No need for rebellion

How much do you need to know about a politician before you think hmm, I'd vote for him/her?

How about two paragraphs?

A Survivor Reflects on Political Casualties, and Real Ones , The Times: “I don’t know how you’ll react to this, but I also want to say this,” [Rep. Christopher Shays] said on Tuesday night in his victory speech, interrupting the election night ritualistic hoopla with a jolt of reality. He read four names: “Wilfredo Perez. Tyanna Avery-Felder. Jack Dempsey. Nicholas Maderas. I sent them to Iraq, and they came home draped in American flags.

“I think about them almost every day of my life. And when the press talked about how tormented I must feel,” he said, referring to the possibility of losing the election, “they just didn’t get it. They just didn’t get it. The only torment I feel is for those families. And I pray that we can make it right for these families, and that we will find a way to have our men and women come home from success not failure, but that we find a way to bring them home.”

Shays had no need to bring up the names of the dead soldiers during what was a celebration for a hard-fought victory that made him one of the few pro-war, moderate Republicans to survive the Democratic tidal wave.

But he did. Which tells you a lot about the man. Too bad it's not the sort of thing that translates well to a campaign commercial.

Photo of Christopher Shays with his daughter, Jeramy, and wife, Betsi, on election night by Thomas McDonald for the Times