Whither the COPE Act, Chicago style

Posted by Mitchell - June 11, 2006 (entry 463)

The vote in the House involving the future of the internet went dismally, as expected. What's worse is that most of the the Chicago-area contingent in the House drank the Kool-Aid.

We could expect Bobby Hush Rush to vote the way he did, as that for Republican voters (e.g., Mark Kirk, Dennis Hastert), or the Republican-in-disguise known as Melissa Bean.

But for some reason, representatives Danny Davis, Jesse Jackson Jr., and Luis Gutierrez -- all of whom rank as very liberal or progressive usually -- voted with the Republican majority and supported the COPE Act.

Only Jan Schakowsky (who is usually very excellent on media issues) and Rahm Emanuel (who usually draws the ire and protest of Chicago-area activists for his pro-war positions and for killing electoral the prospects of progressive Democrats) voted the right away and opposed the COPE Act.

There is some defeatism within the blogosphere after the vote. MyDD addresses some of this, but many including Bob McChesney and Jeff Chester have expressed optimism -- where before they would only express (unfortunately, accurate) pessimism.

The Senate is where this fight will rage, in the coming months, as well as with meatspace. Action is where it's at. Stay tuned.

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