13 Politicians (Both Parties) Who Did at Least 1 Good Thing (T13 #3)
Note to Thirteeners and Others.
1. If you leave a comment with your URL (even if you're not a Thirteener), we'll post your link on the page under our posting (making it a proper link for Technorati and Google purposes). Those who want to learn how to get in on the fun of Thursday 13 should just click on the badge. Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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To be sure, some unpleasant things (deliberate understatement) have happened in our nation. During periods of extreme frustration, it's only natural that sensible citizens might throw up their hands and emphatically proclaim that all politicians in Washington suck.
After the blood pressure stabilizes and we get back to calmly reviewing the evidence, it's easy to see that it's not all bad. In fact, many politicians from both parties have done or are doing a few good things: hence, my Thursday 13 list.
1. Charles Grassley (R-IA): investigated FDA corruption
2. Henry Waxman (D-CA): investigated contractor waste and fraud
3. Arlen Specter (R-PA): investigated Justice Department corruption
4. Patrick Leahy (D-VT): investigated Justice Department corruption
5. John Hoekstra (R-MN): investigated federal spending
6. John Conyers (D-MI): investigated Justice Department Corruption
7. John McCain (R-AZ): made efforts toward campaign-finance reform
8. Ted Kennedy (D-MA): voted to increase funds to state/local police
9. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA): supported making college more accessible
10. Hillary Clinton (D-NY): sought Pentagon info, graciously withstood attack
11. Chuck Hagel (R-NB): investigated pre-Iraq-war intelligence
12. John Tierney (D-MA): called for reform of veteran-care system
13. David Dreier (R-CA): called for reform of veteran-care system
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While you're here, check out a recent BN-Politics post:
Also, thanks to those who responded to our T13! Check out their lists:
- Milan-zz of While Sleepwalking
- Comedy Plus
- Toni of Being an Air Force Wife
- Irreverent, Barefoot Ragamuffins
- Thomma Lyn of Tennessee Text Wrestling
- Lara of Ain't Nothin' Like the Real Thing
- Nicole Austin of Romance Author
- Joan of Daddy's Roses
- The Gal Herself of One Gal's Musings
- Janet of Fond of Snape
- Tea Mouse of TeaTime Ramblings
- Eric of Secondhand Thoughts
- Teena in Toronto
- Denise of Blissful Life of a SAHM and Military Wife
- Jennie of Unabridged Opinions
- Lyn of Bloggin' Outloud
- Ed of Ed's Thread
- Qtpies7 of Our 7 Qtpies
- Sue at My Life in the Urban Zoo
- JenniBoo at O So Mo Love
- Tommiea at Tuesday Update
- Malcolm at Pop Culture Dish
- Rae at Rae's Alley
- Gina at Not from the Peanut Gallery
- Linda at Markeroni and Raven's Roads
- Miss Profe at It's a Hardknock Teacher's Life
- Mark Caldwell at Too Many Ideas
- L-Squared at Dog's Eye View
- Kristi K. at Kristi's Place
- Robin at Around the Island
- Michelle B. at Random Ramblings
- Vixen at Vixen's Den
- Cheryl at Journey of Cross & Quill
- MissMeliss at Escribition
- Frances at The Meme Section
- Frigga at Many Apples
- JHS at Colloquium
- Twisted Cinderella at Ever After My Way
- Candy Minx at The Gnostic World of Candy Minx
- Haley-O at The Cheaty Monkey
- Jill at Live Your Life and Smile
- CJ Hill at My Year of Reading Seriously
- Jean Marie Ward at Ward Smith
- Robyn at Pistols, Passion & Potions
- Dawn at Colours of Dawn


OK not being American (and not living in States) I'm not familiar with all the names but I do like that ability to recognize good thing no matter which political option observer belongs. That is actually quite rare ability (here on Serbian political scene and among supporters that is not normal!).
Cheers!
My TT is up as well :)
Posted by: Milan-zzz | July 25, 2007 at 07:17 PM
I didn't know any of them did very much of anything except collect $$ for their re-elections. Good to know. Have a great TT. :)
Posted by: Comedy Plus | July 25, 2007 at 07:45 PM
Very interesting T13- thanks for sharing!
Posted by: Toni | July 25, 2007 at 07:49 PM
Interesting list. I don't follow politics very closely.
Please visit my TT this week. Its 13 prizes (and more) that you can win in a contest that benefits a very special little boy named Parker.
Happy TT!
Posted by: Irreverent, Barefoot Ragamuffins | July 25, 2007 at 08:08 PM
Glad to hear it's not ALL bad -- !!
