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January 13, 2007

Freedom Fries guy sees the light too

Former Iraq war supporter and "Freedom Fries" dude Walter Jones, Jr (R-NC) is teaming up with one of the House's most liberal members, Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) as well as Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) to sponsor a resolution to withdraw from Iraq.

Jones' support of an Iraq withdrawal isn't coming without serious consequences. His party is punishing him by passing him over for a choice committee assignment:

House Armed Services ranking member Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., has disciplined one of his party's most vocal anti-war members by denying him a minority leadership position on the powerful defense committee.

Hunter, a loyal supporter of President Bush and an outspoken hawk on the Iraq war, recently told Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., that he would be passed over for the Readiness Subcommittee ranking member slot because of his stance on the war, Jones said in an interview Thursday.

Jones, in his seventh term, rose quickly in seniority on the 61-member panel after two more-senior GOP members suffered election defeats and former Readiness Subcommittee Chairman Joel Hefley, R-Colo., retired.

Now the eighth-ranking Republican on the committee, Jones was in line to be ranking member on one of the seven Armed Services subcommittees. Instead, Rep. Jo Ann Davis, R-Va., will serve as ranking member on the Readiness panel. Davis, in her fourth term, ranks 11th in seniority among 28 Republicans.

"We have to pay a price, from time to time," Jones said of Hunter's decision. He added that he is "disappointed, but not angry" at Hunter.

Jones has frequently butted heads with Hunter, GOP leaders and the Bush administration, often siding with a handful of Republicans and most Democrats on the Iraq war.

I don't agree with Jones on much. But it seems to me that after the ringer some of these conservatives have been through, they'll get to the point where they can no longer consider themselves conservative.

Being punished for questioning authority is going to shove them away from the GOP. Or if it doesn't, it should.

(via The Carpetbagger Report)

Posted by Carla at January 13, 2007 04:30 PM