Mark Kirk May Be The Biggest Liar In Politics THIS Week, But Is He As Bad As Jane Harman?

I've known Marcy Winograd since 2005. There's little doubt in my mind that if she's elected to Congress Tuesday she'll catapult immediately into the prominence of being among the half dozen best members. Best? Well, best in terms of serving the interests of working families and best in terms of pushing forward powerful ideas that drag the hidebound system away from the status quo and away from the narrow machinations of lobbyists and powerful corporate interests. Just that. She'll always be controversial and never really fit in with the go-along-to-get-along crew. But one thing we don't need is another one of 435 cutout congressional clowns. Marcy will never be one of those. I guarantee it.

And how bad is Jane Harman? If you've been reading DWT with any frequency, you already know she's always been the worst kind of corporate shill, consistently voting-- and, more important, working behind the scenes-- against the interests of working families and pushing a Big Business agenda. When she said, unaware of the age of 24/7 news coverage, that she's really a Republican at heart, she had no idea it would come back to haunt her. Her aisle crossing vote, for example, in favor of the draconian, anti-consumer bankruptcy bill that has forced so many families on CA-36 out of their homes is one thing. But it is hard for many people to understand, even though every single Republican voted for something the banks and credit card companies were clamoring for-- and paying congressmen to support-- while most Democrats opposed it. This documented statement by Harman, however, which she desperately tries claiming never happened (like the espionage phone call she was taped in the midst of), is easy to understand:

"I just want to say how flattered I was in the last election to be introduced as the best Republican in the Democratic Party," she told several hundred civic leaders at the downtown Los Angeles meeting. "I accept."

She now imperiously denies having ever said it. It isn't the only time she's been caught in a lie like that. In fact this one that Rachel Maddow caught is far more serious. How serious? Jane Harman shouldn't be running for reelection. She should be in federal prison. Take a look: