BLUE AMERICA-- LET'S TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND REASSESS A LITTLE

To be honest, I saw the Carney thing coming a mile away. His voting record hasn't been among the best of the freshmen. In fact, I think the only newly-elected Democrats with more reactionary records are Rahm Emanuel's Heath Shuler (NC), Indiana's conservative congressmen Baron Hill and Brad Ellsworth and Texas' Nick Lampson. When Carney voted against the Hate Crimes bill last week-- one of only 14 Democrats who did (while 25 Republicans voted with the Democratic majority)-- the only thing that surprised me was how easy it was for Carney to go back on a direct campaign promise (as well as a direct promise to me personally) to support equality. When his office said he wasn't available to discuss it with me and instead sent a lame e-mail of Republican talking points as an excuse, I got really depressed.

Then came the vote on ending the war in Iraq. Three congressmen endorsed by Blue America abandoned the Democrats and voted with the Bush Regime: Carney again, Ciro Rodriguez... and Jerry McNerney.

Jerry's explanation (part of that post in the link just above) wasn't insulting the way Carney's excuses were. But I was still dismayed and disappointed. Today a reporter from one of the district papers called me to get a comment. I knew what he wanted; I didn't give it to him. Unlike Carney, McNerney's been a very good congressman so far. He's earned, at least in my mind, the benefit of the doubt. Where do we go from here? How do we respond? And what do we do in the future? Join us this morning (11am, EST) over at Firedoglake for a discussion.

Teddy was the first, but several community members who had donated to Carney's campaign asked for refunds. Others called and e-mailed. So far, he's been totally unresponsive. What's our next step? Should we chalk it up to a lesson learned? Or should we ramp up the pressure? I'm looking for suggestions from the community. And what about Jerry? What do we done about him?

I will say one thing that's positive which has come out of this; now when challengers request an opportunity to come on for a Blue America chat, I ask them to read the Carney thing first. A woman running in PA-15 against classic rubber stamp Republican Charlie Dent, looked it over and said she's a perfect match for us. I'll introduce her as soon as she's filed her papers and made it official. I suspect that the seriousness with which we, as a community, take this will determine how other candidates take it. A future Carney might look at it and decide it isn't worth the hassle and decline to get involved with us. That would be fine with me.