Gambling has gotten the Republican Party in trouble before. After all the Jack Abramoff Scandal was all about the Republican lobbyist paying off Republican Congressmen to protect his client's (Indian Casinos) interest. That included curbing Internet gambling.
In the waining moments of the Republican congressional majority the Party bosses and the President passed a law ordering the Treasury to develop rules to ban credit card companies from permitting Americans to place bets on Internet gaming sites. This of course angered Poker players. It is also just not what the majority of Americans want. OTOH it is very popular among Christian Right leaders and the so called Republican base.
Well now that Bush is about to finally go off to that great Presidential Library in the west... Paulson (Treasury Secretary) has promulgated Rules that effectively ban any Internet gambling (except the free kind which is fine for me but not very satisfying for most poker players)from the US.
I haven't the time to rail against the Bush Administration right now, but read about the matter here.
I never thought I would say these words. Rep. Barney Frank is right. (Was that thunder I just heard?) Lord help us when we have to look to the Democrats to enforce our liberties...