A liberal who won't take sh*t from anyone

U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler is an unapologetic liberal who tells it like it is in his book Fire-Breathing Liberal: How I Learned To Survive (and Thrive) in the Contact Sport of Congress.

Read this BuzzFlash interview for more.

Interview excerpt:

BuzzFlash: They ran away from the so-called "L" word because the right wing has defined that as though there's something wrong with it, instead of that being a positive word, and embracing a secular society that respects the Constitution. You embrace it.

You were the first co-sponsor of the recent Dennis Kucinich 35 Articles of Impeachment against Bush. You were a co-sponsor and are a co-sponsor of the impeachment resolution submitted by Congressman Kucinich against Cheney last year. You're extremely forceful in terms of FISA and the abuse of our trust -- this Administration -- in terms of the Iraq war. Is that coming directly from you, or is this just representative of your district? Because there aren't many Congresspeople -- Barbara Lee, Lynn Woolsey, Dennis Kucinch, other members of the Progressive Caucus -- but not a whole lot who are willing to go out that far. If you were in another district, would you be able to do that?

Rep. Robert Wexler: This is representative of what I believe in my heart and soul, and the good news from me is I have been fortunate to have the support of an overwhelming majority of my constituents. My book, Fire-Breathing Liberal, is a liberal call to action, and it proudly says that the liberal agenda, the progressive agenda, is the best agenda for America. That's what will put us on track both domestically and in terms of our foreign policy. That's what's going to help us. With respect to our health care, with our jobs, with our housing, with our schools -- that's what's going to enable us to relieve our dependency on foreign oil. We need to invest in alternative energy sources. What we don't need to do is open up pristine beaches in Florida and throughout the country to oil drilling. We've got to invest tens of billions of dollars here in America on solar energy, wind power, clean coal technology, wave currents, nuclear power, if it's safe, like they do in France.

How ridiculous -- pathetic -- it was when we were begging the Saudis last week to just pump a little bit more oil so that we could possibly have more of this addiction, like Tom Friedman said in The New York Times the other day. We need to end that dependency. That's how we begin to bring America back. This is a liberal call to action. It's time for progressives to have their surge in America, and the time is right for that. And I'm proud to call myself a liberal.