Former Tex Rep Charlie Wilson dies

[Captain Hilts]

http://wtop.com/?nid=104&sid=1885661

DALLAS (AP) - Charlie Wilson, the former congressman from Texas whose funding of Afghanistan's resistance to the Soviet Union was chronicled in the movie and book "Charlie Wilson's War," died Wednesday. He was 76.

...

Wilson represented the 2nd District in east Texas in the U.S. House from 1973 to 1996 and was known in Washington as "Good Time Charlie" for his reputation as a hard-drinking womanizer. He once called former congresswoman Pat Schroeder "Babycakes," and tried to take a beauty queen with him on a government trip to Afghanistan.

[ParkieDem]

1. RIP

A great remnant of the day when a true liberal could still be elected from the backwoods of East Texas.

[Kolesar]

2. Think of all the resources wasted to vanquish the Soviets

...because they got in the way of the American-styled empire.

[Captain Hilts]

3. It was a lot more complicated than that. nt

[ParkieDem]

4. yes, it was

Something to do with the fact that they had nuclear weapons pointed at us, had condemned millions of people to effective slavery, etc.

[FarCenter]

6. Maybe they would be as much of a threat as Uzbekistan or Tajikistan

if the Soviets had stayed in Afghanistan.

[DURHAM D]

13. Yep - and we wouldn't me over there in that mess now -

wasting U.S. blood and treasure.

Charlie was just on a naive ego romp.

[Captain Hilts]

7. Details, details!!!

Call me old fashioned, but enslavement of half a continent is a Big Deal to me!

[RB TexLa]

9. What you said

agreed

[anonymous171]

5. The Soviet Empire was worse. nt

[Captain Hilts]

8. FAR worse. nt

[TexasObserver]

10. I loved him. I hated him. But mainly, I hated him.

If Tom Hanks had played him more as Niedermeyer from Animal House, he'd have gotten the essence of Charlie Wilson better. He was a prick, a guy who never read a bill. He always had others read the bills and tell him what they said. He even bragged he never read bills. He was about getting and using favors.

The people of his district loved him because they really knew little about his votes on 95% of the things he voted on, and he was great at constituent care. He really took care of his constituents. If someone wasn't getting treated right by V.A. or Social Security, or whoever in government, he had people he'd send to deal with it. Back in the day, Ian Foley and Inez Timms were two of his assistants who made things happen.

His anti communism was legendary, and as bat shit crazy as you likely believed of him.

[Captain Hilts]

11. But he actually admitted to being a total prick. That made him unique. nt

[TexasObserver]

12. You could count on him to vote the way he said he would.

I liked that about him.

He came down right on a lot of domestic issues, and I liked that about him.

The thing he's known for is his foreign policy, though, which I hated. He was always a cold warrior and a hawk.

[eirteacher]

14. He did more to win the cold war than Reagen or Bush Daddy ever did.

He did more to win the cold war than Reagen or Bush Daddy ever did. Weather he was an asshole or not is besides the point. He got the job done.