Politicians Can Have It Both Ways

24th State highlights a “flip-flop” by Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill:

So let me get this straight. In March, she gets to send press releases to the Post Dispatch talking about her frustration and the offensive Jim Bunning who had the brashness to suggest they figure out a way to cut spending before tacking on tens of billions to the deficit.

In June, she does the same thing Bunning does, actually going so far as to vote against the very unpaid benefits she was saying were necessary three months ago, and now she’s a budget hawk?

Politicians don’t do what they think the constituents want. They do what the newspapers will report favorably. They’ve held themselves accountable only to the press, whom they thought reflected the public. Unfortunately, that disparity has grown quite a bit and the public is more aware of it than ever. Whereas politicians could count on the short memories of the press in the past, they’re going to awaken in a new world where the public pays attention over a long period of time and remembers what the politician did yesterday or last year, not just what the press reported that the politician did just before the election.

Ha! I’m kidding. The current crop of politicians will wake up looking for lobbyist jobs, and their replacements will be aware of the 21st century world they inhabit and whom they serve in it.

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