Democrat Congressman’s Image as ‘Fiscal Conservative’ Takes a Hit

Casts lot with Tennessee Democrat Party’s new liberal Chairman

NASHVILLE – Democrat Congressman Jim Cooper of Nashville, who claims to be a fiscal conservative and was always eager to stand before a TV camera and slam the president for adding trillions to the national debt when the president was a Republican, voted today for the largest single increase in the national debt in American history – a $787 billion package stuffed with earmarks, pork projects and payoffs to Democrat-friendly special interest groups.

Cooper was one of a handful of Democrats who voted against the massive spending package when it was first proposed. Thursday, while taping a segment for NewsChannel5’s Inside Politics, Tennessee Democrat Party Chairman Chip Forrester criticized Republican Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker for voting against the plan but, when pressed by host Pat Nolan, refused to criticize Cooper. Instead, he predicted Cooper would, in the end, vote for the massive spending package, which gives the average middle class American just $13 a week in tax cuts.

“Given how forcefully Jim Cooper has spoken out against the rising national debt and dangerous fiscal policies of borrow-and-spend, many Nashvillians probably never expected their Congressman to vote for that massive $787 billion spending package,” said Bill Hobbs, communications director for the Tennessee Republican Party. “But it appears they don’t know Jim Cooper as well as does the Tennessee Democrat Party’s new liberal chairman knows him. But one thing is now clear: Jim Cooper is just another liberal Democrat who likes to spend your money – and your grandchildren’s money.

Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Robin Smith also appears on Inside Politics this week.

NewsChannel5 in Nashville will air this week’s edition of Inside Politics on NewsChannel 5+, which is cable channel 50 for Tennessee Comcast customers, at 7 p.m. on Friday, at 5 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, and at 5 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Sunday; and on NewChannel5 (WTVF) at 5 a.m. on Sunday.