Mr. Thaddeus Smith was an unlikely winner to a US Senate seat from Apalachicola Florida, running as a Democrat and swept into office by the Obama mania of 2008.

He was as surprised as everyone else, when in January of 2009 he found himself in the freshman class of the United States Senate.

Within 20 days in office he was on a ride he never experienced in Disney World.

Riding a high on the heals of the inauguration ceremonies and then being welcomed into the Senate by House leader Nancy Pelosi, (D-Ca) and Senate leader Harry Reid (D-Nv) and riding a crest of “Change” which was the theme of the Obama campaign along with bringing “Bipartisanship” back to DC, Thaddeus’ chest was bursting with pride.

He quietly thought to himself, Mr. Smith returns to Washington . . . Again!

After his swearing in ceremonies, he met with Pelosi and Reid and they graciously welcomed him to Congress.  They quickly told him that the President wanted to immediately pass a stimulus bill to infuse the economy with spending due to the dire straights the economy was in that they inherited from the Bush administration.

They unabashedly told him as a Democrat and as a freshman Senator he would need to fall in line quickly and vote for a package that would probably be in the range of $800 billion, a figure that Thaddeus couldn’t comprehend coming from Apalachicola.

He said he would promise to cooperate being a good Democrat, but that he would have to look at the specifics of the bill in order to be responsible to his constituents from the State of Florida.

Then within a fast-past 20 days of conference meetings on the House side and likewise on the Senate side, none of which he was part of, the House passed a stimulus bill — which was described by many as a spending bill — with no Republican votes.

The Bill went to the Senate, and they paired it back a bit adding some of their own spending and convinced three defectors from the Republican Party to support the bill getting more than 60 votes to avoid a filibuster.  Sen. Thaddeus Smith voted against the bill.

The bill went into joint conference committee meetings for negotiations and settlement. Sen. Smith was not part of the process.  It passed the House with no Republican support.  It then went to the Senate for a vote.

Before the vote Reid and Pelosi called Sen.  Smith into a meeting for a heart to heart talk.

“Sen.  Smith, we need your vote on this stimulus package,” said Reid.

“Harry, in good conscious, I can’t vote for what appears to be a spending bill not a stimulus bill,” said Smith.

“I came to Washington expecting “Change” and “Bipartisanship” and what I find is the same old same old.

“This is a spending bill, with only 23% stimulus and 73% spending, and you two are the worst Hypocrites in the Congress.

“You Harry, want a Reid railway from LA to Las Vegas to the tune of $8 billion . . . to what, take money out of the pockets of our citizens?

“And you Nancy want $30 million for a mouse in some eco-protected land in San Francisco?

“As for tax breaks in an economic crisis, you are going to give back to each citizen $13 a week — what to buy a Big Mac?

“And as for Obama and all of his wonderful “Change” and denunciation of lobbists, he puts two into two high level positions and names three tax evaders to Cabinet positions, two of which had to withdraw and he still can’t find a Secretary of Commerce after two withdrew their nomination, one because he was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury and the other over principals and ethics.

“On top of all of this, you give me less than 24 hours to read an $787 billion bill of 1,000 pages, with all kind of phantom proposals, under hidden codes, and you want my yes vote?

“You have my “no” vote, you’re not going to manipulate this Senator”, Harry, Nancy.

“Sen. Smith, perhaps you should once again view, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”, and live in your fantasy world.  We here in Washington live in reality,” said Sen. Reid.