The sad thing is that he actually believed all those years that the sole purpose of being a Congressmen is to serve your public and to have a conscience.  Is he really that blinded by power to think he'd have to vote like a politician first all those years?  If so, why did people keep voting for this scumbag?  Maybe he said on the campaign trail that if they voted for him, we would vote for values and, maybe, conscience?

If Tom Davis had a conscience, he would have used his power as the Majority chair of Government Reform Committee and stopped the egregious abuses of power that took place under Bush, Hastert, Delay and Frist.

He didn't.

Congressman Davis slept with dogs and now he can't itch off the fleas.  He deserves the sores he receives.  Now that he's powerless, his conscience isn't worth a red damn.

He was the one who started labeling all of us war dissenters "traitors".  Take your conscience and shove it, you despicable failure.

It should be added that if Tom Davis had voted his conscience, or even been the real moderate that he masqueraded as, he wouldn't have reached a leadership position in the Republican Party or Congress.

However, leadership positions are worthless if, like him, you fail to use them to advance good policy.

Tom Davis just made the admission that it was all about his personal ambition and furthering his personal fortunes in Congress, never about courageous leadership for the people he represented.

...when politicians accidentally say what they really mean?

Very few.    While democrats are by no means perfect, republicans are going to be tarred and fethered this november... and it will be  their own fault!

in the Sunday Post on "What It Means To Be A Leader" for a succinct description of true leadership. Webb's plain speaking shows how shallow, how morally corrupt, indeed, how utterly corruptible Tom Davis turned out to be (after such a promising start, which makes it even more painful to watch).

But is not Tom Davis' story the story of the entire Republican party over the past 35 or more years? Power and unrestrained greed combined with complete lack of accountability as the party's top dogs went about sucking the substance from their country, enriching themselves and their flunkies while destroying the American ideal. There is no name filthy enough to call these mud sucking lickspittles, these hypocrits and looters.

What really disgusts me is that I believe Davis knew how bad he was, how bad Bush and the Party had become, and he kept on keeping on with his immoral personal and public behavior, knowing what he did wrong, and smothering his conscience in favor of the depravity. Confession now may be good for his soul, but it is far too late, and he connived at the destruction. He owes not just his hapless constituents but the entire country more public self-criticism between now and November.  

has had representation that listened to outside forces before their constituents:  Leslie and the Unions, Tom and the Hammer.

It would be great for that CD to have a rep who listens to the  voters of the district first.

So Was Davis voting his "conscience" when he voted last week against expanding educational benefits to veterans?