Badges: Not Just For Boy Scouts Anymore

I found a new GOP fundraising site called Slatecard.com, a wannabe ACTBlue. (ACTRed, perhaps? More on this site in my MichLib post.)

Their tagline? "It's fun to give right."

See, when you cough up your credit card and contact info, you can also "enhance your experience" by awarding online issue badges for candidates whose accomplishments you support.

What comes to mind when you hear "Mike Rogers' accomplishments"? Herewith is a listing of Mr. Rogers' badges on Slatecard.com

Nah, not really... unless you work for Cleary University. Or if you're a worker from Singapore or Chile. Oh, and he voted against raising the minimum wage.

Not so much. In his first year in Congress, Rogers was the only member of the MI delegation to vote against a proposed ban on drilling for oil under the Great Lakes. Since then, he's moved on to give major tax breaks for oil and gas producers (HR 3402, Vote#500, 9/28/05), weakened restrictions on mercury emissions -- and most recently, said no to the Clean Energy Act of 2007.

Really? He got a 0% rating from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), and he didn't think that our government should tell the Mexican government about the location of Minuteman Project volunteers. At the same time, he gave the nod to extending immigrant residency rules and voted to exempt hospitals from having to report illegal immigrants before being reimbursed... A voting record like this is contradictory at best, pandering at worst.

Well, this MUST be true, since the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps PAC thinks that Rogers deserves a reward, since he's one of those Congressmen who have "already proven they are on America's side by opposing amnesty and promoting a border fence."

Mr. Rogers talks a good game -- nay, a GREAT game -- on Islamic fundamentalism. The problem is that his actions fall rather short of his words. He's served on the House Intel committee since he arrived in Congress seven years ago, and he's made any number of taxpayer-funded trips to Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Since Mr. Rogers is a very flexible thinker, was able to tout his intimate involvement with US intel policy from 2001 - 2006, then do an about-face in 2007 (when the GOP lost control of the House) and state that "we have to change policy."

According to Mr. Rogers in 2005 and 2006, Pakistan was our premier partner in the war on terror (and he was more than happy to take money from Pakistani-Americans).

At a November 2007 breakfast, though, he allowed as how "We need to be asking a lot more of Musharraf on help in the tribal areas," where al-Qaida terrorist leadership is hiding, Rogers said. "Democracy is always better than none. We have to keep our eye on the ball (of fighting terrorism)."

After the breakfast, Rogers elaborated: "Musharraf does things that are good for Musharraf. Sometimes that included helping us on terrorism. We've just got to keep up the pressure."

Wow! Don't you feel more secure now?