Debb and I were complaining about the minimum wage increase being held up in the Senate…well, not so much the minimum wage, but the fact that the voting mostly went along party lines. This is just so often true in our government, and it galls me. WIth the collection of beliefs and values I have, I’d likely be called a liberal. But does that mean I hand my brain over to others who define what “liberal” means? And if not, why is it usually easy to predict that Democrats vote this way, Republicans vote that way?

And then I see this.

Crooks and Liars » Chuck Hagel on fire…

A Republican saying that he shares some of the responsibility for lack of oversight on the war, that all the Senators who have been there for the past four years also share the blame, and nearly yelling at the assembly, with angry pointy fingers, like I’ve been doing at my TV and newspapers and Internets for the last couple years, that nobody in here wants America to fail, and just because you disagree with the President doesn’t mean you want the terrorists to win.

This is not a new idea for me but goddamn it is good to hear a Republican be passionate about this point for once.