From the 'I'll have what he's having' file…

A deep hit, please, off whatever bong inspired George Howland's analysis of Dave Reichert's performance as a freshman Congresscritter. Writing about the emergence of Democrat Randy Gordon as a challenger in '06, George offers this...

...Reichert is an incumbent member of Congress who is off to a very impressive start. The former sheriff has demonstrated independence and guts as well as an ability to raise money. (emphasis in the original)

Guts? Well, I suppose there's a certain amount of courage required for Sheriff Dave to show his face in public after his vote to support the GOP leadership and cut the COPS funding he found so handy to keep his Green River operation going back in the day.

But independence? I'm not saying that Reichert was bought off by the $10,000 he took from Tom DeLay's ARMPAC, but his 95.24% record of voting with the Bugman does little to persuade me otherwise.

Letting Dave Reichert be passed off as 'independent' is like tagging John McCain as a 'moderate.' There's just nothing in the record to support either contention. The fact is, to remain in the Republican Party today means you're either a member of the destructionist cult or you're a toady for the destructionist cult. That's why…