Democrats representing strongly Republican districts voted No. Is that representing your constituents, helping your reelection, or both? In any case, there are 20 Democratic congressman in districts that are at least 3 points Republican who voted yes. Too bad Skelton wasn’t one of them.

http://www.swingstateproject.com/showComment.do?commentId=97291

Thank you, Congressman Skelton. I appreciate you bucking your party to do the right thing for me and other 4th District residents. I usually vote for Republicans but Congressman Ike Skelton is a Missouri Democrat who gets my vote next year … once again … because of his independence and because he listens to the people in his district. We need to send more men like Ike to Washington. And I also thank Ike Skelton for supporting our men and women in uniform so steadfastly.

If I were representing the 2nd, I would have voted for. It’s good to stay in office; it’s also better to represent you conscience and judgment on important issues of national importance. Shuck and jive Skelton couldnt find his butt with both hands a flashlight and a mirror; and getting no help from me. One Dem against, one Rep for, seems fair, tho hate to see such importance issues break by party vote, dont you? When I’m elected next year, I promise not even to consult my party before I vote! That ought to go over well.

Haas, you fool! Is there no end to your ego?

The only thing bi-partisan about this vote was the opposition.

This is very smart politics by Ike Skelton, who recognized this would be DOA in the Senate anyway.

That’s why he is the dean of the delegation and is a wise old lion who bides his time and then strikes.

The House Democrats’ bill is unpopular across Skelton’s vast mostly rural district because it is seen as a government takeover. With this vote, Skelton has not only represented the majority sentiment of his district, but cut off his prospective Republican challengers on the right.

All those GOP hopefuls can do now is applaud him.

Representative Skelton is sly like a fox. His constituency is vastly rural and this bill would decimate the clinics/hospitals in the area as well as any small business that was required to maintain insurance for its employees at the rates that the bill has mandated. By voting NO he has A) done the right thing by his constituency and B) been a very politically savvy contender. The republican party was working on unseating the silver fox and now this may be a more difficult task that previously thought.

As Barbarino used to say, “What? Why? Where?” “What ego?” My promise not to consult the party? Not to agree with you all the time? People over politics, isnt that what people want? When you’re threw using them, perhaps you can lend your flashlight and mirror to Skelton. I have no ego. Not even sure what that means. You know what Muhammad Ali and Texas says, if you can do it, it’s not conceit, it’s confidence, and not bragging.

and here’s the proof, and more; hope no one minds.
A trip back through time with The Greatest.

A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.
Muhammad Ali

A rooster crows only when it sees the light. Put him in the dark and he’ll never crow. I have seen the light and I’m crowing.
Muhammad Ali

Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are.
Muhammad Ali

At home I am a nice guy: but I don’t want the world to know. Humble people, I’ve found, don’t get very far.
Muhammad Ali

Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up.
Muhammad Ali

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
Muhammad Ali

Frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the US Bureau of Wild Life.
Muhammad Ali

Friendship… is not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.
Muhammad Ali

Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.
Muhammad Ali

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.
Muhammad Ali

I am the astronaut of boxing. Joe Louis and Dempsey were just jet pilots. I’m in a world of my own.
Muhammad Ali

I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.
Muhammad Ali

I believe in the religion of Islam. I believe in Allah and peace.
Muhammad Ali

I figure I’ll be champ for about ten years and then I’ll let my brother take over - like the Kennedys down in Washington.
Muhammad Ali

I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest.
Muhammad Ali

I hated every minute of training, but I said, “Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”
Muhammad Ali

I know I got it made while the masses of black people are catchin’ hell, but as long as they ain’t free, I ain’t free.
Muhammad Ali

I know where I’m going and I know the truth, and I don’t have to be what you want me to be. I’m free to be what I want.
Muhammad Ali

I never thought of losing, but now that it’ s happened, the only thing is to do it right. That’s my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life.
Muhammad Ali

I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me. It would be a better world.
Muhammad Ali

I’ll be floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee.
Muhammad Ali

I’ll beat him so bad he’ll need a shoehorn to put his hat on.
Muhammad Ali

I’m not the greatest; I’m the double greatest. Not only do I knock ‘em out, I pick the round.
Muhammad Ali

I’m so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark.
Muhammad Ali

I’m the most recognized and loved man that ever lived cuz there weren’t no satellites when Jesus and Moses were around, so people far away in the villages didn’t know about them.
Muhammad Ali

If they can make penicillin out of mouldy bread, they can sure make something out of you.
Muhammad Ali

If you even dream of beating me you’d better wake up and apologize.
Muhammad Ali

It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.
Muhammad Ali

It’s hard to be humble, when you’re as great as I am.
Muhammad Ali

It’s just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.
Muhammad Ali

It’s lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself.
Muhammad Ali

It’s not bragging if you can back it up.
Muhammad Ali

It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.
Muhammad Ali

Life is a gamble. You can get hurt, but people die in plane crashes, lose their arms and legs in car accidents; people die every day. Same with fighters: some die, some get hurt, some go on. You just don’t let yourself believe it will happen to you.
Muhammad Ali

My toughest fight was with my first wife.
Muhammad Ali

My way of joking is to tell the truth. That’s the funniest joke in the world.
Muhammad Ali

No one knows what to say in the loser’s locker room.
Muhammad Ali

Old age is just a record of one’s whole life.
Muhammad Ali

Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.
Muhammad Ali

Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams - they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do - they all contain truths.
Muhammad Ali

Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.
Muhammad Ali

Silence is golden when you can’t think of a good answer.
Muhammad Ali

Superman don’t need no seat belt.
Muhammad Ali

The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.
Muhammad Ali

The man who has no imagination has no wings.
Muhammad Ali

The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.
Muhammad Ali

There are more pleasant things to do than beat up people.
Muhammad Ali

There are no pleasures in a fight but some of my fights have been a pleasure to win.
Muhammad Ali

To be able to give away riches is mandatory if you wish to possess them. This is the only way that you will be truly rich.
Muhammad Ali

Wars of nations are fought to change maps. But wars of poverty are fought to map change.
Muhammad Ali

We have one life; it soon will be past; what we do for God is all that will last.
Muhammad Ali

What keeps me going is goals.
Muhammad Ali

When you are as great as I am it is hard to be humble.
Muhammad Ali

When you can whip any man in the world, you never know peace.
Muhammad Ali

Congressman Skelton voted the right way for his district and his nation.