You Can Call Him Al

I never cared for Al D'Amato when he was a Republican senator from New York.  I found him obnoxious, mean-spirited, and self-centered.  So, it is a shock when I not only agree with him about something, but most especially when I think he says something really admirable.

Speaking at a GOP fundraiser, he said -- "'I'm a Republican. I'm not always very proud of what our party has been doing, particularly lately on the national level. I think you've got to be a jackass to be voting against background checks for people buying guns."

That alone would be enough for me to tip my hat high to the former senator.  But then he went even further in an interview on "Fox News." 

"My colleagues who vote against those provisions I think are making a terrible, tragic mistake and are bending to the pressure of the NRA. I’m a conservative — I believe a person should have a right to own a weapon, but I also think there can and should be background checks.”

When Al D'Amato starts telling off Republicans, something he did almost unthinkingly as second nature towards Democrats when he was in the senate, you know there is one big blizzard right now in Hell.