A number of Democrats had made such pledges in 1994 and then reneged on them when the time came. Marty Meehan of Massachusetts was one whose name I know of offhand.
By the way, "forced" is your cross to bear. All I said is that he was effectively absolved when his enemies went back on their word first.
"Effectively absolved". That's nice. I'll have to remember that one. So based on the fact that someone else did something bad in the past, Tancredo is "effectively absolved" when he does something bad too, nevermind that what Marty Meehan did was a decade before Tancredo, and had nothing to do with him by virtue of the fact that it was years before Lil' Tommy ever got elected in the first place.
I guess Clintoon really was "effectively absolved" for lying to the American people - after all, Nixon did too, right? Come to think of it, why limit this to politicians? Maybe I'll take that concept into the confessional this weekend. "No worries Father, I don't need absolution for my sins. I've already been 'effectively absolved' by the sins of other people." Sure will save me a lot of time.