Great TT and thanks for stopping by mine!
Lara
Posted by: Lara | July 25, 2007 at 08:24 PM
Good to know politicos do *some* good things, LOL!
Happy TT, and thanks for visiting mine!
Posted by: Thomma Lyn | July 25, 2007 at 08:45 PM
Interesting TT! It's nice to hear something positive about politics.
Posted by: Nicole Austin | July 25, 2007 at 08:46 PM
I like this approach! One of my frustrations with American politics is that almost EVERYBODY has their bias and cannot seem to even SEE any virtue in any opposing opinion.
Posted by: Joan | July 25, 2007 at 10:16 PM
This was a terrific list! I'm a Democrat, and many assume that means I can't appreciate John Warner, Orin Hatch or David Drier. Lots of politicians are doing wonderful things, behaving like statesmen/women. It's our job as citizens to stay informed. Thanks for putting this out there.
Posted by: The Gal Herself | July 25, 2007 at 10:27 PM
It's good to see that good things DO happen in BOTH parties :-)
Posted by: Janet | July 25, 2007 at 10:29 PM
A nice way to look at the positives of both parties. I think there is good on both sides, but it can sometimes be hard to find unless you really pay attention to politics.
Posted by: TeaMouse | July 25, 2007 at 10:56 PM
I like the list, especially the veteran issues! But one correction: Ted Kennedy is a democrat not a republican!
Posted by: Eric | July 25, 2007 at 11:05 PM
I've only heard of Hilary.
Thanks for stopping by mine :)
Posted by: Teena in Toronto | July 25, 2007 at 11:34 PM
good list. I didn't know all of those but I knew most of them. Way to educate people. :)
Posted by: Denise | July 26, 2007 at 01:38 AM
What an interesting list! It's funny how things like this are not...emphasized as much as the negative.
Posted by: Jennie | July 26, 2007 at 06:04 AM
What? Politicians that do cool cool things? lol Lyn from Bloggin' Outloud
Posted by: Lyn | July 26, 2007 at 08:56 AM
Thanks for reminding us that most politicians start with a passion for service. It seems that once they get power some turn to the dark side to retain it. It is always a pleasure to visit your blog.
Ed
Posted by: Ed | July 26, 2007 at 09:18 AM
You are right, most of them do good things, too. Sometimes the good things are really not as good as they seem, but I'm sure they only see it from their own perspective.
Thanks for visiting my TT.
Posted by: Qtpies7 | July 26, 2007 at 10:05 AM
Well at least they did "one" good thing, that's more than most of them do! Kidding .. ;) Well kinda kidding .. :)
Posted by: Sue | July 26, 2007 at 10:23 AM
I didn't know this stuff! Where did you find it?
Thanks for sharing.
Happy TT!
Posted by: JennieBoo | July 26, 2007 at 10:27 AM
JenniBoo: I do a lot of research on politics, so some of it was in my memory. Some I found by digging into voting records. Than God for the Internet.
Posted by: The Crux | July 26, 2007 at 11:11 AM
who knew some did good things??
thanks for visiting my TT
Posted by: tommiea | July 26, 2007 at 11:15 AM
Thanks for posting this list. It's easy to forget about the good that some politicians do.
Posted by: Malcolm | July 26, 2007 at 12:05 PM
Thanks for the visit - you've got a good list here, most I only know through the Daily Show. I guess I need to stick my head out of my backyard a bit more often
Posted by: Rae | July 26, 2007 at 12:20 PM
Thanks for checking out my T13!
I only know of Hillary Clinton & Ted Kennedy. It's always good to know when politicians/ public officials deliver.
Informative list!
Posted by: Gina | July 26, 2007 at 01:18 PM
Hiya! Interesting TT, but I got even more of a kick out of reading your hilarious bios. :-) In fact I fetched my hubby and he chuckled, especially the bit about the feral teenagers. ;)
Thanks for the encouragement on the blogathon, also. As to sponsors, you sign up and then basically tell as many of your friends and contacts as you can get hold of to pledge. They either have to pledge through the blogathon site, or you can pledge on their behalf if they refuse to join up (I'm pretty sure accounts are deleted after the event).
Then, when the event is over, you hound your pledgers to make the actual donation at the charity's donation page.
If you have some time on Saturday, please stop by to say hello. :-)
I have two TTs:
http://www.markeroni.com/blog/
13 Snarfs (Historical Landmarks) in Scotland
http://www.ravensroads.com
13 Things about Blogathon 2007
Posted by: Linda | July 26, 2007 at 01:41 PM
Your list points out something that we all forget in the heat of our self-righteous indignation: There are politicians doing what we've hired them to do, and our doing right and doing good by ALL Americans.
