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Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Health Care Vote Could Cost him Hist Career


Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao (R-La.) began his career in politics by ousting an indicted Democratic congressman in an overwhelmingly liberal New Orleans district. But now he’s acknowledging his political career is close to over after he cast a vote against the Democratic health care proposal.

“I know that voting against the health care bill will probably be the death of my political career,” Cao told The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune. “But I have to live with myself, and I always reflect on the phrase of the New Testament, ‘How does it profit a man’s life to gain the world but to lose his soul?’”

Cao, the first Vietnamese-American elected to Congress, has broken with his party on numerous occasions and has championed recovery efforts back home in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. But on some of the most critical legislation before Congress — the economic stimulus and health care — he’s remained in line under partisan pressure.

And those votes (and quotes) are bound to come up in his bid for a second term, whoever emerges as his Democratic opponent. - Politico Story

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