a district firmly in opposition to CAFTA claimed that his vote was lost and discounted. It turns out that this same congressman was targeted by the White House for the hard sell.
Somewhat comically, he claims he only learned of his ghastly non-vote when he emerged from the gym sometime later -- in his scenario he heroically voted 'no' despite White House pressure...about as heroic as claiming that you would've paid for dinner had you brought your wallet...
"I'm sorry. But that's ridiculous.
"CAFTA was a very important vote. It was particularly important and controversial in Taylor's district, which is very hostile to free trade agreements... Taylor was one of the House Republicans targeted by the leadership to get pressed hard on voting for CAFTA even though it would clearly be unpopular in his district.
"He gets wrongly counted as failing to cast a vote. It's publicized widely. And he only realizes something went wrong the next day when he's leaving the gym?
Is that credible? (TPM)
