Freshman GOP Rep. Chris Gibson says "I'm underwhelmed, I'm disappointed" by the Republican presidential candidates, though he knows he will "hold my nose" and vote for the party's nominee in November. Speaking this week at a meeting of the Tea Party-flavored "New York 20th District Advocates" at DiDonna's restaurant on the south shore of Saratoga Lake, Gibson said most of the candidates "just sign up for the empire," meaning they support an aggressive foreign policy empowering the president to make war and continuing to fund U.S. bases all over the world. The only candidate who does not support that model is Ron Paul, whom Gibson mentioned sympathetically in another context; but he didn't endorse him, either, and part of the discussion focused on Gibson's defense of his recent vote for a defense bill which authorized detention of non-U.S. citizens -- a bill which Paul opposed. Like Paul, Gibson opposes the Patriot Act, regarding it as unconstitutional. He said he supports President Obama's policies on Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gibson noted he has not been a party-line vote in Washington, bucking his leadership to pass an amendment continuing to fund a rural broadband loan program, and, most recently, being one of only seven Republicans to favor continuation of a payroll tax cut. His colleagues swiftly came around on the latter issue and passed a two-month tax-cut extension, which Gibson said he wants continued until comprehensive "pro-growth tax reform" is passed. On the recent flap about Obama's recess appointments Gibson was critical both of the president and congressional Republicans, and said in an era of divided government the parties need to work together more. He even defended the existence of the National Labor Relations Board (although not its appointments and actions under Obama) as a check on corporate power, and said the tax code needs to be reformed so that it no longer favors big business over small.
