DCCC Pushing Anti-Choice Activists

Palin and Dahlkemper-- too much in common

Have you ever thought about donating to the DCCC? Some of the tens of millions of dollars that comes in and goes out of there actually goes to help good candidates like Darcy Burner and Martin Heinrich get elected. But very little. It's got a bit better since 2006 when it was run by pro-war fanatic Rahm Emanuel and being against the war was almost the kiss of death. Now the D-Trip is run, at least ostensibly, by a progressive, Chris Van Hollen. Still, the bulk of the money they take in goes to help elect reactionary nominal Democrats from deep in the bowels of the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.

Today's NY Times celebrates how the "diversity" of having anti-choice activists running is putting more seats into play. Into play for what? Democrats, Inc? Who gives a damn about that except Insiders? Most people who vote for Democrats are doing so because they believe in what the party is supposed to stand for. But the Rahm Emanuel Democratic Party is standing on its head and has more in common-- much more-- with the Republican Party insiders than with its own grassroots.

Did you give a donation to the DCCC this year? If you did you contributed towards the ending of a woman's right to choice. No hyperbole; that's a fact. The DCCC has spent around $1.5 million on electing Bobby Bright an anti-choice fanatic and Alabama reactionary.

In fact, Mr. Bright is one of a dozen anti-abortion Democratic challengers the party has recruited to run for the House this year and has aggressively supported with millions of dollars and other resources in culturally conservative districts long unfriendly to the party.

That is the highest number of anti-abortion candidates the party has fielded in recent memory to run either for open seats or against Republican challengers, according to party strategists and a leading anti-abortion organization... The Democratic effort to seek out candidates like Mr. Bright has not been without tensions, given the party’s reliance on abortion rights groups for fundraising and get-out-the-vote efforts. And there is the fundamental reality that the Democratic Party’s platform explicitly embraces abortion rights.

Kelli Conlin, the president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health, called the recruitment strategy misguided, saying that surveys conducted by her organization showed that even some Republicans express support for abortion rights when her group described the consequences of outlawing the procedure.

“The movement to recruit anti-choice candidates ignores the larger reality that this is a pro-choice nation,” she said.

Van Hollen lamely describes the support for these anti-choice hacks as "taking the wedge issues off the table." For real Democrats, that wedge issue is part of what makes the Democratic Party, as corrupt and pathetic as it is, preferable to the Republicans. If the DCCC won't stand up for women's rights what will they stand up for? Where do they draw the line? They're pushing 12 anti-choice activists this year but they don't advertise them to the general public. The Times also mentions Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-03) and Jim Esch (NE-02).

I'm looking at the 3 hotly contested races in Alabama. The Democrats are represented by two reactionaries who are anti-choice, Bright and Parker Griffith, each of whom they will have spent around $2 million on by election day. There is also a grassroots moderate running, Josh Segall, who is pro-choice. They haven't spent a nickel on his race. Every dime they get they shovel into the anti-choice races.

The DCCC is active in 3 Louisiana races-- on behalf of right-wing incumbent Don Cazayoux and two reactionary challengers, Paul Carmouche and Don Cravins. All three are running on platforms that include denying women the right to choice. The DCCC is spending another couple of million on them.

In southwest Ohio the DCCC has lavished a million and a half dollars on anti-choice, right-of-center Steve Driehaus and nothing at all on pro-choice progressive Vic Wulsin, both in Cincinnati.

Although Chris Carney has collected immense sums of money from the corporations he has been supporting, including the Insurance Industry and Big Oil, the DCCC has spent $500,000 to protect his right-wing, anti-choice, anti-gay ass. He has voted more frequently with the Republicans on substantive matters than he has with Democrats and has one of the worst voting records of any Democratic member of Congress. That seems like a requirement to get funding from the DCCC. Just south of his district is a progressive, pro-choice woman, Sam Bennett, who the DCCC has given... nothing at all.

Anti-choice Democratic incumbents include right-wing and corporate Dems Jason Altmire (PA), Marion Berry (AR), Dan Boren (OK), Chris Carney (PA), Don Cazayoux (LA), Travis Childers (MS), Henry Cuellar (TX), Lincoln Davis (TN), Joe Donnelly (IN), Brad Ellsworth (IN), Tim Holden (PA), Dan Lipinski (IL), Jim Marshall (GA), Mike McIntyre (NC), Charlie Melancon (LA), Jack Murtha (PA), Solomon Ortiz (TX), Collin Peterson (MN), Ike Skelton (MO), Heath Shuler (NC), Bart Stupak (MI). Gene Taylor (MS), and Charlie Wilson (OH).

And the anti-choice fanatics who are serious candidates this year:

Ronnie Musgrove (MS- Senate)
Bobby Bright (AL-02)
Parker Griffith (AL-05)
Mike Montagano (IN-03)
David Boswell (KY-02)
Bill O'Neill (OH-14)
Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-03)

If you want to support real Democrats, the kind who are committed to fighting for progressive ideals and values-- including women's right to choice-- please think about the candidates at the Blue America ActBlue page. It's your choice.