Alaska Democrat Mark Begich made news yesterday when he claimed to be a “thorn” to President Obama. Once all the laughter died down from this ridiculous claim, folks started taking a look at Begich’s record. What they found was a follower.
This morning, The Hill reports the word that best describes Begich’s demeanor toward Obama is “accommodating.”
But when it comes to confirming Obama’s choices for the bench, Begich has been accommodating. Since the Senate changed its filibuster requirements in November, he has cast only a single vote against one of the president’s judicial nominees, opposing Edward G. Smith, whom the Senate confirmed in March to preside over the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
But Smith was an unusual nominee who was unpopular with Democrats because of his opposition to abortion rights and support for ending entitlement programs when he ran for a congressional seat in Pennsylvania in the mid-1990s.
This just reiterates a recent story from the Alaska Dispatch News, which shows Begich’s complete lack of beliefs and willingness to just be part of the liberal Democrat crowd:
Begich said he ended up siding with the majority leader anyway because that’s what his fellow “pro-gun” Democrats were doing, and he didn’t want to give ammunition to the Republican opponents in his re-election campaign.
“I was contemplating all the way up until when I walked in there. And then I saw the list and I saw not one pro-gun Democrat voted (against cloture), and I thought: ‘Oh, that’s bad news,’” Begich said. “If a couple of pro-gun Democrats had voted no on cloture, I would have been right there. Because then my opponents wouldn’t pull out and say: ‘Oh, he’s hanging with those liberals who want gun control.”
So much for being “As Independent As Alaska.”