Thank you for reminding us of this.
To Eric re: Ted Kennedy: He's assigned to the correct party affiliation.
BTW: Thank you for visiting my TT, and for the kind comment.:)
Posted by: Miss Profe | July 26, 2007 at 02:43 PM
Unfortunately all too often the good done by politicians is forgoten because of a few bad apples. It's not in most politicians interest to admit the other side did something good and the press finds failure more interesting than success. Then we wonder why people don't vote.
Posted by: Mark Caldwell | July 26, 2007 at 03:22 PM
Good to know. Thanks for sharing and thanks for visiting my list.
Posted by: L-Squared | July 26, 2007 at 03:23 PM
Thanks for reminding us that there is still some good left in US politics.
Thank you for stopping by my blog, and Happy Thursday!
Posted by: KristiK | July 26, 2007 at 03:35 PM
I haven't lived in the States for nearly 20 years, so I don't stay that up to speed on or vote for individual politicians (other than the presidential race), but I'm glad to see that there are people like you who really care about ethics in politics.
Posted by: Robin | July 26, 2007 at 03:53 PM
This post shows me how disconnected I am from politics. I know less than half the people on this list!! That said, I like hearing about the good politicians do since we so often focus on the bad things. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Michelle B | July 26, 2007 at 04:32 PM
Hey, a positive list about American Politics?! I love it! Keep up the good work.
http://vixensden.wordpress.com/2007/07/25/thursday-13-5/
Posted by: Vixen | July 26, 2007 at 05:12 PM
I love it when politicians actually do what they campaigned on. Thanks for the positive list! We need to be reminded of those things fairly often.
Posted by: Cheryl | July 26, 2007 at 05:17 PM
I love it when politicians actually do what they campaigned on. Thanks for the positive list! We need to be reminded of those things fairly often.
Posted by: Cheryl | July 26, 2007 at 05:17 PM
An interesting choice for a TT - how have I not been reading this blog all along, btw?
Thanks for visiting mine.
Posted by: MissMeliss | July 26, 2007 at 07:54 PM
I think your list is great - I think it is important to recognize members of both parties.
Thanks for visiting mine.
Frances
Posted by: Frances | July 26, 2007 at 08:58 PM
That's a good list. It's a good reminder of why congress has such a low approval rating.
Happy TT13!
Posted by: Frigga | July 26, 2007 at 09:13 PM
Interesting list!
Thanks for stopping by my 13!
Posted by: JHS | July 27, 2007 at 01:05 AM
Very interesting list for your TT! Happy TT!
Posted by: Twisted Cinderella | July 27, 2007 at 12:03 PM
I am slowly learning American history. This was a great positve list of actions.
Hey, that's funny that you alos knew Milla Jovanovitchs albul The Divine Comedy...I meet few people who even knew she could sing!
Posted by: Candy Minx | July 27, 2007 at 03:19 PM
I am soooooo out-of-it when it comes to American politics. I am Canadian, after all.... But, I definitely learned something here! Thanks!
Posted by: HALEY-O!!! | July 27, 2007 at 04:40 PM
I know that there are not all bad, but there is only a few that are doing there job well... And like Haley, I don't know a thing(or almost) about American politics. I cannot even follow my country politics!!
And as for my tt, it's only places in my province, I didn't travel much during my life!!
Posted by: Jill | July 28, 2007 at 01:14 PM
Crux -
Thanks for stopping by my blog and the nice comments. The last was the true reason for my entire list. The reality of life hit my community square in the face this past week when a 13 year old drown while swimming in the river. It sort of put me into overload as far as the stupid things we waste our time on these days.
Great list, btw. It's nice to be reminded that politicians are capable of doing good things.
I'll be back here, now that you've shown me the way.
cjh
Posted by: CJHill | July 28, 2007 at 07:39 PM
The depressing part is how few of these efforts have so far amounted to anything.
Best wishes,
Jean Marie
Posted by: Jean Marie Ward | July 28, 2007 at 11:45 PM
Looks like the poor veterans-care system is still under review... Great TT and thanks for visiting.
Posted by: Robyn | July 29, 2007 at 02:49 PM
It is Tuesday, but I came for a visit. It is good that there are some that are working for the good of people. Thanks for visiting my TT.
Posted by: Dawn | July 31, 2007 at 10:36 AM
Of course I don't know all these persons, as I live in Belgium and am not american. But it's good if some people do at least one thing good.
Posted by: Gattina | August 01, 2007 at 11:20 PM