LOOK AT ALL THOSE WINGNUTS IN THE RHINO COSTUMES-- IT MUST BE TUESDAY

There aren't many mainstream conservatives left in Congress-- and the ones that are left desperately tell anyone who will listen that they are "moderates." Their voting records say otherwise. The most hideously reactionary Democrats-- neo-Confederates like Gene Taylor (MS), Dan Boren (OK), Rahm's boy Heath Shuler (NC), John Barrow (GA), Jim Marshall (GA), Bud Cramer (LA), Allen Boyd (FL), Collin Peterson (MN), Mike McIntyre (NC) are practically progressives compared to the fake moderates in the Republican caucus. Only 8 Republicans-- Chris Shays (CT), ex-Democrat Rodney Alexander (LA), Libertarian Ron Paul (TX), Chris Smith (NJ), Mike Castle (DE), Wayne Gilchrest (MD), Jim Ramstad (MN) and Frank LoBiondo (NJ)-- even get above a 20 on their voting records, 50 points below what an actual moderate voting record would look like. These 8 are mainstream conservatives. The rest are, by whatever degree, insane and dangerous extremists and right-wing fanatics, not a good place to be as an election approaches where independents and normal Americans are sick and tired of the far right, their wars, their divisiveness, their inability to govern or to put extremist ideology aside for the sake of the people or the nation.

So they call themselves "centrists" and "moderates" and now they've started their own PAC, the Tuesday Group PAC, based on a ragged gaggle of GOP House members who refuse to wear white sheets at the regular GOP caucus meetings; they meet on Tuesdays in a dank, windowless Capitol Hill basement and talk about how to not get defeated, their bowling scores and barbershop quartet, what a terrible man Tom DeLay was, and what Dick Cheney will do to them if they voted to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq (which they never do).

They are also talking about raising enough money so that they don't get swamped in next year's elections. So far they have $48,000 in the bank, about as much as Blue America, the grassroots PAC started by DWT, Crooks & Liars and Firedoglake. Their ranks were decimated last year-- when fake moderates Jim Leach (IA), Charlie Bass (NH), Nancy Johnson (CT), Rob Simmons (CT), Sue Kelly (NY), Joe Schwarz (MI) and Michael Fiztpatrick (PA) were all sent packing by the voters-- and they are panicky and desperate this year.

Voters angry over the Iraq war threw Johnson out of office even though she was chairwoman of the Ways and Means health subcommittee. Schwarz saw his congressional career end at the hands of a conservative challenger in Michigan’s Republican primary.

The fates of Johnson and Schwarz demonstrate what House GOP centrists know quite well: They face political threats from both the left and the right of the political spectrum.

Now that the DCCC has someone who knows how to fight Republicans-- instead of just grassroots Democrats-- as it's chairman, the Democrats will be working to replace as many of these phony-baloney "moderates" as they can, starting with Tuesday Rhinos like Mike Castle, Mark Kirk, Charlie Dent, James Walsh, Jim Gerlach and Heather Wilson. By the way, take a look at Wilson's radical right voting record to see the nonsense of calling this bunch of crackpots "moderates." They are all Bush rubber stamps and if you're one of the 13% who likes Cheney's policies, these are the men and women to support.

Although Blue America has a tendency to go after even more extreme Republicans, this year we plan to help rid Congress of some of these mislabeled anachronisms. If you'd like to help us, our own PAC is open 24/7 and happy to take $5 and $10 contributions from people who would like to see a better America. And one of our candidates, Eric Massa, is primed to beat fake moderate Randy Kuhl this year in the Southern Tier of New York.