More Empty Talk From The DCCC-- Who's Protecting Paul Ryan?

Guess which one puts people first & which one puts banksters first

Yesterday we referred a couple times to the Wall Street Journal article by Brody Mullins and Neil King that highlighted how the GOP is persuading the Wall Street Establishment to re-focus donations towards the party that will protect it from regulation. Remember the elegant key paragraph: "In discussions with Wall Street executives, Republicans are striving to make the case that they are banks' best hope of preventing President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats from cracking down on Wall Street."

Many Democrats reacted angrily. "They are dusting off their old playbook, rehashing the policies that the American people have rejected in the past," said Democratic Caucus Chair John Larson (D-CT). "They want to privatize Social Security. They want to turn Medicare into a voucher program. And they're providing tax breaks for the wealthy while they raise taxes on the middle class."

Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen is the chairman of the DCCC. When they make boneheaded decisions-- to torpedo grassroots incumbents in favor of reactionary, corrupt Blue Dogs-- the responsibility lies with Van Hollen, the same way it used to lie with Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel is a genuinely evil presence, though, with a Wall Street agenda in the back of his mind. I don't understand what motivates Van Hollen-- a progressive-- to follow the same path, unless it's true that he fears Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the female Emanuel who has been gunning for his job and who cracks the whip on DCCC employees when she wants her way-- her way always being anything that will deflate and disincentivize the grassroots and the Democratic base. In any case, poor old Van Hollen was mouthing all the right words today when he went after Paul Ryan and the GOP plan to sell its soul-- once again-- to Wall Street.

“Today we learned House Republicans are stepping up their efforts to shake down campaign contributions from big banks in exchange for vowing to protect them from President Obama and Congressional Democrats’ initiatives to crack down on Wall Street.
 
“House Republicans have sent a clear message to the American people that Wall Street matters more than middle class families and small businesses that are hurting on Main Street.
 
“House Democrats will continue to stand with middle class families and small businesses on Main Street and will continue holding House Republicans responsible for taking marching orders from Wall Street special interests that brought our economy to the brink of collapse.”

The DCCC especially pointed to H.R. 4173, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which passed the House on December 11 as a way to vilify Republicans and emphasize their perfidy to the grassroots Democrats from whom they are forever soliciting donations. "House Republicans," wails the DCCC, "voted unanimously against [the bill] to reform Wall Street, reform executive pay, end bailouts and unwind so-called ‘too big to fail’ firms, and hold the big banks and financial firms accountable to American taxpayers." All true; every single Republican voted no. But guess who else did.

No, no, not Van Hollen. He fought for the bill. So did Wasserman Schultz. However, among the 27 Democrats, primarily Blue Dogs, of course, who crossed the aisle to oppose this bill-- yes 27 Democrats fit the description the DCCC used on the GOP yesterday-- were Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL), Debbie Halvorson (IL), Baron Hill (Blue Dog-IN), Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ), Harry Mitchell (Blue Dog-AZ), Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog-OR), Zack Space (Blue Dog-OH), and Harry Teague (NM). Why mention these particular aisle-crossers? Each is on life-supprt and each is slated to get outsized contributions from the same DCCC berating the GOP for voting exactly how these idiots voted.

And, sure enough, yesterday afternoon the DCCC sent out an official press release pointing out, of all things, Paul Ryan's hypocrisy on fiscal responsibility. I've been begging the DCCC all year to do something about defeating Ryan. What they've done-- what they always do, for some bizarre reason I can't fathom, considering Obama won the seat and that Ryan has never been tested by a credible challenger-- is to sit on their hands and make silly noises... like these:

Representative Paul Ryan’s hypocrisy on fiscal responsibility was on full display again when Ryan voted no on legislation to ensure that all new entitlements and tax cuts are fully paid for. Before voting no on this measure to restore fiscal responsibility, Ryan wasn’t shy when it came to speaking out on the need for government to tighten its belt.  
 
“Representative Paul Ryan’s vote against restoring pay-as-you-go policy after so much tough talk about the need for fiscal discipline and after Congressional Republicans let it expire in the first place proves that Ryan and the GOP will say one thing at home and do something completely different in Washington,” said Ryan Rudominer of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Wisconsin’s children and grandchildren deserve better than Representative Ryan’s ‘do as I say but not as I do’ approach to restoring fiscal responsibility.”

I bet Ryan Rudominer wants to see Paul Ryan defeated almost as much as I do and almost as much as the whole Blue America team does. Rudominer is a smart guy and he recognizes the real danger to America's working families from a slick Wall Street puppet like Paul Ryan. But somewhere up the chain of command, someone is protecting Paul Ryan. In all likelihood, it's another Wall Street shill, a Democratic one, someone firmly controlled by Wall Street's favorite Democrat, former DCCC chair, Rahm Emanuel.

The bill that passed late yesterday afternoon to make pay-as-you-go budgeting the law of the land, passed 233-187. Ryan wasn't the only Republican hypocrite to vote "no." In fact, every single Republican voted no and it is especially worthwhile that the GOP leaders who have been singled out by the financial sector for the biggest campaign "donations," were helping Ryan lead the charge to keep the whole lemming-like caucus in line: Eric Cantor (R-VA-$3,677,585), Spencer Bachus (R-AL-$4,107,424), John Boehner (R-OH-$3,369,029), Roy Blunt (R-MO- $3,080,155), Pete Sessions (R-TX-$2,929,240), Mark Kirk (R-IL-$2,879,320), Mike Castle (R-DE-$2,684,612), Jeb Hensarling (R-TX-$2,440,100), and David Dreier (R-CA-$2,199,788). However, 15 Democrats crossed the aisle to vote with the pro-Wall Street/anti-family Republicans, almost all of them just Republicans in Democratic clothing, all the usual suspects: Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL), Suzanne Kosmas (FL), Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC), Walt Minnick (Blue Dog-ID), Harry Mitchell (Blue Dog-AZ), Glenn Nye (Blue Dog-VA), and Gene Taylor (Blue Dog-MS). So if Paul Ryan is a hypocrite, what's Suzanne Kosmas?

We don't have to ask what John Boehner is. Just short of one year ago-- on February 23, 2009, on MSNBC-- Boehner looked straight into the camera and said “President Obama has called for both parties to get serious about fiscal responsibility. With our budget deficit potentially reaching $3 trillion this year, Republicans stand ready to work with him, and we believe we should start right now.” But today he took the Wall Street line, as he always does, and voted no. Frightened by the anger over Ryan's roadmap to destroying Social Security, Boehner-- who, basically asked Ryan to do it-- backed away and said Ryan's plan is just Ryan's plan, not the Republican Party's plan. When questioned what it is about Ryan's plan that is different from the Republican Party's "plan," Boehner said, "Off the top of my head, I couldn't tell you." What a surprise? Ah... no.

Back to Ryan for a moment, the guy the DCCC seems more intent on protecting than does John Boehner. Paulette Garin is probably too grassroots oriented to make the DCCC comfortable enough to support her. She has no friends on Wall Street and knows more people in Kenosha than Inside-the-Beltway. She's proud to be a union member from a UAW family and that her dad was the treasurer for UAW's Local 960. (He's her campaign treasurer now.) Paulette, a spokesperson for single-payer healthcare reform and the Wisconsin Coordinator of the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care is also the Wisconsin State Coordinator for Progressive Democrats of America. This kind of leadership and independent streak isn't what the DCCC looks for in their candidates. They seem to prefer "Democrats" like Parker Griffith and Tim Mahoney, both of whom are Republicans the DCCC dressed up as Democrats and spent immense sums of money to win congressional seats where each could then... vote as a Republican. Please consider helping her here at ActBlue, where even a modest donation of $10 or $20 can help mount up into the kind of money she'll need to let voters in southeastern Wisconsin know there is an alternative to Ryan. And, please remember, Obama won this district. There's no reason for us to accept the DCCC's decision to give Ryan a free ride again-- whatever the motivation.