President Barack Obama named three Democratic Representatives that stood out for their “courageous” and “risky” votes given the circumstances of their own districts:
“Something that I’ve been surprised about is how courageous a lot of members of Congress have been on some of the big, tough issues that we’ve worked on over the last 20 months,” the president said. “There are a lot of folks who took some really tough votes over the course of the last 20 months, knowing that it was bad for them politically; who voted for health care reform even though the polls said this would cause them problems in the next election; who voted for financial regulatory reform, even though they knew that by supporting it, it might attract big money pouring in and directing negative ads against them. And they did it anyway. And that was risky for them.” [emphasis added]
The president specifically singled out as “folks who have been willing to stand up” Democratic Reps. Tom Perriello of Virginia, John Boccieri of Ohio, and Betsy Markey of Colorado, saying that they voted for his agenda “knowing that they might be putting their congressional careers at risk. And that’s been a pleasant surprise.”
Cory Gardner’s campaign responded, agreeing with President Obama that Markey’s votes have put her congressional future in jeopardy. “The President may want to spin Representative Markey’s votes as being courageous, but the people of the 4th Congressional District see things differently,” said Rachel Boxer, spokeswoman for the Gardner campaign. “Supporting the President’s healthcare takeover and massive stimulus bill is going to cost Representative Markey her job.”