Another blow to the little remaining sanity in the GOP.
and he’s been getting paid and benefits since Sept ? SMH
Holy crap. That’s really bad news.
Seems that way just from his Wikipedia page. Sane and decent. I hope he feels like he spent his life well.
Just read it as well, and he does seem to be a truly decent human being.
I met Jones in 1992 during the presidential campaign (Clinton, Perot, etc). He was a fairly decent guy. Funny how, when on one’s death bed, politics probably seems extremely unimportant and petty.
Perhaps so, unless one had sincere concern for the well-being of future generations.There will still be plenty of folks around after one’s own demise. Thought should also be given to the unimportance of one’s own life, in the overall scheme of things. In the right frame of mind, that could be comforting.
His district is only one of three in the US where a Democratic candidate did not run. It is R +12 so he will probably be replaced by an extremist as there are very few reasonable Republicans left and the ones that run don’t survive the primaries.
Walter Jones is the Representative who is responsible for the legislation designating French Toast and French Fries “Freedom Toast and Freedom Fries” in the Congressional dining room as the Dim Son administration was rushing the nation into a war of choice based on lies. France recognized the lies and would not go along at the UN so voila a smear campaign against them and this was Representative Jones part. A few months after the body bags of the 82nd Airborne from Ft Bragg started coming home and it was obvious that no WMD would ever be found he had to re-submit the bill to repeal the names of the food. He is a cool aid drinking right winger who was used and made a fool of by Dim Son’s handlers because he believed their lies. Maybe he cleaned up after that happened but that he would do something so cheap and sleazy to a foreign country that was aware of the truth behind the Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeldian lies will always be his legacy to me.
Well, there was that Freedom Fries thing…
This is a terrible shame. “Freedom Fries” notwithstanding, Jones is one of the last remaining sane Republicans in the House, and maybe the only one who cares about all his constituents rather than just his base. I hope one day we’ll see another like him. It doesn’t seem likely.
Well, that was silly. But I think honestly regretting his vote on Iraq and seeking to do something about the official deception involved makes up for it.
According to fivethirtyeight, Walter Jones is the only Republican in Congress who has voted against Trump more than he has voted for Trump. That’s both chambers.
Sympathy to his friends and family.
But some practical political questions: He’s been too ill to attend House proceedings since September, but there was an election in November and he was re-elected. Did voters in his district know how ill he was? Or did the Rs keep it a secret? Did he have an opponent? Is this one of those cases where the party kept him on the ballot knowing he wouldn’t be able to serve, but didn’t care because they have an R governor who will appoint a replacement?
Just “silly” to participate in a campaign of malicious slander and mockery towards a staunch ally when they point out that our President is lying to the world and rushing into a war of choice? He was totally down with the lies of the Dim Son reign of error but votes against the next GOP president who is arguably no worse than was Bush jr. I am really uncomfortable with the normalization of that administrations actions and find voting against the dotard no exoneration of the serious lapse in judgement Jones committed in order to be part of the Rah Rah War movement when a more “normal” GOPer was doing the lying on a daily basis.
It’s one of those cases where the Democratic Party fucked up by not running ANY opponent. Whatever happened, and I’m guessing a stroke, there was really no choice but to reelect him anyway.
By the way, I’m a huge proponent of the 50 state strategy.
He recanted and expressed regret for all that. And yeah, I think “freedom fries” was silly, mostly. If you feel differently fine. Like I say, he’s expressed regret for the decision, argued that there should be consequences for the official lies, and I believe I read that he wrote thousands of condolence letters. He’s dying now. I protested that war before it started myself, and remember standing with my candle in a very small group at the courthouse steps in my home town. I don’t feel any guilt about it all but nice try.
At some point you have to be willing to accept when people turn the way you’ve been demanding them to face. Jones never became a Democrat or anything like it, but, while he may have been slow to see the light on Iraq, when he did, it was sincere. I’m a big believer in deeds over words. His regret for the war wasn’t just for the cameras.