Kudos to Cramer and Davis

Never thought you'd hear me say that, did you? Neither did I, but I guess there's a first time for everything.

Alabama's two Democratic Congressmen - Bud Cramer and Artur Davis - voted "yes" on a measure passed by the House that will reduce trade barriers with Haiti and Vietnam. Good for them.

Alabama's five Republican Congressmen - Terry Everett, Mike Rogers, Spencer Bachus, Robert Aderholt, and Jo Bonner - all voted against the bill, thereby conceding the protectionist argument that free trade with developing nations is bad for America. Faced with a choice between good politics and good economics, they chose the former.

Just when I was beginning to realize how positively awful this new Democratic majority in Congress would be, Alabama's Democratic Reps surprise me by doing the right thing, while the Republicans do the wrong thing.

This was an interesting vote. Most House Republicans voted for it, and most Democrats voted against it, just as you'd expect, given the two parties' historical stances on free trade. In Alabama, though, the party alignment was flip-flopped for one simple reason: our Republican Congressmen yielded to the influence of the state's shrinking textile industry, in complete disregard of the multitudes who spend good money to buy textiles.