Quote of the Day

"You can continue killing your own people, you just can't kill them with chemical gas."

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, making her case for a bombing campaign against the Assad regime in Syria. Her comment took  Shepard Smith of Fox News by surprise.

Sadly, this actually sums up the position of the Obama administrator.

Jim Defede Interviews Ileana Ros-Lehtinen On DOMA & Voting Rights

Jim Defede interviews Ileana Ros-Lehtinen on the Supreme Court's decisions on the Defense of Marriage Act and the Voting Rights Act. Ros-Lehtinen is one of the few elected Republicans that strongly backs gay rights. Ros-Lehtinen wants Congress to pass ENDA. There is little chance that Ros-Lehtinen can get anything done on ENDA in the dysfunctional House of Representatives.

Ros-Lehtinen told Defede that Congress should have hearings on a possible new Voting Rights Act. Ros-Lehtinen admits that racism still exists in pockets of America. However, I don't see her having the same passion for a voting rights hearings that she has demonstrated with gay rights.

Rubio & Hatch Anti-Abortion Bill Would Jail Doctors

Marco Rubio and Orrin Hatch are the co-sponsors of Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act. Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen attemted to pass this bill in 2005. Several other versions of the bill was attempted during the Bush years and went nowhere. Rubio and Hatch know that they have zero chance of getting a vote on this bill in the Senate. Rubio and Hatch may be sincere in their anti-abortion beliefs. They are also pols and know this bill will help them with social conservatives.

The bill has yet to be published on the internet. Rubio and Hatch issued a joint press release. Their bill would allow for the criminal prosecution of abortion providers.

CIANA allows for punishment, in the form of fines or imprisonment, of physicians who knowingly perform an abortion on a minor who has traveled across state lines and any individual who transported the minor across state lines. The legislation does not apply in cases of a medical emergency, abuse or neglect

Notice Rubio and Hatch do not have the balls to criminally prosecute a woman who terminates her unborn fetus. Republicans can kiss women voters goodbye if they do that.

What is interesting is that Republicans were complaining that Obama's (very bad) health care reform was big government interfering with state health care. Rubio and Hatch interfere with state health care and interstate commerce without flinching. Jen Phillips of Mother Jones points out that states have constantly changing abortion consent laws for minors. States would have to legal adhere to their own and other states abortion consent and noification laws. The end result would likely be abortion providers less likely to perform abortions on minors. Republicans continue to search for ways to make a legal medical procedure illegal.

Schultz & Ros-Lehtinen on ENDA

Congresswomen Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Ileanna Ros-Lehtinen are 2010 "Voice For Equality" honorees. Equality Florida noted Schultz's and Ros-Lehtinen work as co-sponsors of Employment Non-discrimination Act (ENDA).They told Equality Florida they support ending DADT and Florida's gay adoption ban.

Florida Congressional Delegation on LGBT Bill

Jillian T. Weiss has round up how the Florida congressional delegation will likely vote on S.1584 and HR 3017. The House and Senate bill would protect employees from discrimanation, based on sexual persuasion. U.S. Senate candidate will likely vote for HR 3017. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is the only Florida House Republican that has supported gay rights. The Republican delegation will likely vote no.

In the Senate, Bill Nelson is undecided. Mel Martinez is retiring. A replacement for Martinez has yet to be selected by Gov. Charlie Crist. Martinez's Republican replacement will likely vote no.

Confirmed yes votes:
Alan Grayson
Kathy Castor
Kendrick B. Meek
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Robert Wexler
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Ron Klein
Alcee L. Hastings

Probable yes votes:
Corrine Brown
Suzanne M. Kosmas

Probable no votes:
Jeff Miller
Ander Crenshaw
Ginny Brown-Waite
Cliff Stearns
John L. Mica
Gus M. Bilirakis
C. W. Bill Young
Adam H. Putnam
Vern Buchanan
Connie Mack
Bill Posey
Thomas J. Rooney

Ros-Lehtinen Press Release On 'Don't Ask Don't Tell'

Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen issued a statement for repealing "Don't Ask Don't Tell."

Ros-Lehtinen Supports Repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Policy

(WASHINGTON) - U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said today that she will support the repeal of the U.S. Defense Department's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy which bars gays and lesbians from serving in the military. Statement of Ros-Lehtinen:

"Since the policy was announced 15 years ago, thousands of talented men and women, some with critically important skills, have been drummed out of military service. Many more continue to serve with distinction, contributing greatly to the defense of our country. But they are never free from the fear that their careers and lives could be ruined for reasons that have nothing to do with how well they do their job.

We've wasted a great deal of time and effort trying to enforce this failed policy. At a time when our armed forces are under unprecedented strain, we should welcome all those, regardless of sexual orientation, who ask nothing more than to serve their country."

Ros-Lehtinen is taking a position unpopular in her party. Good for her.

Majority of Congressional Delegation Opposes Offshore Drilling

Senator Bill Nelson got 24 of 27 members of the Florida Congressional delegation to oppose offshore drilling. The delegation signed a letter addressed to Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner. Members not signing the letter are John Mica, Bill "Gator" Posey and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

According to a Nelson spokesman, that would mean not altering the current limits that forbid drilling within at least 100 miles of Florida’s Gulf coast, and farther out—more than 200 hundred miles—from Tampa Bay.

A Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University discovered lifting all oil bans would produced only 18 billions barrels of oil. The bans include Alaska and Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Nelson explained, on the Senate floor, the oil companies want the leases not necessary to drill. The lease values will potentially boost stock prices. F-22 pilots will train in the Gulf. Nelson explains rigs will pose potential safety hazards to pilots.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Against Amendment 2

In a surprising piece of news: Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen told Miami Log Republicans she is against Amendment 2.

“In Florida, the term marriage is already defined as a relationship between a man and a woman. Amendment 2 will involve the government in our personal lives by dissolving locally recognized domestic partnerships, endangering the legal rights of unmarried couples, and weakening business responsibilities such as healthcare and retirement benefits,” Ros-Lehtinen said in a press release.

Amendment 2 would place a law in the Florida constitution that would bar gay and lesbian couples from marrying.

DCCC Targets Florida Republicans

Democrats are targeting Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart. The Naked Politics doesn't say, but Miami Heraldblogger Lesley Clark informed me the the DCCC bought the $1.4 million in ads.

Democratic candidate Annette Taddeo was recently at Netroots Nation. She is challenging Ros-Lehtinen.

"What the netroots has shown is that they're ahead of everyone else on their predicting where the party insiders should be looking at or races that they've overlooked."

Surprisingly, Taddeo was able to have a slightly better fundraising quarter than Ros-Lehtinen.

Contribute to the Annette Taddeo campaign

LGBT Equality Caucus

On June 5th, Rep. Tammy Baldwin(D-Wis.) and Barney Frank (D-Mass.) formed the LGBT Equality Caucus. The group is bipartisan and has 52 members in the House of Representatives.

Baldwin also noted the significance of launching the caucus with bipartisan support. “We have to have the most effective communication possible with both sides,” she said. “Our Republican charter members will be great at educating and being role models for their side of the aisle.”

The two Republican charter members are Connecticut’s Chris Shays and Florida’s Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, but others are expected to join this week. Shays agreed that forming the LGBT Equality Caucus is pivotal in educating fellow lawmakers. But he sees another reason why this particular caucus will be successful. Unlike most caucuses, which are helmed by a Republican and a Democratic cochair, “in this case, you have two cochairs who happen to be one gay and one lesbian -- individuals who have experienced the very discrimination we’re talking about.” That, he said, will show other lawmakers firsthand that being gay is not a threat to the social fabric of the country.

I'm surprised that Ileana Ros-Lehtinen joined the caucus. Her neoconservative heart is surprisingly liberal socially.

In related news: Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been named Vice Chair of the LGBT Equality Caucus.

Mother's Day GOP Style

More evidence that House Minority Leader John Boehner is politically tone deaf. Republicans vote against celebating mothers.

On Wednesday afternoon, the House had just voted, 412 to 0, to pass H. Res. 1113, "Celebrating the role of mothers in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of Mother's Day," when Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), rose in protest.

"Mr. Speaker, I move to reconsider the vote," he announced.

Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), who has two young daughters, moved to table Tiahrt's request, setting up a revote. This time, 178 Republicans cast their votes against mothers.

It was a smart move on Kathy Castor's part to set up a revote. Republicans will politically commit suicide just to frustrate Democrats. Florida Republicans Tom Feeney, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Jeff Miller voted against "supporting the goals and ideals of Mother's Day." Way to go champs.

Quote of the Day

''How secure can we really be with the final analysis and key judgments?''

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, casting doubt on the National Intelligence Estimate report that Iran ended it's nuclear weapons program in 2003.

First thought: the fact that she feels secure taking Bush's and Cheney's assertions on Iran seriously after they were dead wrong on Iraq should give her constituents pause. Second thought: Ros-Lehtinen didn't seem to bothered by the cherry-picked intell coming from the defunct Office of Special Plans. The intelligence agency was created by Donald Rumsfeld and Douglas Feith and reported directly to Dick Cheney's office.

Ros-Lehtinen voted to declare Iraq the central front on terror and to give Bush the authorization for war. She voted against giving President Clinton the power to invade Kosovo. She decides foreign policy on petty partisanship. Ros-Lehtinen is utterly unserious and should be treated as such.

Quote of the Day

“I just feel uncomfortable listening to a report by the Government Accountability Office about a war effort.”

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

Her problem is listening to information that that not politically benefit her party. The GAO is nonpartisan.

Comptroller General David Walker responded to Ros-Lehtinen's criticism.

"Several things, any comments that I make are based upon work the GOA has done. They're not my personal opinion. It's not appropriate for me to gave my personal opinion. I can't separate myself from my position as Comptroller General of the United States and head of the Gao. So they're not my personal opinion and they're based upon work the GAO has done.

"We have people with military experience, with foreign policy experience, with a variety of other things that work in GAO. The President and the Vice President have no military or foreign policy experience. Does that mean I don’t respect their opinion? I do. They’ve got a lot of people who work for them that do. So I think it’s a false claim to say you know we’re not qualified to do this work. We’re eminently qualified to do this work."

Walker was interviewed on CSPAN about the report.