Invasion of the body snatchers

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the 1978 remake) was on TV this past Saturday night. In the story, aliens invade Earth and replace humans one-by-one with an identical twin who looks like the human, but who carries out the aliens' mission to take over the world with zombie-like determination.

After reading this article in yesterday's Star Tribune, I was struck at how life imitates art. Even The Rammer's orange t-shirted horde of supporters (I'm one of them, or have been) know that he's no right-wing conservative, but I'm beginning to wonder if there's a "What Would Wendy Wilde Do?" bumper sticker on his car.

Ramstad breaks ranks for Democrats' agenda

By Brady Averill, Star Tribune
Last update: January 20, 2007 – 5:59 PM

WASHINGTON - So far, Republican Rep. Jim Ramstad of Minnesota seems to be fitting in fine with the new Democratic majority on Capitol Hill.

When Minnesota's House members voted on the Democrats' six-item "first 100 hours" agenda during the last two weeks, they voted along party lines on almost every issue. With one exception: Ramstad voted with the Democrats every time.

Ramstad is a prime example of the difficulty Republicans are having in holding their party together during the transition of power in Washington. So far, he has sided with Democrats to support increasing the minimum wage, enacting the 9/11 Commission's recommendations, expanding stem cell research, allowing the government to negotiate prices with drug companies, cutting student loan interest rates and ending subsidies for oil companies.

Did the Democrats lose the MN-3 election but win the war?

Throwing in with the Democrats will be good for, well, Ramstad. In this story alone, it gets him ink like "centrist," "moderate," and "I couldn't imagine any of these votes getting him in trouble with his district." One big happy Federation!

Elected Republicans tilting left are the rule rather than the exception, nationally and in Minnesota. Except for principled conservatives like Rep. John Kline (MN-2) and Rep. Michele Bachmann (MN-6), it seems as if most Republicans have decided that resistance is futile.