Post a Comment On: Internal Monologue

When researching my previous post (i.e. Googling around a bit), I found it interesting that on Vern Ehlers' homepage, there's nothing on the front page that tells you he's a Republican. Looking around at some other Congressmember homepages (Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Henry Waxman) this seems like a fairly common practice. Sometimes there's a news item or other bit of text that clues you in, but there's no big "I'm a Democrat" or "I'm a Republican" graphic. I find this very odd. Given the way Congress works, one of the most important things about a member of Congress is what party they belong to. Do they think they're going to fool anyone into thinking they are somehow above the partisan fray? Given the fact that anyone motivated enough to actually visit a congressional homepage probably knows a thing or two about how Congress works, I find this coyness about partisan identification to be very odd. I wonder if it's because these homepages are .gov sites and there are rules about using them for "partisan" purposes.

On the other hand, both John Boehner (R) and Barbara Lee (D) both have buttons on their front pages that indicate their political party. Still, they aren't as prominent as one might expect. Any education as to what is going on here would be welcome.