After taking flak for attaching the Internet gambling ban on a defense appropriations bill, Sen. Frist instead attached to a port security bill. At the last minute. No debate. They’ll vote on the bill at around midnight tonight, just before the good senators go home to campaign for their jobs. But note that a senator can’t vote against the ban without also voting against “port security.” And the GOP would of course use that vote as a cudgel to smack the heads of any Democratic senators smart enough to see the stupidity, hypocrisy, and excess of an Internet gambling ban.

Frist deserves heat for this. While he’s talking out of one side of his mouth about pork projects and transparency, he’s pulling crap like this, an intrusive, big government, paternalistic law aimed at policing behavior that’s none of the government’s damned business. And he’s pushing using undemocratic tickery that stifles debate, and doesn’t allow for an honest vote.

Jesus I hope the Republicans lose come November. Big.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 29th, 2006 at 9:34 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Gambling, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.