“I think good performace should be rewarded,” says Myron Ebell, director of Freedom Action, in endorsing Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, for Congress this year.<\/p>\n
Those are extraordinary words coming from one of Upton’s most vocal conservative critics two years ago – and a hopeful sign in these cynical times that politicians really can learn from their mistakes.<\/p>\n
Ebell, a smart, longtime Washington warrior against the Big Government Leviathan, has been outspoken in his support of Upton this year as the House Energy and Commerce Chairman seeks election to a 14th term. “As committee chairman, he has been a crucial point man against Obamacare and the EPA’s power grabs,” Ebell told me last week.<\/p>\n
Fred Upton? Really? Really.<\/p>\n
Upton was the bane of conservatives everywhere in 2010 when it came to light that he had co-sponsored during Nancy Pelosi’s 2007 Congress stealth legislation that would outlaw the common household light bulb on January 1, 2012. Lost in the wilderness and playing to the Beltway Media, President “We Are Addicted to Oil” Bush – and surrogates like Upton – were singing from the Green Church hymnal in decrying light bulbs for destroying the planet. The legislation earned Upton scorn as the prototypical, squishy Beltway GOPer.<\/p>\n
Along with throwing Obamacare overboard, ditching the bulb ban became a battle cry of the grass roots Tea Party movement in 2010. Barack Obama had lived up to his “change” promise to re-colonize America as an over-regulated outpost of European Market Socialism. A mobilized electorate wanted America back.<\/p>\n