Maybe it's like dating and Congressmen get treated better if they play hard to get.

If I was more cynical I'd expect Cao is just waiting for the right price.

That's a different kind of date.

I highly doubt it. Threatening is probably more like it. Cao needs to represent his constituents - not the rethug party. After all, the rethugs already have LimpBalls, Palin, Beck, Hannity, etc. representing them - and they weren't even elected! Let Cao do the right thing and represent the people who sent him to DC.

. . . but I wouldn't be too surprised if he voted "yes" on the House bill. The only specific stipulation he's made publicly is that he won't vote in favor of any bill that provides public funding for abortions. According to Mr. Cao (a devout Roman Catholic): "I have to live with myself." Fair enough.

So far, Ahn "Joseph" Cao seems to have remembered who his 638,000 constituents are. He voted against the stimulus package only because he claimed LA-2 came in 435th place among Congressional districts targeted for stimulus spending. Take a quick drive around Cao's part of town, New Orleans East, to get some idea of why that would bother him.

He voted "yes" on the supplemental omnibus bill (1 of 17 Republicans to do so) and "yes" on the not-quite-censure resolution regarding Congressman Joe Wilson (1 of 7 Republican affirmatives).

He has also expressed interest in joining the Congressional Black Caucus. (Cao's district —comprising most of New Orleans and parts of Gretna, Kenner, and Marrero— is 64% black, and majority Democratic by a large margin. He is the first Republican to occupy the seat since 1891.)

John Boehner and Eric Cantor were beside themselves with joy when Cao won his seat — for them, it was one of a few little rays of hope among the otherwise-disastrous 2008 Congressional election results. I'm willing to bet their infatuation with him is fading pretty quickly.

The true believers might already have Joseph Cao penciled in as a targeted RINO. A "yes" vote on the healthcare bill could put the ink on his RNC death warrant.

Well, whattaya know—he did it.

Looks like he needs his PINK " YOU ARE FIRED " SLIP come election time

I Hope he likes his tax money paying for MURDER of the UNBORN

and for BOTOX TREATMENTS for pislosi

At which point, Rep. Cao should switch parties and retain that seat for as long as he wants it.

If he continues to do right by his constituents first and party alliance second, he will get the votes.

It's a real shame but the extreme right/GOP hardliners continues to dictate the GOP course even after empowering Geo W. who in turned nearly plundered the world economy, installed a fascist state (Gitmo) and started two un-winnable wars that will cost TRILLIONS.

To moderate GOPers, your choice seems to be either stay with the GOP and get bashed internally or switch to the Dems and get respect and rational policy.

Congressman Cao! You did the right thing for your constituents. Such a novelty for the GOP.

And good luck Rouge Paliners in putting up a hard-righter for that district. Most of those people got hit hard by Katrina and the aftermath, and they know uncontrolled insurance is not their friend.

I think Cao just signed a lifetime contract.

It takes real nerve to stand alone, but he did it. It's such demonstrations of courage, which cause me never to give up on democracy. It's funny though how consistent the Republicans are over time. Not one Republican voted for Social Security, back in the day. They were the party most rabidly "red-baiting" in the fifties. Their malice towards working folks and intellectuals never departs.

Not hardly.

This 5'2" congressman whose last name (Cao) means "tall" stood taller tonight than the tall 39 dems who shrunk because they had no gut and the 176 dimwit republicans who marched in lock-step down the cliff.

like rep boner once said: the future is cao! we need reps who vote for the american people!

thanks, rep cao!

another dimwit. do some research dude! Cao only voted for the bill after the stupak amendment passed. but then, you wouldn't know about the stupak amendment, since they probably didn't cover it on fix news tonight.

if you are feeling sad tonight, go to redstate and whine. that is the wingnut swamp.

Trying to do his imitation of all those scheduled to leave office next Nov.

Update: Whether due to Emanuel's infamous gift for arm-twisting, his district's blueness or something else, the Democrats won over Cao. He crossed the aisle to provide the bill with its 220th "aye."

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SHOCKING!!! A newly minted republican Member voted with the democrats in the House, and it deserves a "headline"!

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and there is "bi-partisanship" in the Congress!..(smiles sweetly).

To funny.... What is not funny, however,is the attack on American liberty that is being threatened by Pelosi's 2,000 page legislation, half of which has never even been through committee for discussion but added as the Leaders amendment.

Once again, YOUR Congress(person) and mine, who happen to be democrat for the time being, signed off with an "Aye" vote on legislation basically unread. Now after passage, we will find out what really is in this legislation, the 100 plus new government bureaucracies that will be formed, the mandates, taxes, fines, possible jail terms, and the destruction of job formation in the country. What business is going to hire new workers with this legislation hanging over the economy.

Thankfully, the odds are favorable that the Senate will DEFEAT this package of horror for America as it did to "Clintoncare". Than, we can hopefully see our government do the right thing, and have an "expert commission" study healthcare in the United States, the problems (and we do have problems), and how we can ensure Americans can have access to healthcare without destroying the best system in the world.

We cannot allow a handful of radical leftists who have "temporary control" of our government destroy the system! NO THEY CAN'T!

Does any sane person, forgetting about ideology which seems to cloud liberal thought, really believe that seniors are NOT going to see a decline in available services..seeing frequency of tests stretched even more than they are today, and those outstanding doctors who help the geriatric population leave for other areas of medicine on a pay basis, and not have to worry about medicare re-imbruement cuts.

The CBO budget study showing this legislation does not have a negative impact on the federal budget is based on "WHAT IS IN THE LEGISLATION", which includes over a 20% reduction in reimbursements. It includes the medicare budget cuts, and billions of new taxes. The same CBO also estimated that a family would have to pay $15,000 a year for healthcare insurance in 2016! True, many Americans will be paying ZERO for healthcare insurance, but there is no such thing as a free lunch...those hard working, over-taxed, workers who pay their bills, barely make their mortgage payments, are once again being "screwed."

All this nonsense about people not getting healthcare is delusional. Obviously, a person without insurance will not get access to the specialists that will be attending to our Congressional representatives who exempted themselves from this legislation. (Where is the liberal outrage over this??) However, every American can go to an ER, and not be charged a penny if they cannot afford to pay or have no insurance. Of course, that assumes the ER is not in the hospital where Michelle worked that shunted people with no insurance to "clinics".

What WILL change significantly, will be protocols in the ER with a sharp reduction in testing, x-rays, MRI's, etc. It's true that many of those tests thankfully prove negative. However, many also are life saving. One x-ray given to a family member who had passed out saved her life. The hospital protocol required an X-Ray, and stage one lung cancer was found, and successfully removed. That "x-ray" will probably not pass the level G-12 bureaucrat who will now be the gatekeeper for our healthcare. She might not be the young enough for the cost/benefit analysis sheet that they will work from to allow testing.

I would like to give a "shout-out" to Speaker Pelosi. Thank you Madam Speaker. You have done more than Sarah Palin to energize the conservative base of the republican party; you have brought new life to seniors with what little adrenalin they might have left flowing like a gusher as they see $500,000,000 taken out of medicare, an already bankrupt system. Madam Speaker, as a resident of New Jersey, thank you so much for helping us get rid of Corzine, soon to be followed by a number of Congressmen who seemingly took an oath to Pelosi and not to defend the Constitution.