Another GOP Congressman Exits Through the Revolving Door

The Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee is out:

Representative Bill Thomas, a conservative Republican from California's Central Valley who has been a strong backer of President Bush's policies, announced today that he will not seek re-election this fall.

Mr. Thomas has been the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee since 2001 and would have had to give up the chairmanship in the next Congress because of term limits on leadership positions. He said he had weighed retirement for several weeks.

This isn't about term limiting his chairmanship. We're going to see a lot of this. I think in 1994 you had a lot of Dems retiring once they saw which way the wind was blowing. These Reps who've been in the majority for the last 12 years want no part of being in the minority. They sense the impending doom.

What I don't hope is that if we sweep into Congress, we suddenly start administering payback for years of Republican dirty dealing. I don't think we should fight fire with fire. Playing by the rules and getting into conference committees will infuriate the no-quarter Repubs enough.