TODAY, CHENEY THE CHESHIRE FAT CAT IN REP. WILSON’S WONDERLAND

From the Democratic Party of NM:
[Albuquerque, NM] – Vice President Dick Cheney is in town today to reward Rep. Heather Wilson’s flip-flopping with some big fat checks from his fat cat friends.  At a $1,000 per plate luncheon, Cheney is playing the Cheshire cat* in Wilson’s Wonderland – a place where the real world’s worries are whisked away with nary a whisper.

“In Wilson’s Wonderland, her policies are as vexing to her constituents as the tendencies of Cheney the Cheshire Fat Cat.  But we are the ones caught in a bad dream.  I can only presume that Wilson is serving up her trademark waffles at today’s luncheon,” said John Wertheim, Chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico.

In Wilson’s Wonderland gas prices are cheap, Social Security urgently requires benefit cuts and privatization, the ethical scandals of House Republican Leader Tom Delay do not demean the entire Congress as an institution, and Medicaid cuts will benefit the 400,000 people in New Mexico who depend on them.

But if Wilson’s constituents want to wake up from this nightmare that Rep. Wilson helped the Republican leadership to created, they must  do more than wake up; they must speak up and vote her out of office next November.

In Wilson’s Worriless Wonderland, her waffles come in many, many varieties.

Medicaid: Wilson voted in favor of an extra $20 million in cuts to the Medicaid program in Bush’s budget.  Wilson made a big deal of a letter she wrote opposing the cuts (after she voted for them).  The House then voted overwhelmingly to instruct budget conferees not to include Medicaid budget cuts in the final resolution.  But the budget resolution Wilson supported commands cuts of $10 billion or more from Medicaid.

Social Security: Wilson has supported privatization, and opposed privatization, and now she just pretends privatization isn’t a problem.  However, Wilson supported the Bush Budget, which raids the Social Security Trust Fund of more than $1.1 trillion over the next five years. 

Ethics: After voting in favor of Tom Delay's bid to deadlock the House Ethics Committee in January, Wilson caved under public pressure and switched her vote - but only after Delay gave her permission to do so.  [H. Res. 240, Roll Call 145, 4/27/05]

*The Cheshire Cat is a fictional cat appearing in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. It appears and disappears at will, engaging Alice in amusing but sometimes vexing conversation. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheshire_cat]