Indicted U.S. Rep. William Jefferson suffered what may be the final blow of his storied political career in the most improbable way Saturday, when an untested Republican opponent took advantage of Louisiana’s new federal voting rules — and an election delay caused by Hurricane Gustav — to unseat the nine-term Democrat.
I’d be sorrier to lose the most egregious example of Democratic Congresscritters’ immunity from law, shame, and voter indignation, if it weren’t for the Stale Prince of Harlem’s ongoing attempt to seize that title.
With the upset victory, Anh “Joseph” Cao, a eastern New Orleans attorney who fled war-ravaged Saigon as a child, becomes the first Vietnamese-American in Congress. He will represent a district that was specifically drawn to give African-Americans an electoral advantage and one in which two of every three voters are registered Democrats.
Since we’ll have Rangel to kick around for this election cycle, we can bid adieu to William Jefferson. He has finally managed the impossible and lost an election to a non-black candidate in a Voting Rights Act district. Seems like even the most lock-step Democrats can finally get tired of being represented by a straight-up thief. Who knew?
Congratulations to Mr. Cao. Who better than a Vietnamese refugee to explain to Congress both the perils of statism and redistributionism, and the cost of losing wars?
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