There is no more intriguing character in our national legislature than Walter Jones, Republican representing the Third Congressional District of the newly insane state of North Carolina. Back in 2003, and not many people remember this, but it was Jones who helped bulldoze the change in the House cafeteria from "French fries" to "freedom fries," to protest France's refusal to follow C-Plus Augustus down the rathole in Iraq. Jones subsequently has apologized for this vote and he has gone further than any other Republican in condemning the war he once supported, and the people who sold him on it. And he's still doing it.
"I did not do what I should have done to read and find out whether Bush was telling us the truth about Saddam being responsible for 9/11 and having weapons of mass destruction," Jones said during an interview on The Tyler Cralle Show. "Because I did not do my job then," Jones continued, "I helped kill 4,000 Americans, and I will go to my grave regretting that."
Note to a couple dozen very timid Democrats, including the party's current frontrunner for president – that is how you do it. Have a freedom fry, Congressman.
Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976. He lives near Boston and has three children.
