People are conservative until something happens to them to make them a liberal.

My own Senator, Gordon Smith has found his liberal heart.

Senator Smith lost his son last September to suicide. It was an awful and tragic loss. When it was on the news here I cried for the Senator and his family...I even sat down and wrote them a condolence note. The pain of losing a child has got to be next to unbearable. I can't imagine it.

Senator Smith's son Garrett was reported to be an extremely bright and articulate boy with a terrible disease: bipolar disorder. Smith says he took his life as a "release" from the pain he felt. Garrett saw only despair in his future.

Yesterday on the Senate floor, Senator Smith tearfully pleaded for the Senate to pass a bill requiring health insurance companies to treat mental illness the same way they treat physical illness. The bill would also help states develop prevention strategies and fund more mental health services on college campuses.

Some Republicans have apparently anonymously used a procedural move to block the bill. Several other Republican Senators whose lives have been touched by suicide from mentally ill family members vowed to support the bill. These included Pete Domenici from New Mexico and Don Nickles of Oklahoma.

It's easy to be a conservative...until something happens to you that the government could (and should) have done. Then you quickly become a liberal.