Dems question rep.’s support

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher lashed out at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Friday after it accused him of turning his back on veterans.

By voting against the stimulus bill and budget, Rohrabacher has put loyalty to his party over what’s good for veterans because the spending packages included benefits for veterans, according to the committee.

Rohrabacher indignantly denied the accusation and fired back that the Democrats were playing dirty tricks linking the budget votes to his support for the troops.

“This is the most blatant use of rotten politics attached to veterans to gain political advantage that I’ve ever seen,” Rohrabacher said. “I’m supposed to apologize for voting against bills that gave away hundreds of billions of dollars to corporate looters and corporate incompetence? The Democrats should apologize for attaching veterans benefits to bills like that.”

Democrats, when they weren’t in power earlier in the decade, complained of the same tactics, which Rohrabacher acknowledged, but he said the partisanship on Capitol Hill has worsened.

“It’s even worse in this case,” Rohrabacher said. “Republicans are being frozen out of actually participating in the structuring of the legislation and then they’re blackmailed by this kind of rotten political tactic.”

Committee spokesman Andy Stone was unmoved by Rohrabacher’s criticism.

“His record is clear,” he said. “There are a number of pieces in those bills that benefit veterans and when he votes against them he’s voting against those who have put their lives on the line for our country.”

— Paul Anderson