Grayson has been a longtime critic of the Obama administrations foreign policy. Whenever the subject of American military action or commitment is raised, Grayson has been adamantly against it. He rails against endless war and war profiteers, quotes John Lennons Imagine and calls Dick Cheney the original chickenhawk. This kind of record and rhetoric has made Grayson a darling of liberals across the nation.
But last week, Grayson was singing a different tune after some legislative maneuvering.
On the subject of the Islamic State (IS), Grayson has been critical of American efforts against it. He has called for countries in the Middle East to deal with the IS and broke with Obama over bombing IS forces in Iraq. To the surprise of no one, Grayson voted against Obamas amendment to a budget resolution sending taxpayer dollars to Syrian rebels so they could purchase arms to fight against IS.
Despite opposing sending money to the Syrian rebels, Grayson ended up voting for the budget resolution which included the amendment he voted against. Graysons vote wasnt needed to pass the budget resolution and plenty of Democrats voted against both the resolution and the amendment. Sitting in a safe Democratic district, Grayson certainly did not need to vote for the budget resolution to hold off Republican Carol Platt in November.
Grayson wasnt the only congressman to vote against the amendment but for the budget resolution. Jeff Miller and David Jolly did the same thing. But Miller and Jolly dont take to the national stage trashing war profiteers or thumping their chests about being the congressman with guts or building a national following.
Of course, Grayson does all of that and tries to raise money from liberals across the nation by pointing out how he stands against Republicans and Democrats on military intervention. The next time Grayson starts his usual routine on foreign policy and the evils of American companies making money on international conflicts, somebody needs to remind him that, when the smoke cleared, he voted with them on arming the Syrian rebels.
In the final analysis, despite his rhetoric, Grayson was against sending federal money to help the Syrian rebels buy weapons before he was for it. So much for the congressman with guts.
Tallahassee-based political writer Jeff Henderson wrote this analysis exclusively for Sunshine State News.
