THE WORST DEMOCRATIC CORPORATE WHORES

There are no elected Republicans who aren't corporate whores-- none. Every one of them takes money from Big Business in return for selling out their constituents-- not just the vile and loathsome bottom-feeders like Bush and Conrad Burns and Rick Santorum and Jerry Lewis and Duke Cunningham and Katherine Harris and Curt Weldon and John Boehner and Denny Hastert and John Doolittle and Dirty Dick Pombo, but also the slightly less blatant harlots like John McCain, Jim Talent, John Ensign and Mike DeWine. Unfortunately, the Democrats, as a Party, are only slightly better.

Today AlterNet ran a piece by Russ Baker that all progressives need to read. Certainly one of the constant themes of DWT has been about the rot from within that the Democratic Party is burdened with by Beltway Insiders. I sat in a living-room full of Democracy For America members a few nights ago and Charlie Rose was interviewing DLC sleazebag Rahm Emanuel on the tv. I don't think more than one or two people had even heard of Emanuel-- let alone that he is the Democratic Party's edition of Tom DeLay. And these were DfA members! If they don't know, who will? I handed out DWT "business cards."


Corporate hacks like Emanuel, Lieberman and their DLC buddies call themselves "centrists" but their agenda seems frighteningly close to George Bush's agenda. Both, in fact, are the agenda of Big Business. Over and over this year I have suggested that anyone who wants to know the real story about American politics read David Sirota's brilliant new book, HOSTILE TAKEOVER: HOW BIG MONEY & CORRUPTION CONQUERED OUR GOVERNMENT-- AND HOW WE CAN TAKE IT BACK. Let Bush make believe he's reading Camus. You should read Sirota. And today Sirota published an interesting story, a parallel to Baker's piece, at Working For Change.

"For a very long time, Washington insiders, faux centrist pundits/politicians, and organizations like the Democratic Leadership Council have waged a brutal war on the working-class base of the
Democratic Party... That war has fed off propaganda that inherently gives credence to both right-wing policies and dishonest Republican stereotypes of the Democratic Party... Presidential candidates like Sen. Evan Bayh (D) have given speeches regurgitating RNC talking points about Democrats and
national security - a real tragedy especially at a time when Democrats have such a terrific opportunity to redefine the national security debate in this country." He points out Chris Bowers review of the book Charlie Rose was talking with the sleazy Emanuel about on TV the other night, a book he co-authored with DLC shithead/corporate shill Bruce Reed. Sirota and Bowers point out the obvious: "these high-profile Democrats go out of their way to reinforce negative, right-wing stereotypes about their own party:"

In just a few paragraphs, Reed and Emanuel manage to reinforce virtually every anti-Democratic narrative in existence. We have no new ideas, we don't stand for anything, we are equally to blame for polarized politics, we have been taken over by the angry left, conservatism is the only good ideology, Democrats won't do any better, our predecessors expanded government too much, and maverick John McCain is the only hope for unifying this country. And so our national image as a party is completely destroyed.

It's worth reading Sirota's whole piece because he goes on to contrast the bottom-of-the-garbage-bin- Democrats-- Lieberman, Reed, Emanuel, Bayh-- with real Democrats like Montana's Governor Brian Sweitzer and Senate candidate John Tester. It gives you hope-- hope in the heartland.

Back to Baker's storyline. He starts by explaining that Lieberman's defeat in the Democratic primary actually is more than just a defeat for Bush's Iraq agenda. I don't call Lieberman "Lieberwhore" just because it sounds nice. I mean it-- and Baker explains it: "He is yet another example of someone who came to Washington as a purported idealist and turned into a creature of the capital's big-money culture. Lieberman's loss is a loss for Cheney and Rumsfeld to be sure, but it's also a loss for an army of sleazy political operatives and consultants. While Lieberman is best known outside of Washington for his neocon views, he's famous in the capital for his undying support for corporate causes. There are countless examples: Remember Lieberman's role in blocking the reforms of stock option accounting that former SEC chair Arthur Levitt was trying to enact? This was a question of honest accounting that became part and parcel of the corporate corruption scandals of recent years, and Lieberman was a champion of the wrong side. Beyond that, Lieberman happily has done the bidding of the pharmaceutical companies, the insurance companies and many others, thus establishing an unsavory underside to his more admirable record on environmental and other issues."

Baker goes on from there to talk-- in great detail-- about the 10 worst "Corporate Democrats-For-Hire." These are really vile money-grubbing political prostitutes like Mike McCurry, Jack Quinn, Mark Penn, Bill Andersen, Michael Berman, Leslie Dach... many of whom came right out of the Clinton Administration hell-bent for making a mint, regardless of what harm they would do to core Democratic constituencies. None of these monstrosities are elected officials and there is little me can do about them but watch and wait until a future Democratic president gives them license to feed at the public trough again.

But who are the worst elected corporate whores in the Democratic Party? The ones we can vote out of office? Well, we did great last month in Connecticut. And the message was a shot across the bow of every corporate whore who sells out working men and women for the sake of Big Business contributions. I would go so far as to say that if Donna Edwards beats egregious corporate prostitute Al Wynn September 12 in Maryland's 4th congressional district, you will see a huge change inside the Democratic Party. Bribe takers like the Nelson boys (Florida's Bill and, worse, Nebraska's Ben) are safe for now. But if we can elect Ned Lamont in CT and Donna Edwards in MD-04, a new day will have dawned.

When I interview candidates to see if they qualify for the Blue America Page, I ask them 4 questions: do they support a woman's right to choice, do they support Jack Murtha's call for redeployment from Iraq, do they support equality for minorities, including right wing targets like gays and lesbians, and will they turn into a corporate whore when they get to DC. If the answers aren't yes, yes, yes, no, they don't wind up on our page.


UPDATE: HOW DID I FORGET TAIBBI?

Here I was recommending all kinds of books and articles about Democratic whores and I left out the brilliant Matt Taibbi piece in the New Yorker (via AlterNet), "Firing Squad Looms For Dem Party Oligarchy." See, it isn't only me: "He's an amoral, showboating cock." Anyway, if you read DWT, you already know how I feel about the detestable Emanuel. Read Taibbi's article if you want to know what Emanuel thinks about grassroots and netroots activists. And does he hate bloggers!